Environmental Studies
About Environmental Studies
Our Program & Courses
Environmental studies is a major and minor at F&M. You’ll study critical issues of our times: global warming and climate change, environmental justice, alternative energy sources, wilderness protection, ecotourism, and natural resource management. By blending knowledge of environmental policy and science with environmental economics, government, anthropology, social sciences, and other fields including business, literature, history, and the humanities, you’ll develop a deep foundation in environmental knowledge and perspectives, empowering you to become an effective leader, professional, and environmentally literate citizen of the world.
If there is a particular area of environmental studies that most fascinates you, you can craft a specialization within the major. While this is not required, you can choose to specialize in environmental policy and law, environmental justice, biodiversity conservation, food and agriculture, climate change, environmental economics and business, or environment and society.
By the time you graduate, you will:
- Have developed an understanding of and broad ability to explain the relationship between humans and the environment and how that association connects to policy, ethics, natural science, history, philosophy, literature, and arts
- Have cultivated an ability to analyze and articulate various environmental challenges and opportunities, such as climate change, environmental governance, wilderness, biodiversity, land ethics, natural resource use and management, and environmental justice
- Be able to evaluate real-world applications of socio-environmental analysis, including
understanding policy responses and the historical and cultural dimensions of social
and ecological systems
Wondering what environmental studies classes are like? Take a look at our course catalog to explore what classes you can expect.
Learning Outside the Classroom
In the Field
F&M’s location provides the perfect landscape for studying the environment. Lancaster County’s flourishing agricultural industry, the nearby Susquehanna River, and F&M’s Spalding Nature Conservancy provide exciting learning opportunities outside of the classroom. Environmental studies students also pursue internships with environmental nonprofits, government agencies, and local organizations. Many of our students intern with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which includes a competitive application process.
Research Opportunities
If there’s an environmental studies area or idea you’re eager to explore, you won’t
have to wait until graduate school to launch your investigation. Every student at
F&M has extraordinary opportunities to work closely with professors in faculty-led research or engage in an independent research
project.
Explore research at F&M
Many of our students get involved with F&M’s Center for the Sustainable Environment
(CSE), our hub for global environmental stewardship and sustainability on campus.
The CSE is home to a seminar room, a field-work laboratory space, a meeting space
for sustainable clubs on campus, and more. Many students work in the CSE or participate
in its extracurricular activities, food composting workshops, wild food tastings,
and guest speaker presentations.Center for the Sustainable Environment
Explore the CSE
Off-Campus Study
Off-campus study, in the U.S. and internationally, is encouraged. Environmental studies
students have studied abroad in Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia, and
have even spent a semester at sea.
Explore off-campus study at F&M
Entrepreneurship at F&M
In the spirit of living up to Benjamin Franklin’s legacy of creating solutions in the service of the public good, Entrepreneurship at F&M is a program that offers exciting opportunities for all students to explore and develop entrepreneurial skills. Environmental studies students have used their education to develop entrepreneurial opportunities in groundwater exploration; environmental consulting, carbon capture and sequestration; and natural resource management.
Dual Degree Programs
Earn Master of Forestry (M.F.) or Master of Environmental Management (M.E.M.)
In partnership with Duke University, F&M enables you to earn a bachelor’s degree from F&M and a master’s degree from Duke in five or six years.
M.E.M. and M.F. Professional Master’s Degrees
The Duke Professional Master’s program is a two-year, course-based, non-thesis professional degree program similar to law or business school in its applied focus. In fact, the degree will actually be an M.E.M. (Master of Environmental Management) or M.F. (Master of Forestry), depending on the path chosen. This is not the same as applying to graduate school in the college of arts and sciences where you might earn a broader, less applied M.S. (Master of Science) degree in a discipline like Zoology or Biochemistry.
M.E.M. Specializations
The M.E.M. degree is structured around environment and management concentrations. Students select one from each of the following groups of possibilities, to gain depth of knowledge in a topical area (environment) and to build the skills (management) to put this knowledge into practice:
Environment concentrations:
- Coastal and Marine Systems
- Ecotoxicology and Environmental Health
- Energy and Environment
- Terrestrial and Freshwater Environments
Management concentrations:
- Business and the Environment
- Environmental Analytics and Modeling
- Environmental Economics and Policy
- Community Engagement and Environmental Justice
You may spend either three or four years at F&M, during which time you’ll complete all requirements for your chosen major, and all F&M general education requirements. You will then transfer to Duke for two years.
