Environmental Studies

Photo by Pete Mauney ’93 MFA ’00

Environmental Studies Concentration

The ES Concentration, housed in the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities (CESH), prepares students to address environmental questions in and across a variety of sites and scales, both local and global. Working closely with Environmental and Urban Studies (EUS), Experimental Humanities (EH), American Studies (AS), and the new Mellon Foundation Rethinking Place initiative, will equip them with both practical and theoretical tools emerging from the methods and practices of environmental humanities and sciences. The concentration trains students to engage with the interdisciplinary nature of environmental questions with the goal of addressing environmental justice, cultivating community engagement, hands-on problem solving, and renewed awareness of Indigenous and other marginalized realities, for a new generation of environmental thinkers, policy-makers and activists.

overview

The scope of the ES Concentration is regional, national, and global. The ES Concentration takes advantage of its immediate surroundings, using the campus and region as a laboratory for natural and social science research and interpretation through language and the arts. The Hudson River estuary, with its wetlands and watershed, is framed by the Catskill Mountains to the west; its valley communities offer a variety of historical and natural resources.

REQUIREMENTS (20 Credits)

MODERATION REQUIREMENTS

In order to moderate into Environmental Studies (ES), students must:

Successfully complete (or be enrolled in during the Moderation semester) two courses:

1. ES 100: Introduction to Environmental Studies

1. One other ES or cross-listed course, at any level. Sample courses include ES 115: Introduction to Community Sciences; Art History 125: Modern Architecture in the Age of Colonialism; Anthropology 265: Race and Nature in Africa; Physics 112: Introduction to Meteorology.

Fulfill the Moderation requirements of the student’s major program of study. The short papers submitted for moderation should demonstrate a clear idea of how the ES concentration will intersect with that program. (If Moderation into ES happens at a separate meeting rather than simultaneously with the major program, a separate 2-3-page paper addressing this question should be provided.) At least one member of the Moderation board should be a faculty member affiliated with ES.

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

In addition to the Moderation requirements, to graduate students must:

Complete three more courses:

1. An ES course at the 200 level or above. Sample courses include ES 206: Landscape Studies: The Hudson Valley; ES 212: Climate Change Science and Its Human Dimensions; ES 219: Feeding 10 Billion People; ES 321: GIS for Environmental Justice.

1. An ES or cross-listed course at the 200 level or above, outside the student’s primary program. Sample courses include ES 205: Planetary Consequences of Human Diet; ES 313: Foundations of Environmental Education; Art 207: Sustainable Drawing Practices; Biology 202: Ecology and Evolution; Historical Studies 2308: China’s Environment; Physics 215: Climate and Energy; Politics 372: Environmental Political Theory.

1. An ES or cross-listed course at the 300 level or above. Sample courses include ES 312: Environmental Law for Policy; ES 405: Environmental Policy I; Film 370: Ecocinema; Literature 321: Climate Fiction; Music 360: Indigenous Ethnomusicologies; Sociology 333: Tricks of the Trade: Sociology Research Practicum.

Complete the Senior Project in the student’s major program, integrating issues and methods from Environmental Studies. At least one member of the Senior Project board should be a faculty member affiliated with ES.

* Please note: These graduation requirements were revised in Spring 2025. Students who moderated in ES in Fall 2024 or earlier have the option of using the previous graduation requirements (i.e., three courses in addition to the moderation requirements, two of these being ES or cross-listed courses at the 200 level or higher, and the third being an ES Practicum).

on campus

On campus, the Community Sciences Lab, Bard Archaeology, the Bard College Farm, Bard Arboretum, and the unique landscape, architecture, and history of Montgomery Place offer academic and cocurricular activities. The Bard College Field Station is home to Hudsonia, an independent environmental institute, and the Saw Kill Watershed Community (SKWC) and the Roe Jan Watershed Community (RJWC) bring campus and community members together for science, stewardship, and education.

Other place-based partners include the American Eel Research Project in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Historic Red Hook, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Scenic Hudson, Riverkeeper, Hudson River Watershed Alliance (HRWA), Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve, and Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.

Students can also explore international affiliations and institutions through a rich variety of internship and study abroad programs, and take courses with leading practitioners at the Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program in New York City.

Students with an ES concentration and a strong foundation in science, policy, and/or economics may apply to the 4+1 program with the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, earning in five years a BA and a master of science in environmental policy or in climate science and policy or an MEd in environmental education.

Courses

EUS/ES 100: Intro to Environmental Sciences

View current courses HERE

ES STEERING COMMITTEE

WHAT WE DO

The ES Steering Committee consists of faculty members from each of the four academic divisions of the College and the concentration director. This group represents the interdivisional nature of ES. The steering committee makes decisions about the ES curriculum and concentration plans, graduation requirements, and events.

WHO WE ARE

ES Concentration Director
Beate Liepert

Social Studies
Peter Klein

Science, Mathematics, and Computing
Cathy Collins

The Arts
Olga Touloumi

Languages and Literature
Peter L’Official