Climate & Community Leaders

The Nutting Family Climate and Community Leaders program offers a deeply engaging and meaningful pathway for students to explore humankind’s relationship to coastal and ocean environments in an era of global climate change. Participants build leadership, advocacy, and research skillsets through research and travel opportunities related to climate action, environmental sustainability and experiential learning.

Exploring the connection between our oceans, coasts and climate change

Each cohort of Climate and Community Leaders (CCL) students will broaden their understanding of critical environmental issues and make important connections to their chosen field of study. The collective, multi-year experience, which includes a semester at Williams-Mystic, is designed to prepare students for leadership positions in key growing fields, transcending divisional and disciplinary boundaries.

The program is made possible with the support of the Nutting Family, led byTaylor Nutting Gurbacs WM S12, Williams ‘14 and her father, Robert Nutting, Williams ‘84. The Nutting family has a long history of supporting interdisciplinary education at Williams, and this gift is intended to inspire and support students tackling the challenges of the future with thoughtful interdisciplinary and experiential approaches.

What’s Involved?

Combining the interdisciplinary Williams-Mystic coastal and ocean studies semester with access to relevant paid summer internships, alumni and faculty mentorships, and a Winter Study experience, this initiative goes beyond a single semester at Williams-Mystic. 

Cohorts of CCL benefit from climate and environmentally focused research and education opportunities and will illustrate the importance of multiple perspectives, including the humanities and social sciences, in solving complex climate-related challenges. 

Participants build leadership, advocacy, and research skillsets through research and travel opportunities related to climate action, environmental sustainability and experiential learning.

• Each selected CCL student is admitted to Williams-Mystic within two semesters after acceptance. 
• Following their semester at Williams-Mystic, students are eligible for two consecutive paid summer internship opportunities in government, blue economy, non-profit, academic or commercial business sectors and related winter study experiences. Faculty and alumni mentorships support the internship selection process.
• In their junior or senior year, CCLs are eligible to present their work on campus at the semi-annual Williams Climate and Community Research Summit.
• In addition to earning the CCL designation, students successfully completing the pathway will receive a Climate & Community Leader certificate upon graduation. 
• Some CCL students may choose to be Coastal & Ocean Studies concentrators, however, it is not a requirement of the CCL Initiative.
• Students who are selected as Global Scholars are also eligible to apply as Climate & Community Leaders.