We need resource managers who can bring diverse stakeholders together to solve complex environmental challenges. You will help communities prepare for climate change, protect water, direct community waste systems, manage energy and materials sustainably, and conserve landscapes. Lead vital environmental efforts to protect natural resources in sustainable ways, preserve ecological services in the face of landscape development, create landscape resilience, develop multiple sustainable uses of a natural resource, and restore degraded ecosystems.

Scientific discovery is groundbreaking, but advocacy is essential to forging real progress and enacting systems-level change. Whether you want to make an impact on in the community, state, national or international level, we’ll help you develop the knowledge, skills, and networks to be effective. Equip yourself with the skills to bring environmental issues to the forefront of global progress.

Learning the skills of ecological inquiry, complex problem solving, and building relationships with professional networks and local communities equip you to be an effective conservation professional in nonprofit conservation organizations, state and federal agencies, educational settings, and private consulting firms. Developing and implementing conservation plans, conducting natural resource inventories, managing land for plant and wildlife habitat, working with local communities to generate solutions to environmental problems, and teaching conservation in formal and informal educational settings are all aspects of Conservation Biology.

Be an Educational Leader and Change Agent. Learning the skills of powerful educational approaches equips you as a leader and change agent in nature centers and museums, classrooms and higher education, residential facilities, corporations, the media, municipalities, zoos, aquariums, farms, community organizations, and botanical gardens. Educating for sustainability, raising awareness about climate change, reconnecting children and adults to nature and their community, translating science into conservation education, employing conservation psychology techniques, and making sense out of the human footprint on the planet are all aspects of Environmental Education.

Become a science teacher who works with your students to solve compelling classroom and community-based problems. Create playful, active, and rigorous science classrooms where students design their own scientific investigations in order to answer intriguing questions, all the while meeting educational standards. Learn how to teach for engagement, act more like a coach, facilitator, and guide and effectively manage your classrooms with empathy and respect.

Work with an AUNE advisor to strategize and design a program that aligns with the career path that you envision for your future. We understand that if your career goals transcend the academic boundaries of our existing Environmental Studies programs, you may consider a more individualized approach. That’s why we work with you to develop a rigorous, yet rewarding, academic framework that is both goal-oriented and structured enough to bestow the academic depth needed to engage in the meaningful practice. If your interests lie at the intersection of disciplines, this option provides the specific customization you’re seeking.

By integrating courses in environmental science, social science, and organizational leadership, the Sustainable Development and Climate Change concentration prepare adult learners like you for the rigorous challenges that environmental advocates face every day. The complex arena of sustainability and environmental protection involves tricky navigation of public and private interests. The convoluted, multifaceted problems that you’ll face require the proper skill, knowledge, and leadership to help develop fair compromises in the face of adversity.

Our doctoral program is founded on the conviction that theory and practice go hand-in-hand and that our most essential research questions arise from integrating professional experiences and scholarship. Approach your research with a multidisciplinary perspective, integrating science, policy, humanities, education, and service to pursue sustainable solutions to pressing local, national and international environmental challenges.

Integrate conservation psychology into your work in conserving biodiversity, promoting sustainability, and developing effective environmental communication and education programs. This emerging interdisciplinary field promotes a scientific approach to understanding how environmental advocates can skillfully and effectively communicate important information with the public. Human attitudes, behaviors, and values towards sustainability can vary greatly, and it’s important to understand the diverse perspectives that different subcultures have towards environmental stewardship.

Through community, workplace and campus gardens, make healthy food accessible in every community to increase food security, mitigate climate change, and build community resistance. While this passionate and growing movement is gaining momentum, we still have a lot of work to do until every citizen has equal access to the fresh fruits and vegetables that should be a staple of their diets. We’re here to help you empower people to connect with the sources of their food, practice healthy eating, and build communities with a high degree of food security, to strengthen personal, communal, and environmental resiliency and health.

Climate change education is essential for addressing perhaps the biggest environmental and social challenge in human history. We understand that to overcome this challenge we need to not only inform but exponentially increase the number of advocates who are also raising awareness. Through empirical scientific data, you will become an educator for one of the most pressing threats to a sustainable and healthy future.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are increasingly used for policy-making, scientific, administrative, educational, and recreational purposes. As GIS has become a vital decision support tool, the national and international need for qualified professionals has grown at an unprecedented rate. Proficiency with spatial concepts and data is sought-after by employers and necessary for effective environmental and policy leadership. When you have GIS experience in one sector, you can practically work in any job requiring GIS skills because the methods of working with data will be the same.