Grinnell College plans to implement an Environmental Studies major by the 2027-28 academic year pending an approval process this spring, said Peter Jacobson, professor of biology and chair of the environmental studies concentration. While the future of the environmental studies concentration after the introduction of the major is currently unclear, Jacobson said, students who have declared or are planning to declare the concentration will be able to complete it.
“The concentration and major question has got to be a college-wide discussion,” said Jacobson. Since environmental studies would be the first discipline at the College to encompass both a major and a concentration, continuing the concentration would likely require a larger review of College policy.
Introducing the major will help Grinnell to remain competitive in the wider higher education landscape, said Ruth Feingold, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the College.
“We are the only one of our so-called Peer 17 group of schools that we compare ourselves to, schools like Carleton and Macalester, that does not have an environmental studies or environmental science major,” said Feingold. “We have students who potentially could get a fantastic education in our environmental studies program who might not be coming to Grinnell because it’s not listed as a major.”
The process of creating the major began in 2018 when a study was sent out to over 100 environmental studies students and alumni, Jacobson said.
“One of the questions we had was, do we just maintain the concentration and make some minor modifications, or do we move towards a major? And what emerged out of that was a pretty clear consensus among alums and current students to add a major,” Jacobson said.
Despite clear student interest, staffing challenges needed to be addressed before the major could be brought to fruition, said Andrew Graham, professor of chemistry.
One key addition was Professor Evan Couzo, a climate scientist who began teaching at the College in Spring 2025. Professor Jules Bacon was another recent hire who contributed a variety of courses in environmental sociology, said Jacobson.
“We’re sort of at a place now where we have the faculty personnel in order to actually make this a reality,” said Graham.
The environmental studies committee, made up of 16 faculty members from all three divisions of the college, is working together to develop a major curriculum proposal to be submitted this spring, said Jacobson.
While the exact structure of the major is still under discussion and may depend on future hires, current plans call for three core courses in earth science, the environmental humanities and social sciences, he said.
Beyond the core courses, students will choose a thematic focus for their studies based on their personal interests, such as climate science or environmental biology, said Graham.
The 400-level Environmental Studies seminar, currently part of the concentration, will be kept as part of the major, said Jacobson.
After the proposal is submitted, it will be brought to the divisions of the college for a vote on April 13, said Jacobson. If passed, the proposal will be sent to the curriculum committee, after which, pending approval, it will proceed to a final vote at a full faculty meeting on May 4, he said.
Jacobson said the Environmental Studies faculty hope to establish a dedicated department for the major within the next 5 to 10 years. This would streamline hiring, he said, as the department would be able to bring on faculty directly instead of finding a separate departmental home for each new professor. In the long term, new hires will provide students with a wider variety of 300-level coursework in the environmental humanities and social sciences, with a particular focus on agriculture.
“It’s a way of acknowledging the importance of environmental issues broadly to what it means to be a global citizen of the 21st century,” said Graham. “Whether it’s climate change or loss of biodiversity or water scarcity, these are problems that are really, really important and that Grinnellians should be prepared to make meaningful contributions to solving.”
