The Program in the Environment (PitE) is distinguished by its environmental subject matter and its interdisciplinary and practical approach. Broadly speaking, PitE’s curriculum focuses on the complex interactions of human beings and their environment. To understand these interactions and learn how to create more sustainable and socially equitable forms of human habitation on this planet, PitE students develop a multidisciplinary perspective integrating the methods and approaches of the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. PitE’s pedagogy is also distinguished by its focus on engaged learning and field experiences. By means of PitE’s many field classes and internships, PitE students put their scientific, policy, and cultural scholarship into practice. Thus, a PitE education has a two-fold payoff. It produces graduates with a multidisciplinary education in environmental issues and topics who also have some first-hand experience putting their knowledge into practice. PitE students go on to pursue a diverse array of careers, becoming environmental scientists, urban farmers, environmental lawyers and policy makers, landscape architects, environmentally oriented journalists, artists and filmmakers, urban planners, environmental educators, and entrepreneurs pursuing sustainable business models, among many other things.
Going beyond the baseline goal of producing environmentally literate citizens, PitE aims to offer both a broad liberal arts education in environmental topics and the opportunity for students to pursue lines of individual interest in considerable depth.
