Champlain College
AC-3: Undergraduate Program

Unlike a typical program in environmental studies or environmental science, the Environmental Studies & Policy major is focused less on theoretical aspects and more on the action-oriented practicalities of what you can do to envision bold solutions and change things for the better. This major zeros in on the frontline tools, human behavior, policies, politics, initiatives and innovations surrounding environmental issues. You learn about systems thinking, the management of resources and waste and new approaches to sustainability. You also become skilled at interpreting statistics and science, communication and influencing decision-making, in the public and private sectors, to help protect the biosphere. Champlain College partners with local organizations to work on real-world environmental issues. Extensive field visits to high-tech local operations, like the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, will give you insights into the bigger picture and on-the-ground realities. There's also plenty of fieldwork if you're interested in the policy side: students take trips to the Vermont State House to learn about lobbying and getting bills passed, sit in on committee meetings and talk with legislators. You also may explore field-based learning through Champlain's community garden and apiary. Recent service learning projects have included constructing a greenhouse using recycled plastic bottles, exploring the possibility of Champlain becoming a conflict-free mineral campus, green investing and raising awareness about water quality for the Lake Champlain Basin Program.

SSB Majors include: Accounting, Business Administration, Finance, Game Production Management, International Business, Management & Innovation, and Marketing. In the forward-thinking Integrated Business Experience (IBE), all incoming Robert P. Stiller School of Business students are immersed in a working business simulation to develop an understanding of the inter-relationships of all business disciplines. One of the required courses in this series is: BUS 210 - CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY This course explores how business can be a force for positive change in the world. Students examine how CSR is more than simply being 'less bad', but rather how being 'good' involves creating sustainable value both within a company and beyond. Through theoretical and hands-on exploration with CSR-minded companies, students learn how to balance the needs of a wide array of stakeholders, from shareholders to customers, local communities, and even the natural environment to change the world through business.

Awareness of environmental issues has penetrated every aspect of our culture —from business, to school, to government— and the relentless public and private pressure to proactively address environment concerns is changing the way we live and work. * Learn a new layer of knowledge that employers in every field are hoping to find in their new hires. * Gain a solid grounding in understanding complex, multi-dimensional environmental issues —and the politics surrounding them. Such a background in environmental policy will be of tremendous value to your future employer and to the community you live in. * Focus less on the theoretical aspects of environmental science and more on the action-oriented practicalities of what people and organizations can do to envision bold solutions and change things for the better. * Focus primarily on the politics of environmental issues and learning how you and your organization can begin to address the environmental impacts and challenges.

Are you interested in integrating socially just practices into your field of study? Do you want to make a real difference in your communities and the world? The 16-credit Social Justice minor will prepare you to view and approach your work through a social justice lens—how an issue impacts the access, opportunity and equality of an individual's or communities' essential economic, political and social rights. Upon completion of this minor, you'll be able to * Analyze the relationship among power, privilege and oppression; * Recognize and counter stereotypes, myths, and discriminatory attitudes and practices at the individual and institutional levels; * Create strategies to advocate for social, political, legal and economic justice; * Facilitate building safe, equitable, sustainable and non-discriminatory communities; * Apply ethical principles to social justice practice.