A new year sees a new cohort of future environmental leaders
The end of September brings a sweeping sense of excitement as staff and faculty prepare to welcome students back to campus. For returning Environmental Policy and Management students, the start of the school year signals the end of their summer Practicum Internships. New students prepare to start the next step in their environmental careers: graduate school.
Orientation
Prior to the first week of classes, the EPM program hosts a half-day orientation that invites new students and faculty to come together and dive into the details of the program. This year, orientation started with faculty speed networking and professional photos, continued with programmatic presentations and ended with a celebratory dinner and mixer.
For the 2023-2024 academic year, EPM will welcome new cohort of 32 students and 25 returning students to campus. The new cohort includes international students from Canada, China, India and Nigeria. Several students are attending from out-of-state, including Florida, Washington, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. The students have a wide range of undergraduate backgrounds, including Biology, Sustainable Agriculture, Asian Studies, English, Communications, Marine Sciences, Political Science, Anthropology, Environmental Studies among others. Their interests include waste reduction, urban agriculture, environmental justice, air quality, conservation, GIS, water resources, climate science and economics.
Bridging academia with industry
EPM is excited to continue to work with four returning external lecturers this year. Dr. Julianne McCall, Director of Precision Medicine at the Governor's Office of Planning and Research will return to teach ENV 202: Policy Implementation and Development, a course that focuses on the policy process from start to finish. Emily Zakowski, EPM alum and Senior Environmental Scientist with CalRecycle, returns to teach EPM's Professional Development Seminar, a course that focuses on the application of professional skills for environmental policy professionals. Tracy Winsor will return to teach ENV 201: Environmental Law, a course that develops students ability to identify, analyze and explain legal issues presented by environmental problems. Abre' Conner, Director of Environment and Climate Justice at the NAACP, will return to teach ENV 203: Policy Clinic, a class where students work in small teams with external organizations on an environmental policy or management project. External lecturers are valuable assets to a professional program such as EPM, bridging the gap between academia and industry.
Looking ahead
EPM leadership looks forward to offering students and professionals opportunities to connect via several events that will be offered over the next 9 months. Many of these events are already on the schedule, we hope to see you there!