Environmental Studies celebrates its 50th anniversary

There are dozens of environmental studies programs at universities across the U.S., but only one is housed in a school dedicated to public service.

The Environmental Studies program at Ohio University’s George Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2024, an immense source of pride for Athens native and Program Director Dr. Natalie Kruse Daniels, who takes great delight when she considers the program as it reaches this milestone.

“I'm most proud of the dedication to service that our students, alumni, and our faculty and staff have, and that work is purposeful,” she says. “We don’t do research for research's sake, but it’s about meeting that public service mission.”

The program currently counts nearly 200 students in four tracks: two graduate degrees, an undergraduate honors degree, and an undergraduate certificate. Each path emphasizes applied scholarship that brings in actual results and applications to benefit the people of Appalachia and beyond.

Kruse Daniels points to a recent student who independently took on the fieldwork and data analysis required to write what’s known as “a nine-element plan,” which serves as a watershed planning proposal that the state of Ohio requires to receive access to 319 Funds, monies used to manage nonpoint source water quality issues. Says Kruse Daniels: “That project was implemented, and that shows the depth of experience for the student, but it also has a real impact on an organization and the region.”

The Environmental Studies program underwent a significant change in 2006 when the decision was made to move the program from the College of Arts and Sciences to reside under the full purview of the Voinovich School. At the time, the work of the Voinovich School was almost entirely external, with minimal faculty and no students and serving as an “institute” for leadership and public policy.

The Environmental Studies director at the time, Michele Morrone, and colleague Scott Miller led the team tasked with the move, handling everything from crafting an overarching mission statement for the Voinovich School to redesigning the curriculum. It was a lot of heavy lifting, but finally, in 2012, the program was ready to grant degrees.

“There was a lot of course design work, including the minutiae like coming up with prefixes for each class so students could register,” says Morrone, who remained the program director until 2012 before moving back to her position in the College of Health Sciences and Professions.

“The bigger picture was to move it from a professional entity to a full academic program,” she says. “Moving the Environmental Studies program to the Voinovich School was key in making that change.”

One of the hallmarks of the program has remained the same for 50 years: The ability for students to take classes across the University for a multi-disciplined educational experience. Courses outside of the GVS are now required.

Craig Butler was one of the program’s early graduates, collaborating with Dr. Jeff Smith, a much-loved professor with a penchant for roaming Clippinger Hall while smoking a cigarette.

“The program was self-directed at the time, so you had tremendous freedom,” Butler says. “I spent much time in the engineering program, political science, biological sciences, and more traditional environmental programs like geography and geology.”

Kruse Daniels has worked to maintain and open new opportunities for environmental studies students to collaborate across campus, with students having to complete a multidisciplinary thesis for their capstone, in which the committee comprises faculty from at least two different departments.

Of course, one of the measures of success for any college program is the ability to place graduates in jobs in their field of study. Butler, who spent 32 years at the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before retiring in 2022, hired multiple environmental studies program graduates during his career, even setting up an EPA field office in Logan, Ohio, that served as a place for internships and a pit stop for fresh graduates to get their start before moving up the chain at the Ohio EPA or onto other external positions.

“The cool part is that they're really practical employees, and they have diverse educational backgrounds. They are ready and willing to apply for any positions, whether in technical fields or more policy-oriented positions,” says Butler, who remains intimately involved with the Voinovich School as well as serving on the University’s Board of Trustees.

The program’s next 50 years are coinciding with great upheaval in the world, from technological advancements, climate change, war, and conflict to disruptions in water or food supplies. Planning and adapting while mitigating some of those worst effects is crucial for survival, a notion that the Environmental Studies program is eager and capable of addressing.

“We need well-rounded, thoughtful individuals that come from a program like ours,” says Kruse Daniels. “So, I hope that we can continue to grow our impact, our partnerships, and the reach of our programs beyond what we've been able to do so far.”

The OHIO Environmental Studies program will celebrate its 50th year with a special panel and luncheon on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. All members of the OHIO community are invited to attend.