University of Iowa prepares to launch new environment and sustainability school

Faced with an uptick of students enrolling in environmental studies and science programs, the University of Iowa next fall will launch a new School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences — shifting curriculum to increase collaboration and preparing students for a widening range of career possibilities.

Since 2015, the UI has seen a 27 percent increase in environmental-related majors that will be inside the new school, said Emily Finzel, who is the department executive officer of the School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability at the university.

The new school is meant to strengthen education in the areas of climate, environmental and sustainability science and policy. It will combine and build upon three existing programs and offer three majors, as well as minors and certificates. Possible careers could include such things as being an environmental consultant, a GIS analyst or an expert in adapting to or mitigating climate change.

Finzel said students who are in majors that are being redesigned — environmental studies, sustainability and natural sciences — will be grandfathered in to the new school. She added that in fall 2025, the UI will have about 400 undergraduate majors enrolled in the new school.

Finzel explained the new school in an interview with a reporter. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: Are there any specific courses that have changed over the past few years due to advances in climate change or Iowa-specific issues, like nitrate contamination in water supplies?

A: We actually have a lot of courses that already address environmental issues that are found in Iowa. One of the big, exciting things about what's happening at the University of Iowa right now is that we're pivoting our existing environmental programs entirely towards environment and sustainability. … In (the new School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability), we've reenvisioned our majors to focus on environment, sustainability, the natural world and human environment interactions.

Q: How will this new school be different from some of the other courses and programs that are already existing in the university's curriculums?

A: The really unique thing about the school is that we're going to have social scientists and natural scientists within one academic unit. That's unique, not just within Iowa, but really across the country. The idea is to address these big environmental challenges. We often attack them from a social science and a natural science side, but often those two groups of scientists live in different parts of university. So in this new school, we're putting them together so we can train students and teach them collaboratively. We can really train them to work in teams to address the environmental issues that their generations would have to face.

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Q: What are some courses the university offers that address issues uniquely to Iowa?

A: We have a couple classes that speak really succinctly to the Iowa challenges, specifically. We have a contaminant groundwater course and a prairie restoration course. Both of those courses take students out into the field to work in habitats that are found across Iowa to think about how to preserve and reconstruct them.

Q: What new courses do you anticipate being offered with this new school?

A: We are hiring in the field of environmental geophysics, which is a very important field when it comes to solving contaminant landfill-type issues. So we anticipate there being geophysics classes. We're also hiring an environmental justice faculty member, which will be on the social science end.

Q: What is driving the growth behind these environmental and sustainability programs?

A: I think that people are wanting to make sure the way that we inhabit and the way that we use resources on the Earth match our desire to be here for a long time. When we think about building sustainable cities or having environmentally friendly agriculture, it’s because this is where we live; this is our home. I think the more the population grows, and the more demand we put on the Earth, the more people are aware that these are issues that we will have to face.

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

Comments: (319) 398-8370; olivia.cohen@thegazette.com