Course Descriptions for the PhD Program

Phase I: Foundation Courses

Ecological Thought

The course is organized on the premise that there is an emerging ecological worldview that is the foundation of academic environmental studies, professional environmental practice, and the contemporary environmental movement. This worldview transcends the domain of environmentalism per se, and is influential in a range of disciplines, professions and dimensions of public life. This course explores the dynamics of its emergence, by attending to three interconnected conceptual sets: ecology, nature and life (systems thinking, ecological thinking, evolutionary thought), power, place and space (power relations, natural resource transformation, globalization, the commons, paradigms of activism, environmental movements), and meaning, purpose, and identity (ecopsychology and ecospirituality, literary expression, perception and language, story and myth, and ecological identity). Students will have the opportunity to explore the intellectual roots of their own ecological worldview and to assess a specific intellectual direction of interest.

Introduction to Research Design

The purpose of this course is to become familiar with a variety of research paradigms and to study the different lenses that they provide for viewing and understanding the world, and in particular, the physical environment. Within paradigms, students try out different methodological approaches, such as surveys, in-depth interviews, case studies, and quasi experiments. Through the development of a research proposal, students ground discussions of theory in the practical concerns of research: framing research questions; designing a study; collecting and analyzing data; dealing with validity, reliability, and ethical issues; and writing a research report.

Comparative Ecological Analysis

This course is designed to provide participants with the methods and strategies needed to apply ecological principles in research. Interpretive tools, research methods, and theoretical approaches include basic statistical analysis and design, field ecology techniques, and computer models or simulations. Using ecological principles as a foundation, other approaches such as natural resource inventory, ecological impact assessment, and ecological restoration are covered. The course has a case study orientation, emphasizing contemporary ecological problems in diverse habitats, exploring the common problems and solutions that emerge.

Environmental History

This course examines the historical, cultural, and philosophical origins of our concepts of the environment. This course provides an overview of the environmental history of the United States and of the world, and indigenous views of environmental history. Students participate in many approaches to history, from histographical, social, political, and literary history to artistic and mythic approaches. In this course, students develop a framework for understanding how our conception of the environment has changed through time, and strengthen their understanding of how historical and philosophical issues engage and inform current debates.

Global Environmental Change

This course focuses on the natural and anthropogenic transformations of earth's environment, transformations whose underlying processes occur across a multiplicity of space and time scales and whose non-linear interrelationships complicate prediction. Global environmental change has conditioned the earth for life, but human economic and population growth have dramatically accelerated environmental change during the past two centuries. We will examine long-term records of environmental change and the array of approaches and methods employed to understand evolution and behavior of the earth system, in order to contextualize historic and recent trends. Assessment of global change models and scenarios will provide information critical for evaluating the magnitude and significance of human forcing of change, ecosystem and societal vulnerability, and approaches to sustainability.

Political Economy of Environmental Issues

Participants in this course study the social and political tensions underlying environmental issues. We do this by examining political theories of democracy, the history and development of economic thought, the exercise of power in diverse political circumstances, the role of corporations in democracy and capitalism today, and the practice and meaning of environmental citizenship. Discussions will center around the political discourse on sustainability, ideas of the common good, individual choice, fairness, social responsibility, and equity. Essentially, the purpose of this course is to familiarize students with the concepts, theories, evidence, and controversies associated with the political, social, and economic dimensions of environmental policy making.

Phase II: Research Strategies and Learning Domains

Learning Domain and Environmental Leadership I

A series of lectures and workshops in this course are designed to provide students with the intellectual depth and research tools to define their learning domain. The students will engage in library research to fill out their individual knowledge maps, and the attendant literature on theoretical and applied dimensions of the thought collectives, theories, research applications and controversies associated with the learning domain. Students will discuss their work with leading scholars and writers and learn how others set the framework for and carry out their research. By the end of the course, students will have produced a blueprint blueprint to guide their learning through the coming year.

