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History of environmental study at Sewanee
In his sermon for the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees in 2008, the Right Reverend Henry Parsley, Jr, Chancellor of the University, addressed the future role of the Center, saying in part: “This University now finds itself positioned to be a premier place for environmental studies and for exploring the wise stewardship of the earth in a time of momentous challenge.” (Read the entire sermon.) But Sewanee has a long history of a thoughtful relationship with the land.
For the past decade Sewanee’s Environmental Studies Program has been has been a distinct major, one built upon decades of excellence in field biology, forestry, geology, religion, political science, and economics. The Environmental Studies Program brings together students, faculty, and staff from 12 academic departments to study, discuss, and research environmental issues at local, national, and international scales. The program gives students the interdisciplinary tools to become environmental problem solvers.
The program has its roots in the University’s historic, thoughtful relationship with the Domain. In 1898, Gifford Pinchot, father of modern forestry, initiated one of the first land use studies by the U.S. Forest Service. For more than a century, Sewanee faculty members have developed curricula in biology, forestry, geology, economics, anthropology, and religion founded on the study of the Domain. In 1998, a century after the first land use study, faculty members coordinated and strengthened offerings in environmental studies.
Among the wealth of classes available to students are several innovative courses. A popular freshman offering is “Walking the Land,” a field-oriented geology and writing course that involves extensive hiking on the Cumberland Plateau. Another is “Island Ecology,” an interdisciplinary summer field course that examines a single coastal island ecosystem from the standpoint of several scientific disciplines.
Students at Sewanee can take courses in environmental ethics or environmental history as well as exceptional, environmentally-linked courses in religion or biology. David Haskell, associate professor and chair of biology, teaches a topical course on “Food and Hunger: Contemplation and Action” that links science with ethics and social concerns. Gerald Smith, professor of religion, teaches a fieldwork course that leads students to examine what is happening environmentally in local waste dumps, watercourses, and other sites. Smith’s course helps students understand these problems from the point of view of the people who are living with them. Sid Brown, associate professor of religion, offers a course in “Religious Environmentalism,” featuring a service-learning component that engages students in local concerns and projects.
The environmental studies program is very much the product of a strong liberal arts college. Rooted in academic disciplines, it encourages students to integrate their knowledge of several fields to understand the physical world in a powerful new way. The program is strongly situated to study land-use issues, water, and food policy.
The Center for Religion and Environment seeks to enhance this curricular program with a full co-curricular program.