When Northwestern created its Environmental Policy and Culture program three-and-a half years ago, 680 students were enrolled in social science classes with environmental focuses. Today these students number 1,200, said Prof. Yael Wolinsky, director of the Weinberg program.
The program faces uncertainty in the coming years, as faculty members leave and student demand for environment-centered courses increases, he said.
“There has been a lot of student interest in these issues,” Wolinsky said. “At the same time, Weinberg is losing several senior faculty members who have done research and taught courses in these areas, which is creating a bit of a vacuum in responding to students’ interest.”
The disparity between the number of professors in Weinberg who teach environmentally tailored courses and the demand for such courses was a key component of the presentation Wolinsky and political science Prof. Paul Friesema made to the Weinberg Board of Visitors on May 1.
The Weinberg alumni board meets annually to hear recommendations from the college’s Student Advisory Board, as well as faculty members, on issues facing the undergraduate programs.
This year, the board asked that the alumni approve recommendations for a comprehensive environmental programs Web site, hiring tenure-line faculty with environmental specialization and “the pipe dream” of an environmental center on campus, said Katie Martin, co-president of the board.
Their presentation, “Environmental Opportunities within WCAS Curriculum,” stemmed from a suggestion by Mary Finn, the associate dean for undergraduate academic affairs, a year ago, the Weinberg senior said.
The deans were aware of the growing interest in environmental curricula and the concern that, without tenure line positions for faculty specializing in environmental issues, NU would fall behind peer institutions, she said.
Environmental studies at NU casts a wide, interdisciplinary web, with programs that aren’t always on the same page, said Laura Colee, co-president of SAB. This is a concern, she said, that was brought up repeatedly in the board’s conversation with faculty.
“Faculty really sensed a problem in communication and collaboration between departments,” Colee said. “They realized that environmental studies is interdisciplinary and could be made better at NU if some of the departmental boundaries are broken down.”
Colee added that she believes the program status of both Environmental Policy and Culture and Environmental Sciences “hinder their growth.”
“Environmental programs have to pull classes together from all the departments but have no say in how often they are taught,” she said.
Wolinsky does not support an umbrella department for environmental studies.
“Because environmental studies are interdisciplinary in nature, it makes sense to have programs,” she said. “You want people in economics who do research in environmental economics and then people in the political science department who do environmental research as well.”
Both Colee and Wolinsky agree that institutionalizing environmental curricula at NU means giving hiring priority to candidates for faculty appointments with environmental backgrounds.
With the economy in a downturn, Wolinksy said she does not anticipate this happening within the next two years.
“The big step is for Weinberg to expand its environmental curriculum, even if we cannot do everything at this moment,” she said.
