Environmental Studies Program, 1968-2000, n.d.
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
The Environmental Studies Program grew from Humankind Tomorrow, a winter term project offered from 1978 to 1980. By the late 1970s enough faculty members were interested in environmental issues to push for the establishment of a curricular committee in Environmental Studies. The committee successfully applied for a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to develop courses on the subject in the humanities, received in 1982. With the success of the committee and growing student interest, the committee decided to apply for program status for a subject envisioned as interdisciplinary in nature. The college reviewers for program status were two of the most eminent senior members of the faculty at that time – Milton Yinger in Sociology and Norman Craig in Chemistry. They strongly endorsed program status, and the faculty voted in favor of it.
A tenure-track position was approved by College Faculty Council in 1981, but it was a beginning assistant professor position, and the new program needed a more senior faculty member. In 1989 David Orr, a more experienced and highly energetic faculty member, was hired and began to develop the program more effectively. Orr’s vision and dynamism reshaped the program and provided the momentum required to move the program into the 21st century. Until 1994, when the College hired a new president, Nancy S. Dye, Orr was unable to gain administrative support for a “green” building for the program. Dye approved plans for an energy-efficient building to house the program, constructed in 1999 as the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Envionmental Studies. A second tenure-track faculty position was filled in January 2001, and a third position was authorized for the program in 2002.
The Lewis Center exemplifies the program’s teaching philosophy, which recognizes that real world experience and practical engagement complement traditional coursework. The building runs a Living Machine wastewater treatment facility, maintained primarily by students. An extensive data monitoring system allows the center's staff and Oberlin college maintenance staff to track the performance of various systems in the building.
Students are encouraged to use their creativity and initiative to analyze and address local, regional, and global challenges. In many cases, work begun in the context of classes and independent studies have developed into fellowships, organizations, policy change, and even careers.
Beyond the Lewis Center, the entire college facility and the Oberlin community function as laboratories for environmental problem solving. In fall 2006, for example, Oberlin College became the first of its peer institutions to sign the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. In 2009 and 2010, the Sierra Club’s magazine ranked Oberlin as one of the top 100 "cool schools" in America for the environmental awareness of its students, faculty, and staff.
Sources Consulted
Manuscript history (2 pp.) of the Environmental Studies Program by Clayton Koppes, Professor of History, 5 December, 2002 (in case file).
Oberlin College Environmental Studies Program website at http://new.oberlin.edu/arts-and-sciences/departments/environment/index.dot, accessed 28 February 2014.
Author: Anne Cuyler Salsich Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative Information
The records are arranged into seven series, with subseries as listed:
Series 1. Administrative Files
Subseries 1. Annual Reports
Subseries 2. Minutes
Subseries 3. Program Review Files
Subseries 4. Miscellaneous Administrative Files
Subseries 5. Grant Files
Subseries 6. Personnel Files (restricted)
Subseries 7. Environmental Studies and ES Program Committee
Subseries 8. Correspondence
Subseries 9. Majors
Series 2. Curriculum Files
Subseries 1. Academic Course Materials
Subseries 2. Winter Term Files
Subseries 3. Visiting Scholars and Mini-Courses
Subseries 4. Student Papers
Subseries 5. Files relating to the Gorn Prize
Subseries 6. Study Abroad Programs
Series 3. Historical Files
Series 4. Financial Records
Series 5. Program and Special Events
Subseries 1. Speakers’ File (at Oberlin)
Subseries 2. Colloquium for Majors Related Materials
Subseries 3. Special Events at Oberlin College
Subseries 4. Projects Relating to the Oberlin Community
Series 6. Subject Files
Series 7. Publications
Subseries 1. Printed (regular)
Subseries 2. Publicity Files
Subseries 3. Newsletters, 1985-2000 (4 folders)
Subseries 4. Non-Oberlin Related Publications
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Administrative Files, 1972-99, n.d. (248 folders)
The series documents the development of an Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin from the second ad-hoc committee of the late 1970s, to the Environmental Studies Committee (1979), then the Environmental Studies Program Committee (1980-93). Although program status was granted in the 1979-80 academic year, the ESPC slowly expanded their control over the new program. This series consists of documents pertaining to or generated by individual committee members. The existence today of Environmental studies at Oberlin owes much to the dedication of a small group of faculty members to this interdisciplinary field in terms of time and committee work.
The series is arranged into the following subseries: 1. Annual Reports, 2. Minutes, 3. Program Review Files, 4. Miscellaneous Administrative Files, 5. Grant Files, 6. Personnel files, 7. Committees, 8. Correspondence, 9. Majors.
