Some of the biggest challenges we face today are at the intersection of social and environmental problems. As such, working to resolve issues ranging from climate change to environmental injustice require perspectives that crosscut the social and natural sciences.

The Environment & Sustainability Studies Program (ENVST) convenes interdisciplinary scholars who provide scientific training in its social context so to prepare students to meet these local and global challenges. Students receive training in the foundations of environmental science and environmental studies, with upper division coursework focusing on global climate change, challenges to sustainability, and environmental justice, as well as a diverse set of interdisciplinary electives across four emphases that allow students to tailor their education toward their interests and career goals.

Our students also take their education out of the classroom and into the community and field through capstone and community-based research projects that broaden their perspectives and make lasting impacts. As one of the first programs in the nation to include environmental justice coursework as a degree requirement, we feel strongly about the need to embed teaching and research in contexts that help solve pressing environmental and social problems. 

While these are challenging times, the resolve of our students to make a better future give us hope.  We have students interning at over twenty local organizations and capstone students engaged in community partnership research projects across northern Utah. Our alumni can be found both locally and nationally at Heal Utah, Antelope Island State Park, Swaner Ecocenter, and NOAA.

We are honored to be a part of this program. For us, it is a beacon of what higher education should be: interdisciplinary, engaged, student-centered, and offering many high impact opportunities for students.