News
Incoming Graduate Students, 2008/09 
The Department of Environmental Studies welcomes 23 new graduate students, to begin Fall 2008. Our new students will be joining us from Bolivia, China, India, S. Korea, Palestine, the Philippines, and Russia, as well as from various locations in the United States. Fifteen students make up the inaugural cohort of the Department's new Environmental Studies graduate program (see below). Other new graduate students will be working with ES faculty in ESF's doctoral Environmental and Natural Resources Program (ENRP) and interdepartmental Graduate Program in Environmental Science (GPES). The incoming students include three Fulbright Fellows and two Ford Fellows. For a listing of new Environmental Studies graduate students, click here.
National Merit Award Winner: Steven Brechin, ES Adjunct Faculty
Dr. Steven R. Brechin, ES Adjunct Faculty member, and Professor of Sociology at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University is the winner of the 2008 Merit Award of the Natural Resources Research Group (NRRG), within the Rural Sociological Society (RSS). The award is given annually to recognize outstanding contributions to the field of natural resource sociology. The award can be given to recognize a lifetime of achievement, or the award can be given to celebrate a particularly significant discrete research, education, outreach and service achievement. Reviewers cited Dr. Brechin's "insistence on the importance of organizational dynamics in understanding the ways in which manage natural resources" and his work on "resident peoples in parks, and the ethical and economic dilemmas entailed in establishing" and managing protected areas. The award will be presented at the RSS annual meeting in Manchester, NH, on July 30. (Adapted from a note by Prof. Steven Wolf, Cornell University.)
Awards and Scholarships for ES Students 
During the 2007/2008 school year, 40 outstanding Environmental Studies students received awards and scholarships. Eight awards went to five graduate students, and 35 undergraduate students (more than 1:4 of all Environmental Studies majors) were recognized with 40 honors. The Environmental Studies Department enthusiastically celebrates the achievements of these students.
New Report: Use of Models in Great Lakes Decision Making
"The Use of Models in Great Lakes Decision Making, An Interdisciplinary Synthesis," a report by Environmental Studies faculty, Jack Manno and Richard Smardon, with help from graduate students Emily Cloyd and Susana del Granado, and Joseph DePinto of Limno-Tech, Inc., examines how computer simulation models were used in environmental decision making in four case studies in the Great Lakes. The publication came out of a New York Sea Grant funded project. For the full press release, issued May 5, click here. Anyone wishing to obtain a copy of the publication should contact New York Sea Grant at 631-632-9124 or view the pdf here.
Land Claims and Governance in West Africa: a Conversation with Dr. Sara Berry
On Tuesday, May 20, 2008, Dr. Sara Berry, Professor of the Economic and Social History of Africa, and Fellow of the Center for Africana Studies, at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, visited SUNY-ESF and engaged with us in a conversation on "Changing Processes of Claiming Land and Local Governance in West Africa". The discussion focused on "how these processes have (and have not) changed in 25 years of neoliberal policy initiatives; and what these changes imply for sustainable management of natural resources, particularly forests". For a list of recommended readings and further information, click here. Sponsored by the Dept. of Environmental Studies and the Randolph G. Pack Environmental Institute.
ES Student Wins National Renewable Energy Essay Contest
In an Earth Day, April 22, 2008, press release, the Presidential Forum on Renewable Energy announced that Craig Lazaar, an ESF Environmental Studies senior, was one of three winners of a $10,000 educational prize in a national renewable energy student essay contest. Click here to read Craig's award-winning essay, "Energy Independence: A Five-Point Practical Energy Plan for America". His advisor is Professor Mark Meisner.
New Environmental Studies Graduate Program
A new Master's program in Environmental Studies (M.S. and M.P.S.) was approved for the Department of Environmental Studies in November 2007, by the New York State Education Department. For priority consideration, applications were due by February 1 for fall admission, and by February 15 for financial support. See:
- Program description
- Admissions information
- Funding opportunities
- Press release (PDF)
- Printable flyer (PDF)
Climate Action: Mini-Series of Brownbag Lunchtime Talks
Spring 2008, the Department of Environmental Studies and Randolph G. Pack Environmental Institute hosted a mini-series of brownbag lunchtime talks, "Climate Action: Sociological Perspectives on the Challenges of Environmental Governance". Featured speakers included Professor Arthur Mol, Wageningen University, the Netherlands; Professor Thomas Rudel, Rutgers University, New Jersey; and Professor Karen O'Neill, also from Rutgers University. For further information, click here.
Focus the Nation: Global Warming Teach-In
Faculty in the Department of Environmental Studies endorsed and participated in the Focus the Nation Global Warming Teach-In, January 31, 2008. Events were held locally at SUNY-ESF and Syracuse University. For further information about local activities, click here. See also the Focus the Nation national campaign website. Professor Mark Meisner was interviewed on CBS 5 WTVH, see link.
Jack Manno: 'Going Green at the Grocery Store'
On November 8, 2007, Professor Jack Manno helped WSTM TV (channel 3) inaugurate a new weekly feature for their evening news titled, “Going Green”. The topic was how to “Go Green” at the grocery store. See link.
New Chair of Environmental Studies
David A. Sonnenfeld, an environmental sociologist, is the new Chair of the Department of Environmental Studies, effective September 2007. Among his recent publications are Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry (Temple University Press, 2006); and a special issue on "Environmental Reform in Asia" of the Journal of Environment and Development (June 2006). Dr. Sonnenfeld is an elected officer of the Section on Environment and Technology of the American Sociological Association, and a member of the Research Committee on Environment and Society (RC24) of the International Sociological Association. In May 2007, he co-taught a course, "Superpowers in Global Environmental Politics: China and the U.S.", at Wageningen University, the Netherlands, where he is Research Associate and Guest Professor. Previously, he was with Washington State University. Beginning in January 2008, Dr. Sonnenfeld commenced serving, as well, as Director of the departmentally-affiliated Randolph G. Pack Environmental Institute.
The Second Environmental Studies Summit @ Syracuse
In June 2007, the Department of Environmental Studies co-hosted a summit of Environmental Studies faculty and students from across North America. For more details, see the Summit web site.SUNY Conversations in the Disciplines: The Feasibility of a New York State Energy Conservation/ Global Warming Consortium
SUNY hosted a consortium in September 2003 on the ESF campus: "Conversation in the Disciplines Event: The Feasibility for a New York State Energy Conservation/Global Warming Consortium". Experts explored hot topics that revolve around creating a consortium in New York state. Issues such as energy conservation, global gas reduction, climate change and atmosphere research were actively debated in a forum with a variety of policy makers and researchers from the SUNY system.