Subseries 1. Annual Reports, 1979-84, 1988-89 (3 folders)
Included in this subseries are Annual reports from the ESPC (1979-83, 1988-89) as well as the supporting documents used by the committee to write the reports.
Subseries 2. Minutes, 1979, 1980-92 (3 folders)
Contains the minutes of the Environmental Studies Committee (1979) and the Environmental Studies Program Committee (1979-92). These committees are composed of faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences.
The handwritten notes from several of the meetings belong to Harlan Wilson. For additional information on the activities of the committee see subseries 7.
Subseries 3. Program Review Files, 1984-85, 1992-93 (4 folders)
The initial program review of Environmental Studies took place in 1985, in accordance with the five-year plan developed after the program was granted official status in spring 1980. The second review occurring approximately every seven years took place in 1993. Supporting documents accompany each program review.
Subseries 4. Miscellaneous Administrative Files, 1978-80, 1981,
1983, 1988, n.d. (7 folders)
The files in this subseries pertain to decisions carried out during the transition from an Environmental Studies Committee (1978-79) to the attainment of program status in 1980. Included are materials maintained by the chairperson of ESC, investigations of other academic programs in ES, and Oberlin College generated ESP proposals.
Subseries 5. Grant Files, 1979-98 (110 folders)
In the early years Environmental Studies at Oberlin College depended on grants from NEH and the Mellon Foundation. Some of these files may be of interest to higher education historians as they contain proposals and descriptions of individual independent projects carried out by the earliest Environmental Studies Majors at Oberlin (until 1984 ES majors were actually Individual Majors).
Also contained in this subseries are the ES Curriculum Enrichment Grant (1978-80) and subsequent proposal to the Ohio Environmental Education Fund to establish an Environmental Education curriculum in the Oberlin Public Schools. Of some interest is that Oberlin College professors and students collaborated to generate this proposal.
Subseries 6. Personnel Files, 1980s-90s (73 folders) RESTRICTED
The general personnel files contain job descriptions and staffing requests. Some of these documents report on the interdisciplinary nature of Environmental Studies as well as on how departments filed joint applications for faculty to build up the number of courses in Environmental Studies. Also contained within this series are personnel files of individuals. Access to this series is restricted.
Subseries 7. Environmental Studies and ES Program Committee,
1978-79, 1980-92 (22 folders)
Contained in the subseries are one file of notes and documents from the Environmental Studies Committee, 1978-79, and ten folders from the Environmental Studies Program Committee, 1980-86.
For information on the two ad-hoc committees (1971-72, 1977-78), see also the historical files series.
Subseries 8. Correspondence, 1979-82, 1988 (3 folders)
This small subseries consists of letters written by members of the ESPC, including one folder of Clayton Koppes’ correspondence.
Subseries 9. Majors, 1972-99 (14 folders)
The bulk of the subseries contains records on students who majored in Environmental Studies from 1979-88. Materials exist pertaining to advising and the academic work of minors. Of special interest is a compiled list 1972-99 of all Environmental Studies majors, including names of students that pre-date program’s existence.
Series 2. Curriculum Files, 1973-96 (81 folders)
The Environmental Studies curriculum grew out of the academic interests held by particular faculty members. The files found here reflect how faculty incorporated environmental concerns and issues into their courses, as well as developing new courses that specifically related to the environment. Without a permanent tenure-track faculty teaching position in the field of Environmental Studies, ESPC had to develop other paths to enhance the curriculum and promote community awareness. This included visiting scholars teaching mini-courses and a colloquium series of lectures. Also found here are files relating to Winter Term, which further developed an ES program at Oberlin.
This series is arranged into subseries: 1. Academic Course Materials, 2. Winter Term Files, 3. Visiting Scholars and Mini-Courses, 4. Student Papers, 5. Files relating to the Gorn Prize, and 6. Study Abroad Programs.
Subseries 1. Academic Course Materials, 1973, 1974, 1979-92, 1993
(25 folders)
Contained in this subseries are materials related to courses taught on Environmental themes. Included are files for two courses taught by David Egloff in the early 1970s, well before the existence of an ESC. The bulk of the materials, however, pertain to courses established by the ESC and later the ESPC. This subseries documents the interdisciplinary nature of Environmental Studies, as well as the effort that went into planning the core courses, such as Introduction to Environmental Studies (ES 100/BIO 100) and Environment and Society (ENVS 101).
See also Committee files for class schedules and course listings by year.
Subseries 2. Winter Term Files, 1969, 1971, 1974, 1977-90 (18 folders)
The original proposal (1971) for an ES program grew out of interest in an ExCo course on the environment. Seven years later, in 1978, the success of an interdisciplinary Winter Term project, entitled “Humankind Tomorrow,” generated the interest to create officially an Environmental Studies Committee.
