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You may also be interested in the history of ENVS. Lewis & Clark’s Environmental Studies (ENVS) Program was founded in 1997 by Professor Evan T. Williams. Evan championed a “tripod” approach, drawing upon the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. 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 Evan’s life and work with the Evan T. Williams Memorial Tree Walk in 2005.

The ENVS Program now has three dedicated faculty appointments: Liz Safran, a geologist and disasters researcher and Program Director; Jim Proctor, a geographer; and Jessica Kleiss, an oceanographer and climate scientist. ENVS also involves a range of participating faculty specializing in biology, chemistry, economics, history, international affairs, philosophy, sociology, and other fields.

We are at the cutting edge of environmental higher education in the U.S., having launched a number of large funded initiatives over the years; one such was Situating the Global Environment, featuring interdisciplinary environmental research by our students and faculty in sites throughout the world. A recent digital scholarship initiative, funded by an anonymous donor, supported envs.lclark.edu, a site where our students shared their work with a larger public audience during spring and fall semesters 2020. Our digital enhancements to the ENVS curriculum and co-curriculum are gathered together into ENVX Academy, available to prospective, current, and former ENVS students.

Our students graduate with a background in environmental science situated in a broader understanding of cultural, political, and other key dimensions of environmental issues, plus skills and experience they apply to professional opportunities, graduate study, and effective environmental action.