Please consult this document for more details about this program and instructions for participation.
Contact Professor Elizabeth De Santo at edesanto@fandm.edu with any questions related to this program.
Success Beyond F&M
What do environmental studies majors typically do after college? Many of our graduates go on to enjoy successful careers in a wide range of professions and enroll in prestigious graduate programs. You’ll also find alumni support in the Geoscience Founders Society , an organization committed to maintaining connections between current F&M students and faculty with alumni and friends.
Graduate School
A liberal arts background in environmental studies prepares our graduates to go on to excellent graduate programs after F&M. Many pursue advanced degrees in government, law, sustainability, environmental and energy management, and environmental science.
Fellowships
Environmental studies graduates often pursue teaching and public service fellowships with organizations such as Teach for America and Americorps. They also go on to complete fellowships overseas with the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, for which F&M is recognized as a top-producing institution.
Career Paths
Environmental studies graduates are prepared to embark on a wide range of career paths, including positions in government, business, nonprofits, and research. They hold positions such as:
- Environmental, Health, and Safety Specialist
- Environmental Lawyer
- Head of Sustainability
- Vice President, Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG)
- Forestry Coordinator
- Urban Planner
- Public Health Specialist
- Project Manager
- Associate Director
- Senior Research Associate
- Policy Analyst
- Prospective Gifts Manager
- Senior Consultant
- Director of Communications and Community Engagement
- Manager, Government Relations
F&M's Department of Earth & Environment offers laboratory facilities open to F&M faculty,
staff, and students, as well as colleagues from other institutions for their teaching
and research. We have ongoing relationships with F&M's Departments of Chemistry, Physics
and Biology, Millersville University, colleges in the Keck Geology Consortium, NASA,
the U.S. Geological Survey, and Armstrong World Industries. Explore critical environmental issues of today through a scientific lens. By studying
earth and environmental science at F&M, you will build the necessary biological, chemical,
and geological foundation you need to study the earth and understand the dynamics
between humans and our environment. Become an expert in a vital field that consistently ranks among the best undergraduate
programs in the country. By studying geosciences at F&M, you’ll examine and understand
the dynamic processes that shape our planet, the minerals and rocks that comprise
it, and the features and processes of the Earth’s surfaces and interior. Sustainability planning is an increasing need in the marketplace. F&M’s sustainability
planning certificate provides the glue that bonds biology; earth and environment;
and business, organizations and society to prepare students interested in careers
in sustainable practices.Student Spotlight
F&M Compost Co-Op Diverts Costs and CO2 in Lancaster
A Franklin & Marshall College compost initiative has evolved into a co-op saving the
City of Lancaster $5,215 per year – all while diverting 16,638 pounds of food waste
from the solid-waste stream each month. Three students spent their summer evaluating
and co-authoring a white paper documenting the co-op's first year in terms of cost
savings and social impact.
Read More »Student Spotlight
A Morning at Spalding Conservancy
Take a stroll through Franklin & Marshall’s Spalding Conservancy on any given day,
and you might just find yourself in the middle of a student research project. The
54-acre property is home to flora, fauna and countless discoveries. On a crisp morning
during reading days, William Li '23 refilled bird feeders at Baker Campus, a wide
swath of green space abutting the Spalding woodlands.
Read More »Earth and Environment Laboratory Facilities
Related Fields of Study
Earth and Environmental Science
Geosciences
Sustainability Planning Certificate
Environmental Studies in Action
March 7, 2024
Mary Adams ’24 Embraces All F&M Has to Offer
Choosing F&M was about exploring the unknown for senior Mary Adams. Thanks to a generous financial aid package, she has completed academic studies, field research and internships both on campus and abroad.
December 7, 2023
Students Take on Climate Change Beyond the Classroom
F&M students are inspiring climate action in unconventional ways. From internships to advocacy on campus, meet students making sustainability a more accessible concept.
May 2, 2023
Alum Oversees Wildlife at Zion National Park
Wolves, bear, bison, elk — Franklin & Marshall College alumna Janice Stroud-Settles '00 has studied them all (and more). On the heels of National Park Week, Stroud-Settles gave us a behind-the-scenes glimpse into her life as the wildlife program manager for Zion National Park in southern Utah.