Overview

Launched in 1997, the Program on the Environment (PoE) is the University of Washington’s largest interdisciplinary academic program and represents the UW’s commitment to the importance of interdisciplinary environmental education.   

PoE offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies, a Minor in Environmental Studies, and two graduate certificate programs. PoE also coordinates the undergraduate certificate in Restoration Ecology, in cooperation with the Restoration Ecology Network. In addition, PoE serves as a center for information on environmental education opportunities at the UW. PoE sponsors seminars and public lectures featuring internationally acclaimed guest speakers from throughout the Puget Sound region and the world. As a focal point of environmental studies at the UW, PoE is well positioned to bring campus and community together and to educate future environmental leaders. PoE’s approach to environmental education and issues is interdisciplinary, collaborative, innovative and responsive.

Organization

PoE is not a traditional academic department and does not have a faculty of its own. This allows PoE to work with faculty across disciplines and campuses to achieve a genuine integration of natural and social sciences, and the humanities and the professional. PoE is overseen by an Advisory Board consisting of faculty, staff, and students representing a wide range of departments, colleges, and service units from all three UW campuses.
Administratively, PoE is a unit that reports to the Council of Environmental Deans representing the Evans School of Public Affairs, the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, and the Colleges of Architecture & Urban Planning, Arts & Sciences, Engineering, Forest Resources, and Ocean and Fishery Sciences.
    

Undergraduate Program

Offering a rich interdisciplinary program of study

PoE offers a multidisciplinary Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.), in Environmental Studies which provides excellent training and preparation for a wide variety of careers or for postgraduate studies, and a Minor in Environmental Studies, which offers students in other majors increased knowledge of the biophysical and human dimensions of environmental issues.
Environmental Studies majors complete:

Foundation Courses, consisting of preparatory coursework to provide a solid foundation in biology, chemistry, earth systems literacy, statistics, and values and cultures.

Core Courses

Environmental Perspectives and Experiences Courses

A Capstone Experience, such as an internship, group project, study abroad, or undergraduate research project.

Actively learning in the field and in the classroom, and working side by side with faculty and environmental experts, PoE undergraduates are poised to creatively apply their education as skilled environmental practitioners.

Graduate Programs

Bridging traditional disciplinary boundaries

PoE offers two Graduate Certificate programs. The Graduate Certificate curricula extend graduate students' understanding of environmental issues beyond the focus of traditional disciplinary boundaries. Working in groups representing diverse academic training, students and faculty address environmental problems from an advanced, interdisciplinary perspective, encompassing the breadth of the physical and life sciences, economics, policy, and values.

The Graduate Certificate in Environmental Management prepares students to contribute to sustainable utilization and enhancement of the natural and human environment.  Through coursework, seminars, and capstone consulting projects, students acquire the tools to solve real-world environmental problems via the three avenues of science, policy, and business.

The Graduate Certificate in Interdisciplinary and Policy Dimensions of the Earth Sciences is an innovative program that provides graduate students in the earth sciences a forum to explore interdisciplinary and policy dimensions of their science, and extend their graduate research to encompass those dimensions. Students earn a graduate degree in the home department, with the collaborative component recognized by the Graduate School as a Certificate in “Interdisciplinary and Policy Dimensions of the Earth Sciences”.

PoE welcomes you to explore its web site to learn more about its programs and efforts to foster environmental education. You are invited to contact us with your comments and input, or if you would like more information.