ES Program Highlights

The Environmental Studies Program at UCSB was established in 1970 and is recognized as one of the first undergraduate environmental studies programs in the world.  Below are just a few examples and highlights of what makes studying environmental studies at UC Santa Barbara so special:

The Environmental Studies Program at UCSB was established in 1970 and is recognized as one of the first undergraduate environmental studies programs in the world. 

Below are a few examples and highlights of what makes studying environmental studies at UC Santa Barbara so special:

• Created as a new, innovative, interdisciplinary program to provide students with scholarly training and critical analysis skills to understand and deal with the complex environmental problems of our world
• Graduated over 5,000 alumni, making it one of North America's largest and most successful programs
• Currently home to 700+ students majoring in one of three undergraduate degrees:  B.A. in Environmental Studies, B.S. in Environmental Studies, B.S. in Hydrologic Sciences
• Faculty contributed to UCSB’s #2 international ranking for research cited in the field of Environment and Ecology (1998-2008).   Source: Reuter’ s Essential Science Indicators
• Housed in Bren Hall, considered the greenest laboratory building in the UC system and the first in the United States to receive a “double platinum” LEED rating
• UCSB ranked the second greenest university in the U.S. based on its 62% recycling rate, goal to be zero waste by 2020, use of greywater for landscaping, and six LEED certified buildings. Source: national publication Greenopia, 2010
• Sent 23 students as observers to the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen who then incorporated their experiences into a campus wide conference titled “Our Planet, our Problem: Approaches to a Climate Solution”
• ES Professor David Cleveland was selected as the inaugural UCSB Sustainability Champion in 2010
• Two distinguished endowed chair-faculty positions:
      - The Schuyler Endowed Chair in Environmental Studies (held by Prof. Carla D’Antonio)
      - The Dehlsen Endowed Chair in Environmental Policy (recently held by Prof. William Freudenburg)
• Award approximately $8,000 annually in combined scholarship monies to ES Program students
• Home to its own Environmental Studies Internship Program (ESIP):
      - Coordinated by the Program’s own Internship Coordinator
      - Academic credit (ENV S 192) available year round
      - Associated with 90 local and hundreds of non-local organizations offering environmental internship opportunities
• Teach specialized honors and experiential education courses, such as: 
      - Honors sections in ENV S 1, 2, 3; and a Senior Honors Program (distinction in the major)
      - Capstone Senior Thesis Course (ENV S 197)
      - Undergraduate research opportunities with ES faculty through ENV S 199 & 199RA courses
      - Current topics course (ENV S 190) offered each quarter to provide insight into current issues in the diverse 
         areas that constitute environmental studies, including Environmental Careers   
• Flexible curriculum designed to support/encourage students to participate in Study Abroad and/or Environmental Field Studies programs around the country and the world
• Alumni have succeeded in a vast and diverse array of careers in the public, private, academic, scientific, and non-profit sectors of California, the United States, and the world