General Overview

Portland, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest are an ideal location for building one of the top undergraduate environmental studies programs in the United States. Our assets are unique:

• A high-quality, diverse academic environment that stresses the creative synthesis of scholarly reflection and practical engagement

• An urban and regional setting that is perhaps unequalled in its environmental opportunities for current and former students

• A vigorous overseas program that offers students a global, comparative environmental perspective

Lewis & Clark’s Environmental Studies Program was founded in 1997 by a visionary, Professor Evan T. Williams. His was the spirit of pluralism and engagement: Evan championed a "tripod" approach drawing upon the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities to fully inform our understanding of environmental issues, and he was active in a number of local and larger causes. Sadly, Evan fell victim to cancer a few years after founding the program, but his legacy of intellectual diversity and making a difference lives on. In his honor, Lewis & Clark College commemorated his life and work with the Evan T. Williams Memorial Tree Walk in 2005. In addition, the Lewis & Clark College Sustainability Council awards one individual and one organizational recipient annually with the Evan T. Williams Sustainability Prize.

In 2005, Lewis & Clark welcomed Professor Jim Proctor as Director of the Environmental Studies Program. Jim is a geographer with a background spanning environmental science to religious studies. Under his guidance, the Environmental Studies Program has moved fully into the 21st century with cutting-edge theory and technology, and opportunities for students to connect local and global processes responsible for the environmental transformations we witness today.

Jim is joined in Environmental Studies by committed faculty specializing in biology, philosophy, economics, geology, international affairs, sociology, and many other fields, all of whom seek the connections that make environmental studies a uniquely interdisciplinary field. The Program enjoys strong college support: its students play a major role in promoting green design and lifestyle on campus, and the existence of professional programs in law, education, and counseling is a real asset to Environmental Studies majors.

Funded in part by a major Andrew Mellon Foundation grant, we are currently involved in a number of exciting initiatives for students, bringing cutting-edge environmental thinkers onto campus, and building online resources for local, regional, and international environmental research sites. We are currently developing a process in conjunction with the Center for Career and Community Engagement office to provide students with professional training and skills while pursuing exciting internships. Environmental Studies is also developing a process with the office of Overseas and Off-Campus Programs to integrate work done by students on their study-abroad programs into the Environmental Studies research program.

We are proud of what we offer, and look forward to continued growth and further educational opportunities for our students.