With talk of sustainability and environmental responsibility
abuzz on campus and many national policies favoring profit
over negative environmental impact, Smith’s young program
in Environmental Science and Policy may be more vital than
ever.
And in some ways, says Dawn Greene
Norchi, who spent three years building and coordinating the
program, the recent setbacks in the nation’s protection
of natural resources may benefit the program by inspiring
more Smith students to become environmentalists.
Norchi, who recently vacated
her post to become the manager of the Wildlife Conservation
Society’s North American Program in New York, is confident
about the future of the Environmental Science and Policy (ES&P)
Program. “I’m very pleased with the program’s
growth,” she says of the ES&P Program, which began
in 1998. “It’s on a solid trajectory.”
With 25 students listed as ES&P
minors, the program offers a broad curriculum of cross-disciplinary
courses with the departments of anthropology, biology, chemistry,
engineering, geology, government, history, philosophy, public
policy and sociology, in addition to an abundance of internship
and field research opportunities.
“Most environmental studies
programs have a particular strength,” says Norchi. “Ours
is hands-on experience. We encourage students to participate
in internships and in field research, including our own student-faculty
research projects that emphasize interdisciplinary problem-solving.”
Each summer, Norchi has placed
students in environmental internships, many of them with the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a
broad government agency that works to protect the health of
the environment and responsibly manage the nation’s
coastal and marine resources.
Smith’s partnership with
NOAA has become stronger through the consistently high quality
of the college’s internship program, says Norchi. “We
have such a good relationship with this government agency
because of the students,” she said. “They have
a stellar record.”
As testimony to the successful
relationship, six Smith alumnae are now employed at NOAA.
Smith pays students a $3,500
stipend to work with NOAA personnel on research projects in
a variety of settings, including wildlife sanctuaries, coastal
research labs and aboard sea-going vessels.
Since she began in fall 1999,
Norchi has launched several initiatives that she hopes will
continue, including EcoLunches, in which students, faculty
and staff discuss campus sustainability; lectures by environmental
leaders; an alumnae symposium titled “Smith Women in
the Environment;” visits from representatives of graduate
schools and off-campus research programs; and advising students
on the environmental field.
“The program is now at
an important juncture,” Norchi says. “There is
a wellspring of support from students and interested faculty
and staff. What is now needed is a vigorous commitment to
environmental science and policy from the senior level of
the college administration.”
In the future, Norchi would like
to see more students enroll in the ES&P Program, as well
as more faculty teaching related courses and increased alumnae
support. She recommends that the program offer an introductory
survey course on environmental science and policy, and that
a new position be added for a campus sustainability coordinator.
A search will soon begin for
a new associate director of the Environmental Science and
Policy Program to replace Norchi. Until that person is hired,
the program will be coordinated by Joanne McMullin ’02,
an Ada Comstock Scholar alumna.
Norchi looks forward to applying
to her new job what she’s learned from the ES&P
Program’s success. She will continue to watch the development
of the program that she helped build—albeit from her
home in New York and her new office in the Bronx.
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