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    Environmental Studies

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    Office of Admission

    Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts
    79 Fifth Avenue, 5th floor 
    New York, NY 10003 
    Phone: 212.229.5150 or 
    800.292.3040
    Fax: 212.229.5355
    [email protected]

    Program Contacts

    Chairs and Departmental Faculty Advisors for Environmental Studies
    Jürgen von Mahs
    Associate Professor, Urban Studies
    [email protected]

    Student Success Advisor for Global, Environmental, and Urban Studies
    Chris McElderry 
    Assistant Director of Student Success Advising at Lang
    [email protected] 
    646.909.2260

  • Virtual Tour

  • The New School's Environmental Studies program takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the defining ecological issues of our time and creating opportunities to tackle them in practical, direct ways. Our students are innovators and creative problem solvers who are passionate about facing the environmental challenges of this century, curious about the interaction between humans and their environments, and inspired to bring about social and ecological justice.

    • Study Options Major, Minor

    The Environmental Studies program is rooted in the understanding that complex environmental problems cannot be grasped through a single discipline. As a student in the program, you investigate the relationship between humans and their environment through social, ecological, and political dimensions. We emphasize three main areas:

    • A firm grounding in the natural sciences, particularly urban ecology and resilience
    • A sustained engagement with environmental policy and politics, particularly around aspects of inequality, race, and justice
    • Studio-based work on design and sustainability

    Environmental Studies students take classes at Lang, as well as at Parsons School of Design and the Schools of Public Engagement. In an interdisciplinary curriculum that blends liberal arts with science, policy, and design, you take seminar and studio-based courses and engage in fieldwork and internships to gain practical, hands-on experience that is grounded in a rigorous theoretical framework. This prepares you to identify the critical environmental issues that face contemporary cities - and to devise creative and scientifically sound responses that draw on multiple academic disciplines.

    Major requirements

    Minor requirements

    Connecting to New York City

    While it offers the atmosphere and intimacy of a small college, Eugene Lang College is part of The New School, a major progressive university in New York City. As an Environmental Studies student your learning laboratory is the city itself and its diverse, surprising forms of nature. By studying environmental justice issues in NYC, you explore sustainability and climate change as they relate to inequalities along axes of race, class, and community. Finally, senior capstone projects and optional internships with nearby businesses, government agencies, and community groups take you into the professional world of environmental policy, science, business, and design. 

    Career Paths

    The Environmental Studies program prepares you for careers in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors and for graduate study in a wide range of fields. Graduates are able to hold meaningful conversations with experts in related fields and even manage teams of experts in complex projects. Career options include sustainability consulting, public policy, working with corporations in environmental analysis, working with nonprofit environmental organizations, urban design, and urban planning.

    Consult our 4-Year Lang Career Pathways Map (PDF) for helpful steps and resources to link your academic journey to your future plans. If you are planning to pursue graduate studies, consider applying to the Bachelor's-Master's program, which enables you to earn graduate credits that will apply to both your Lang degree and a master's degree in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management at the university's Schools of Public Engagement.

    Outcomes at Lang

    Note: This program is STEM-designated. After graduating, eligible F-1 students in this program can apply for an additional 24 months of Optional Practical Training at the end of their Post-Completion OPT.

  • Courses

    Explore a selection of courses available to you in this program.

    • UENV 2011

      Political Ecology

      Political Ecology is an emerging field that considers the relationship between power, governance, and environmental systems across varied scales. Students engage with the literature on political ecology in order to understand how human civilization and non-human nature have shaped each other through...

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    • UENV 2505

      Climate Futures

      Few issues are more urgent than global warming. Our health, welfare, and existence on this planet depend on addressing this urgent matter. The course will examine the past, present, and potential future of the human impact on Earth's climate. We will follow the long story of carbon as it shapes the ...

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    • In this course we explore the development of Black farming communities in the United States. The course is designed to give students knowledge and understanding of African American rural material culture, including the function of gardens and yard ornamentation. These material expressions are examin...

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  • Environmental Studies include professors from Lang as well as the Schools of Public Engagement. Committed to developing innovative responses to environmental challenges and sustainability issues, they help prepare students for careers that make an impact on the world.

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Submit your application

Undergraduates

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Graduates

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

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