Environmental Policy

Department of Environmental Studies, College of the Environment - Salish Sea Region

WWU College of the Environment - Salish Sea Region (SSR) is a distance based, hybrid interactive network that allows students to actively work alongside world-famous researchers located in Poulsbo, Port Angeles, and Everett, Washington. As a direct transfer pathway program, freshman and sophomore students in regional community colleges have guidance into four-year, direct transfer degree programs into SSR. Designed for working students, classes are scheduled from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. and are initiated utilizing hybrid modality that combines in-person teaching, hands on field labs, and interactive video conferencing.

Academic programming is designed to prepare tomorrow’s interdisciplinary problem solvers by integrating educational course work, faculty-student collaboration, applied research, and professional and community service. Based on College of the Environment’s Bellingham campus interdisciplinary curricula, SSR takes an interdisciplinary and holistic approach to understanding human-environment systems and environmental challenges. The SSR Environmental Studies major includes core classes in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities to prepare our students to integrate knowledge from multiple fields of study. The Environmental Studies major equips students to succeed as environmental professionals through experiential learning and advanced coursework in each student’s choice of an emphasis in GIS or Policy, or an Environmental Science minor.

Do you want to use your knowledge and skills to promote positive change in the environment? Do you love solving problems and implementing shared visions in both natural settings and the policy arena? Are you interested in the laws and policies that govern environmental change? Then the Environmental Studies – Environmental Policy emphasis is for you.

An Environmental Studies – Environmental Policy Emphasis supports students in exploring how science and policy interact as stakeholders attempt to regulate pollution, manage natural resources, protect natural spaces, and live with environmental disturbances. Students will become familiar with regulatory processes and the challenges of engaging in social change through the development and implementation of environmental policy. The emphasis trains students to analyze policy for differential outcomes across social groups, impacts to ecological systems, and as tools for achieving social goals. With an Environmental Policy Emphasis, you can make a difference working at non-profits, as a consultant, or in the government. Graduates with this emphasis often go on to work in environmental agencies at the federal, tribal, state, and local levels, working in consulting and non-profit sectors, or go on to graduate studies in public administration, law, or related fields.