Research Strategy: Theory, Method and Design I

The emphasis during this semester of this two-part course is on how to interpret and evaluate positivist research studies. Positive research is by far the dominant paradigm of research in science today. By drawing upon published empirical research, students will learn firsthand how to dissect research studies to identify their shortcomings and strengths. Applications will come from social and natural sciences. Attention will be given to defining variables, designing experiments, and interpreting statistical analyses. Research ethics will be discussed. Students will be expected to write a literature review comparing and evaluating several similar research studies.

Reading Seminar

The purpose of the reading seminars is to allow students and faculty to engage in reading and writing on topics of mutual interest. During the Spring of Phase One, faculty (in consultation with students) develop a list of proposed seminars, reflecting their own interests and the emerging areas of interest in the learning community. During the Summer of Phase Two, students and faculty select the reading topics that are of most interest. In effect, the learning community constructs these specialized seminars. Reading seminars are particularly useful as a way to study bodies of knowledge and substantive themes that are of community-wide interest.

Research Strategy: Theory, Method and Design II

Qualitative inquiry has unique capacity to describe social behavior and process, uncover causal linkages, interpret meaning and significance, and build robust, empirical theory. Doing qualitative research involves more than mastering technical aspects of methods. It also requires grounding methodological decisions in a theoretical perspective and engaging ethical and political dimensions of doing research with others in social settings. This course offers an introduction to qualitative inquiry as it applies to environmental studies and related phenomena. It explores the philosophical underpinnings of particular traditions (e.g., ethnography, grounded theory) and builds practical competence with specific research skills (e.g., interviews, observation, field notes, analysis).

Learning Domain Seminar II

The purpose of this seminar is to provide an opportunity for students to engage their learning domain in the larger academic discourse and to delve into aspects of their learning domain that have not been addressed in reading circles, courses, or independent studies. Students will concentrate on developing critical reading and writing skills, and will create a piece of writing for publication.

Phase III: Candidacy Projects

Theory and Practice Seminar I

The seminar emphasizes the preparatory work necessary for both the Integrated Essay and the Service Project. For the Integrated Essay, students lay the groundwork for the essay. As preparation for the seminar, students compile a topographic map. This serves two functions. First, it allows for a synthesis of the seminal themes of the learning domain, specifically addressing the key theoretical approaches and directions. Second, it delineates the convergence among those approaches, posing questions for further inquiry. By the end of the session, students will compile an outline, describing the dimensions of the essay.

Theory and Practice Seminar II

This seminar is designed to provide a forum for consultation and critique as students work on their Service Projects and Integrated Essay. It provides participants with an opportunity to discuss the meaning of scholarship and service as they are engaged in their projects. This seminar will explore questions such as claims to knowledge, the role of the expert, the relationship between scholarship and political action, the political context of environmental research, and issues of uncertainty and ambiguity. What are the special problems encountered by the environmental researcher who is actively involved in community projects? What is the role of scholarship for the activist? How might research contribute to social change and environmental action?

Dissertation Proposal

This seminar allows students to devote themselves to developing and refining the research questions that are the foundation of a dissertation, and to exploring, analyzing and critiquing methods specific to their research interests with the purpose of selecting the methods they will employ. Upon completion of this seminar students should have completed or be very close to completing a draft research proposal, which sets forth the nature of their dissertation inquiry and a detailed account of the methods to be used. Since the proposal also contains material supporting the relevance of the dissertation topic and the appropriateness of the chosen methods, the seminar will also focus on the organization of literature surveys and the identification of key references that serve as models for the specific dissertation work.

Phase IV: The Dissertation Process

Dissertation Seminar

This year-long seminar is designed to provide support and consultation for students in the process of formulating and carrying out their doctoral dissertation research. Topics to be addressed during the year include: ongoing evaluation and assessment of research methods, research ethics, dilemmas of working in the field, analysis, writing the dissertation, making formal presentations, dissemination of research results, and transformations students experience in their growth as scholars. Students along with the instructors are intended to serve as a peer community, providing support, advice, and critique. Each semester, students will make a formal presentation to the class documenting the current state of their research and bringing to the class the expertise they have developed. Additional faculty may be brought in as needed to provide input in special topic areas.