Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 63.09
Liaison Elida Erickson
Submission Date April 17, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

University of California, Santa Cruz
AC-4: Graduate Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Shauna Casey
Sustainability Programs Manager
Campus Sustainability Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution offer at least one sustainability-focused major, degree program, or the equivalent for graduate students?:
Yes

The name of the sustainability-focused, graduate-level degree program (1st program):
Doctoral program in the Department of Environmental Studies

A brief description of the graduate degree program (1st program):

"Established in 1994, the Doctoral program* in the Department of Environmental Studies at UCSC emphasizes close faculty-student interactions, department-wide intellectual exchange, and cross-discipline innovation. The goal of our Ph.D. program is to develop exceptional individuals with strong foundations in their own fields, and the ability to work with those in other relevant specialties.

The program draws from two main areas: ecology and social science. These are historically independent fields and UCSC's Environmental Studies program is one of the first to link them.

Graduates of the Environmental Studies Doctoral Program at UC Santa Cruz are expected to be informed in conservation biology, global change ecology, agroecology, environmental policy, and political economy of the environment. Our students have deep intellectual strength in their area of specialty, and make substantial contributions toward the understanding of an environmental problem.\"


The website URL for the graduate degree program (1st program) :
The name of the sustainability-focused, graduate-level degree program (2nd program):
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A brief description of the graduate degree program (2nd program):
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The website URL for the graduate degree program (2nd program):
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The name of the sustainability-focused, graduate-level degree program (3rd program):
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A brief description of the graduate degree program (3rd program):
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The website URL for the graduate degree program (3rd program):
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The name and website URLs of all other sustainability-focused, graduate-level degree program(s):
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Does the institution offer one or more graduate-level sustainability-focused minors, concentrations or certificates?:
No

The name of the graduate-level sustainability-focused minor, concentration or certificate (1st program):
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A brief description of the graduate minor, concentration or certificate (1st program):
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The website URL for the graduate minor, concentration or certificate (1st program):
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The name of the graduate-level sustainability-focused minor, concentration or certificate (2nd program):
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A brief description of the graduate minor, concentration or certificate (2nd program):
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The website URL for the graduate minor, concentration or certificate (2nd program):
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The name of the graduate-level sustainability-focused minor, concentration or certificate (3rd program):
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A brief description of the graduate minor, concentration or certificate (3rd program):
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The website URL for the graduate minor, concentration or certificate (3rd program):
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The name and website URLs of all other graduate-level, sustainability-focused minors, concentrations and certificates:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Established in 1994, the Doctoral program* in the Department of Environmental Studies at UCSC emphasizes close faculty-student interactions, department-wide intellectual exchange, and the flexibility for continued innovation. The goal of our Ph.D. program is to develop exceptional individuals with strong foundations in their own fields, and the ability to work with those in other relevant disciplines.

Our faculty and students are deeply involved in ongoing environmental debates, and our program's structure is based on the belief that effective and useful environmental practice must be informed by interdisciplinary perspectives.

The program draws from two main areas: ecology and social science.These all are historically independent fields and UCSC's Environmental Studies program is one of the first to link them!

Our interests in ecology include:

* Conservation biology and global change ecology - the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem processes, and reducing human impacts on other species
* Agroecology - where ecological knowledge is used to inform human management of nature for the production of natural products for human use in ways that minimize environmental impacts.

Our interests in social science bridges the dimension between:

* Environmental policy analysis - which looks for the best management strategies within the frame of existing social institutions and practices

* And Political economy of the environment - which examines the deeper social processes through which the institutions that structure our social and ecological agendas have been constructed.

Environmental Studies graduates are expected to be informed in all of these fields, to have deep intellectual strength in their area of specialty, and to have made substantial contributions toward the understanding of an environmental problem.

Credit: Ben Ditto


Established in 1994, the Doctoral program* in the Department of Environmental Studies at UCSC emphasizes close faculty-student interactions, department-wide intellectual exchange, and the flexibility for continued innovation. The goal of our Ph.D. program is to develop exceptional individuals with strong foundations in their own fields, and the ability to work with those in other relevant disciplines.

Our faculty and students are deeply involved in ongoing environmental debates, and our program's structure is based on the belief that effective and useful environmental practice must be informed by interdisciplinary perspectives.

The program draws from two main areas: ecology and social science.These all are historically independent fields and UCSC's Environmental Studies program is one of the first to link them!

Our interests in ecology include:

* Conservation biology and global change ecology - the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem processes, and reducing human impacts on other species
* Agroecology - where ecological knowledge is used to inform human management of nature for the production of natural products for human use in ways that minimize environmental impacts.

Our interests in social science bridges the dimension between:

* Environmental policy analysis - which looks for the best management strategies within the frame of existing social institutions and practices

* And Political economy of the environment - which examines the deeper social processes through which the institutions that structure our social and ecological agendas have been constructed.

Environmental Studies graduates are expected to be informed in all of these fields, to have deep intellectual strength in their area of specialty, and to have made substantial contributions toward the understanding of an environmental problem.

Credit: Ben Ditto

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