The Bard CEP curriculum integrates the core disciplines of science, policy, law, and economics into a consistent and comprehensive first year of graduate course work. Through close collaboration with faculty and an innovative program of study, students learn to think across disciplines to understand the complexities of today’s environmental problems and challenges. Courses delve simultaneously into curricular themes to provide students with a deep understanding of the issues from multiple perspectives and at the same time highlight linkages and divisions across disciplines. This holistic approach to learning illuminates integral connections between the social world and the physical sciences, and encourages students to incorporate various perspectives and ideologies into their work.
Program Structure
The first-year courses link natural ecosystems and their functioning to the impact of socioeconomic activities, and to the political, institutional, and legislative responses that address environmental problems. Courses emphasize analytical frameworks and basic principles through examples and case studies. Joint class sessions, field trips, guest lectures, and conferences expose students to the critical issues and contemporary practices of environmental policy. The curricula’s structure provides the context for the courses and enables students to examine in an integrated, comprehensive, and realistic manner one particular environmental area at a time.
Environmental policy professionals must be able to communicate their knowledge clearly and effectively through the spoken and written word as well as with images, data, and figures. The courses emphasize various modes of communication and persuasion through writing exercises as well as group presentations. Regional and international implications of “local” environmental problems are explored. Special emphasis is given to the problem of translating scientific knowledge into workable policies. Students learn how scientific knowledge applies to environmental issues and explore the difficulty of policy making under conditions of risk, scientific uncertainty, and incomplete information. Courses in economics, law, and policy provide a basis for exploring how society has responded to changing environmental conditions. The policy tools that are used to address these conditions, including laws, regulations, market-based instruments, and voluntary agreements, are shaped by a variety of political, cultural, and ethical forces. Students analyze how these factors come together to influence the policy-making process. They also analyze how the tools can be applied locally, regionally, and globally to influence behavior, achieve or go beyond compliance, and manage change for preservation of natural resources and environmental protection.
You can find more details about the individual courses here:
http://www.bard.edu/cep/program/ms-environmental/ Funding and Scholarships
Bard CEP offers financial assistance in the form of fellowships, project assistantships, campus employment, and student loans. Financial aid is awarded each year on the basis of academic achievement, financial need, and available funding. Awards are made without regard to sex, sexual orientation, race, color, age, marital status, religion, ethnic or national origin, or handicapping conditions. Financial aid awards are not automatically renewed. Students wishing to reapply for fellowships and loans should submit their materials according to the deadlines for returning students below.
You can find more information about all the funding and support available here:
http://www.bard.edu/cep/admission/financialaid/
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