2018 Conference

Individual Paper Presentation

The Environmental Studies Department and College of the Environment at Western Washington University have recently launched a series of efforts to attract and empower students from traditionally marginalized groups. At the department level, a recently formed Community and Equity Committee aims to 1) Recruit, retain, and support faculty, students and staff, especially those in underserved and underrepresented groups, 2) Support the department’s faculty in creating safe enough spaces to learn, teach and conduct research, and 3) Facilitate and lead programming to support this work. This presentation will share the process through which we developed a student community and equity survey focused on the particular needs and concerns of ESS programs, and will also highlight key findings relevant to ESS programs and departments. Our preliminary responses (n=220) suggest that students feel most included and empowered when faculty create a warm sense of community in and out of the classroom, and that the perception that they are “not part of the club” of environmental studies students presents a significant barrier to learning. The responses also show that financial considerations limit many students’ abilities to participate in study away and field learning experiences – opportunities that many ESS programs value within their curriculum. Students also report that course content and curriculum could be much stronger at representing aspects of their culture(s) and identities, and at introducing them to unfamiliar and new perspectives. From these findings, we highlight a number of potential responses for ESS programs to address student needs.