Subseries 3. Visiting Scholars and Mini-Courses, 1980-88, 1990
(25 folders)
The records in this subseries document the selection of visiting scholars, the mini-course materials used, as well as promotional materials for academic work falling under the Visiting Scholar program in Environmental Studies. These mini-courses formed an integral part of the early ESP curriculum.
Some of the materials in these files span the academic year in which the mini-course was taught, however, the folders are labeled with the date of the course was offered.
Subseries 4. Student Papers, 1980-85, (5 folders)
These papers represent a sampling of early student work from courses, honors projects, private readings, and independent research initiatives in Environmental Studies.
Subseries 5. Files relating to the Gorn Prize, 1979-95 (2 folders)
Funded initially by the Joyce A. Gorn (OC ’73) Memorial Prize Fund, and later with an endowed prize fund, this award recognizes students for “excellence in an off-campus activity which required personal initiative and was designed to have an important impact on an environmental problem.”
Subseries 6. Study Abroad Programs, 1987-91 (6 folders)
The subseries contains information on a variety of study abroad programs related to environmental studies.
Series 3. Historical Files, 1969-93 (16 folders)
Documented in this series is the development of the Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin. Of particular interest are two early initiatives—the Eco-Oberlin Conference (1970) and the ExCo “Environment” course (1971-72, 1978-79). These were collaborative efforts between faculty and students. The success of the course prompted the founding of the first ad-hoc Environmental Studies Committee (1971-72). Also of note in this series are timelines of ES at Oberlin, compiled lists of committee members and majors from 1969-93.
Series 4. Financial Records, 1980-91 (11 folder)
This series consists of financial records, particularly ones related to outside grants and speaker funds.
Series 5. Program and Special Events, 1968-69, 1977-93, n.d. (61 folders)
The Environmental Studies Program Committee and ES students sponsored a number of special events and projects, which are documented in this series.
This series is broken into subseries 1. Speakers’ File (at Oberlin), 2. Colloquium related materials, 3. Special events at Oberlin College, and 4. Projects relating to the Oberlin Community.
Subseries 1. Speakers’ File (at Oberlin), 1980-88, 1992-93
(19 folders)
Included in this subseries are the files on talks given at Oberlin College by prominent environmentalists.
Subseries 2. Colloquium for Majors Related Materials, 1981-87
(15 folders)
The Environmental Studies Weekly Colloquium for Majors complemented the Mini-courses in the spring semester. Both programs supplemented the Oberlin Environmental Studies curriculum during the program’s early years. Each fall ES majors signed up to attend the Friday afternoon lectures and in return for a write up of the colloquium lectures they received 1.00 credit toward their individual major.
The documents in this series pertain to the organizational efforts by the ESPC to coordinate the weekly lecture series.
Subseries 3. Special Events at Oberlin College, 1969, 1979, 1984-85,
1988-90, 1992, 2000 (11 folders)
Contained in this subseries are information on conferences and panels held at Oberlin on environmental issues, and materials related to the dedication of the Adam Joseph Lewis Environmental Studies Center building, September 15-16, 2000.
Subseries 4. Projects Relating to the Oberlin Community, 1968,
1977-91, n.d. (18 folders)
This subseries documents the programs and projects initiated in the Oberlin Community by individuals connected to the Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin College. Included is the 1968 Kenndicot Petition project to stop mining in Washington state. Information and materials on student environmental groups at Oberlin, such as the Environmental Cooperative House of Oberlin (ECHO) and the Environmental Studies Information Center (ESIC), can also be found here.
Series 6. Subject Files, 1969-91 (20 folders)
Files on a variety of topics related to Environmental Studies are contained in this series, including newspaper clippings and materials from Ohio Environmental groups.
Series 7. Publications, 1969-2000 (12 folders)
Subseries 1. Printed (regular), 1969-89, 1992, 2000. (5 folders)
This subseries includes printed matter pertaining to the Environmental Studies program at Oberlin. David Egloff collected many of these files.
Subseries 2. Publicity Files, 1981-83 (2 folders)
Contained in this subseries are publicity releases and admissions materials for the Environmental Studies program.
Subseries 3. Newsletters, 1985-2000 (4 folders)
The variety of newsletters on Environmental Studies at Oberlin are located in this subseries, including “Backyard,” “Friends of Environmental Studies,” and the “Oberlin Environmentalist.”
Subseries 4. Non-Oberlin Related Publications, 1970s-1990 (2 folder)
Included are newsletters and clippings from regional environmental organizations, such as the Sierra Club.