Graduate Programs

The Department of Environmental Studies offers graduate degrees and certificates in environmental studies, science and policy. Study programs integrate and balance the social sciences, humanities and natural sciences in creative, interdisciplinary contexts. The Department offers Masters degrees in Environmental Studies, and graduate certificates in Environmental Decision Making, and on Advanced Study in Conflict Resolution.

Please see our graduate students web page for a listing of current graduate students; and our recent graduates page for a listing of graduate student alumni, including theses topics. The Department's new ES Grad Info blog lists and archives timely announcements of interest to affiliated graduate students.

Masters Degrees

• M.S. & M.P.S. in Environmental Studies

  ESF's new Environmental Studies masters' programs help prepare students to support communities working to achieve sustainability from local to global levels. The programs integrate social, cultural and environmental knowledge and skills to address the challenges of the 21st century. Students in these programs want to make a difference. Our programs offer students a focused, yet flexible, interdisciplinary understanding of environmental issues, the problems that underlie them, and paths leading to more sustainable communities. Students examine the fundamental cultural, social, political, technical, and economic forces that drive environmental degradation as well as emerging approaches that can foster sustainability.

Graduate Certificate Programs

• Environmental Decision Making
  The department's Certificate of Graduate Study in Environmental Decision Making is designed for graduate students at Syracuse University enrolled in law, management, public administration, or information studies programs. The focus of certificate study is on environmental decision making, which can be defined as the process by which stakeholders in environmental outcomes engage in communications to seek solutions to environmental problems. Familiarly, decision making can refer to environmental policy making by governmental institutions, but a meaningful understanding of the topic in today's world will also include processes such as information acquisition and dissemination and such notions as negotiation, mediation, information policy and public participation as part of the decision making lexicon.

• Advanced Study in Conflict Resolution
  As the world becomes increasingly dynamic, the ability to build relationships, negotiate solutions collaboratively, and use multiple approaches for conflict resolution is essential. This 12-credit certificate program allows students to engage in in-depth study of conflict theory, concepts, and skills. To earn the Certificate, students complete a required 3-credit course in Fundamentals of Conflict Studies and 9 additional credits of coursework selected with a faculty advisor. Students may concentrate their classes in a specific area of interest or complete a more general program of study. Students already in a graduate program earn the Certificate as part of the master's or doctoral degree, and the Certificate is awarded concurrently with the degree. Offered jointly with Syracuse University's Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC).

Concurrent Degrees at Syracuse University

• Graduate students at ESF currently have the opportunity to pursue a concurrent Master's degree at Syracuse University (SU), including at SU's School of Education, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Commnications, the Maxwell School of Citzenship and Public Affairs, and the Whitman School of Management. To be eligible for admission to such programs, students must complete at least one full-time semester of graduate-level coursework or the equivalent at ESF, and earn a 3.500 grade point average or better. ESF students interested in concurrent degree programs at SU must apply through ESF's Office of Instruction and Graduate Studies within their first year of study. More information HERE.

Cooperative Programs at Cornell University and SUNY Upstate Medical University

• ESF and the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University provide exchange opportunities so that graduate students can take advantage of special courses, faculty, and research facilities found at the two institutions. Cornell University is in Ithaca, N.Y., about 50 miles southwest of Syracuse. ESF and the SUNY Upstate Medical University provide opportunities for graduate students at each institution to enroll in graduate coursework or pursue coordinated M.D./ Ph.D. degrees in environmental medicine. SUNY Upstate Medical University is located within walking distance of ESF. Graduate students interested in these opportunities should inquire at ESF's Office of Instruction and Graduate Studies.

Funding Opportunities

Currently, about half of the graduate students affiliated with the Department of Environmental Studies receive some form of financial assistance. The Department is proud to regularly have among its graduate students international fellows supported by the Fulbright Program and Ford Foundation. Departmentally affiliated graduate students have been successful in receiving a variety of other external awards and fellowships, as well. Primary institutional support for affiliated graduate students has been in the form of Graduate Assistantships, most awarded as Teaching Assistants, some as Research Assistants, others as Writing Tutors -- in Environmental Studies and other programs at ESF. Faculty members offer Research Assistantships in conjunction with active research grants. And many graduate students take advantage of summer internship opportunities. More information HERE.

International Education and Research Opportunities

Graduate programs in the Department of Environmental Studies and SUNY-ESF have a strongly international flavor. Approximately 40 percent of graduate students affiliated with the Department of Environmental Studies are from countries around the world. Across the college, about 30 percent of graduate students are from overseas. In addition to a highly international student body, graduate students at ESF are welcome and encouraged to develop international research and internship projects. Many ESF faculty, including in the Department of Environmental Studies are engaged in ongoing international research and teaching projects.

Relationship to Syracuse University

Co-located for almost a century, ESF and Syracuse University share a campus, library and recreational facilities, and much more. With approval of their advisor, students may take Syracuse University courses at ESF tuition rates (additional course-specific fees may apply). Similarly, SU students have access to ESF facilities and courses.

Graduate Student Participation

Graduate students at ESF are represented in campus affairs by the Graduate Students Association, with delegates from each department/ program. Graduate students employed by ESF are represented in collective bargaining by the Graduate Student Employees Union (GSEU). Two graduate students are members of the department's Graduate Studies Committee, and a third represents graduate students at regular departmental meetings. Many additional opportunities exist for graduate student participation in campus clubs and organizations at both ESF and Syracuse University.

All told, ESF is one of the best places in the world for graduate and undergraduate Environmental Studies. Come join us!