Wesleyan University
ER-T2-8: Themed Semester or Year

Each year, Feet to the Fire adopts an environmental theme for its programming, which has included water, global climate change, and hunger. During orientation in alternating years, first-year students engage in multidisciplinary discussions about the Feet to the Fire theme and participate in a Common Moment in which the arts are used to catalyze and embody our understanding. Each year, the College of the Environment gathers a group of Wesleyan faculty, scholars of prominence from outside Wesleyan, and undergraduate students into a year-long academic think tank on a critical environmental issue. The aim of the think tank is not only to generate a deeper understanding of the thematic issue, but also to produce scholarly works that will influence national and international thinking and action on the issue. The think tank serves as a focal point for the global intellectual community concerned with the environment. Scholars and students in the think tank are expected to produce scholarly works by the end of the academic year.