The Curriculum
Whether you choose our major or concentration, coursework and hands-on learning will prepare you to put critical environmental thinking into practice to meet fundamental global challenges.
Why Study Environmental Studies?
We offer two environmental studies paths—the major and the concentration. Both will prepare you to join the many Williams graduates meeting ecological challenges as public servants, nonprofit leaders, researchers, forestry and agriculture experts, essayists and novelists, and more.
The Major
We aim to help you become a well-informed, deeply engaged, environmentally literate global citizen. Our ten-course major allows you to focus on one of three elective paths: environmental science, social science and policy, or culture and humanities. Required courses common to all majors will complement your chosen path through multiple perspectives on how humans interact with the environment. Broad exposure will hone your ability to think in interdisciplinary ways and employ synthetic approaches to solve critical environmental problems.
The Concentration
This six-course program will expose you to a variety of perspectives and knowledge across the Williams curriculum, exploring how humans interact with the environment. The goal of our concentration is to equip you to think in interdisciplinary ways and to use synthetic approaches to solve problems, drawing knowledge and experiences from whichever discipline you choose as your major. As with the major, our aim is to help you become a well-informed, deeply engaged, environmentally literate global citizen.
Featured Courses
With growing threats to the natural world from human activities, it is crucial to understand spatial and temporal patterns and trends of these changes and their impacts on humans and ecosystems.
Why do things happen where they do? What is the relationship between place and identity? How do history and politics shape the way people conceptualize space? What can landscapes tell us about the values, beliefs, and ideas of the people who inhabit them?
Like in the classic era, cities of the 19th century were metaphors for government: good government could not exist without good governance of the city.
Honors Thesis
As an environmental studies major or concentrator, you can apply to complete an honors thesis. Faculty members will help you dive deeply into the environmental topic of your choice. Recent senior thesis topics range from arctic governance in the midst of climate change to the vanguard of green development in New York City.
Winter Study
Winter Study courses play an important role in the program, offering opportunities to experiment in fields unfamiliar to the student, and for interdisciplinary topics to be developed by faculty working alone and in teams. Students are urged to review each year’s Winter Study offerings bearing in mind their interests in the environment.
To find Winter Study courses offered through the Environmental Studies program, search the Winter Study catalog for course labeled “ENVI”.
Study Away
Environmental challenges are global challenges, and environmental studies offers many options for study around the world. Programs like The School for Field Studies, The School for International Training and its International Honors Program have programs throughout North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. We encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities in environments different from the ones you’re accustomed to.