The mission of the Department of Environmental Science & Policy is to educate students to become the professionals who understand and solve environmental problems and, more broadly, to create a Marist College student body with a high level of environmental consciousness. The demands upon Earth's natural resources and life-support systems increase each year as human population and consumption levels increase. Our ability to cope with such demands requires that we educate more of the population about environmental resources, problems and solutions. Consequently, the Department educates majors to become knowledgeable, skilled professionals and educates non-majors to become highly responsible environmental citizens. Majors are also prepared for advanced courses and research in graduate programs.
The Department is an interactive community of faculty and students, committed to better understanding the environment and the problems confronting it, and to finding solutions to correct them. Students are actively engaged by faculty having diverse expertise in natural and social sciences related to study of the environment. We offer a stimulating and relevant curriculum that incorporates classroom, laboratory, field, research, internship and seminar experiences. Through this curriculum, we educate for fundamental understanding of the structure and function of natural, economic, and political systems as they relate to the environment. Students come to appreciate the details, complexity, and interrelatedness of systems and problems. We also examine the effects of society's activities upon environmental resources and their relevance to human well-being.
Given the College's location, the Department seeks to integrate the ecological features and environmental affairs of the Hudson River Valley, as well as its rich history and culture, into its instructional, scholarly, service, and outreach activities. Moreover, the Department is committed to promoting and contributing to environmentally sustainable practices on campus and beyond.
