Environmental Policy and Planning | U-M SEAS Environment Sustainability

The University of Michigan student delegates to the COP27 climate conference, which was held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

Changing the world requires new public policies, visionary plans, creative economic tools and collaborative decision-making.

How do we shift our energy mix from fossil fuels to renewable sources? How much protection should we provide to public lands, rare species and valuable natural areas? How do we ensure the safety of food and water supplies? Answers to questions like these can change the course of our future. In the Environmental Policy and Planning specialization at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), you will acquire the tools, analytic frameworks and scientific knowledge to promote environmental stewardship and advance sustainable societies.

This specialization builds professional skills in designing and implementing policies and plans that solve environmental problems and facilitate social change. Translate your skills, experience and background into a meaningful career through a well-rounded qualitative and quantitative curriculum in a learning environment responsible for launching some of today’s most effective environmental leaders.

WHY ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND PLANNING?

Join a community of scholars whose depth and breadth in social science is unparalleled in any comparable program.
Develop expertise in natural sciences and deep knowledge of specific environmental problems.
Take advantage of opportunities to enhance your professional marketability, like dual-degree and certificate programs.
Apply what you learn in the classroom to fix real-world problems by completing a capstone experience (master's project or master's thesis).
Join the world’s largest and strongest community of alumni practitioners in environmental policy and planning.

CURRICULUM

Working with an adviser, you will tailor your Environmental Policy and Planning degree coursework to your specific career goals. A typical curriculum includes classes in politics, law, policy analysis and planning. You will also learn negotiation and dispute resolution, and develop expertise in issues of your choice, such as water, climate change and energy, public lands, biodiversity and ecosystem management, environmental justice, and sustainable land use.

The Environmental Policy and Planning curriculum provides a solid foundation for dual-degree programs in public policy, urban planning, law or business.

Requirements & Courses

EXPAND YOUR MARKETABILITY AND SKILL SETS WITH A DUAL DEGREE PROGRAM

Business

Engineering and Sustainable Systems

Michigan Law

Public Policy

Urban and Regional Planning

FEATURED DUAL-DEGREE PROGRAM: Environment and Sustainability and Public Policy

This dual-degree program (three years, 75 credits) provides students with the opportunity to study environment and sustainability issues through the lens of public policy analysis. It is administered jointly with the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and is designed to provide a model for preparing a new generation of graduates skilled in addressing important topics like renewable energy and climate change using policy analysis techniques. Students graduate with a master of science (MS) in natural resources and environment and a master of science in public policy (MPP).

CAREERS AND SELECT EMPLOYERS

Environmental Policy and Planning graduates work as policy analysts, advocates, planners, program managers, and leaders in nonprofit environmental organizations, land trusts, all levels of government, consulting firms, and corporations. The collaboration and dispute resolution training integral to this field of study opens job opportunities at environmental mediation firms and regional partnerships. Some graduates decide to pursue research careers at academic institutions and with nonprofit organizations.

Other career options span the range of geographic scales, including community-based conservation, state-level environmental management, federal policy-making, and work at international institutions, such as the United Nations Development Programme and World Wildlife Fund.

For more information on the Environmental Policy and Planning field of study, visit the Environmental Policy and Planning track careers page or contact seas-admissions@umich.edu.

Learn more About Careers

My professional and personal life is driven by climate change. It seems like a generational challenge to fight that. There are lots of ways to do it, and I think one of them is solar advocacy. "

Tyler Fitch (MS ’18)

Regulatory Manager, Vote Solar, Washington, D.C.

Featured Course

Negotiating Skills In Environmental Dispute Resolution

This course is a half-term module that develops skills in bargaining and negotiation as they can be applied to the resolution of environmental disputes. It will help a student prepare for and carry out a negotiation, become a more effective communicator, and understand the psychological dimensions inherent in negotiation processes.

Other Popular Courses

Environmental Policy, Politics and Organizations

Energy Markets and Energy Politics

Modeling for Landscape Planning

News

Featured

September 7, 2023

USDA names Heidi Huber-Stearns to Northwest Forest Plan Federal Advisory Committee

August 21, 2023

Future changemakers gather at the University Scholars Leadership Symposium

In early August, the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) and the Program in the Environment (PitE) sent us, Katelyn Heflin and...

August 16, 2023

Michigan pipeline standoff could affect water protection and Indigenous rights across the US

This article originally appeared in The Conversation and is reposted with permission. Should states and Indigenous nations be able to influence energy projects they view...

Action-based learning + impact

I’m particularly proud of our efforts to expand our award-winning climate action and sustainability programs to enable home and business owners to install energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements."

—Elise Jones

(MS '93) County Commissioner, Boulder County, Colorado

Courses such as Environmental Policy and Negotiation, with Professor Steve Yaffee, taught me how to investigate and evaluate complicated policy questions with various stakeholder groups, while my master’s project gave me hands-on learning experience in terms of working with people from diverse backgrounds and conducting my own research.”

—Sara Cawley (MS '15)

Advisor, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Our mission at the World Bank is to end poverty, and we can't end poverty without addressing climate change.”

—Nate Engle

(MS/MPP ’07, PhD ’10) Senior Climate Change Specialist Climate Change Group, Water Global Practice World Bank

Faculty

Rosina Bierbaum

Professor, Professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy, SEAS; Professor of Public Health, Professor of Climate, Space Science and Engineering, University of Michigan

Heidi Huber-Stearns

Theodore Roosevelt Associate Visiting Professor of Practice

Sara Hughes

Associate Professor of Environment and Sustainability

Michael R. Moore

Professor of Environmental Economics

Thomas Princen

Associate Professor

Mike Shriberg

Professor of Practice & Engagement; Director of Engagement, Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) and Michigan Sea Grant (MISG)

Kimberly Smith

Lecturer

Samuel Stolper

Assistant Professor

Steven L. Yaffee

Professor

Sample Employers + Professional Skills

I learned about how federal agencies make decisions, how different groups (NGOs, the private sector) engage in that and how they advocate for their issues and engage in the decision-making process.

Allegra Wrockledge '16

Program Coordinator, Conservation Finance Network

Internships

Career Coaching

Environmental Policy and Planning Careers

SEAS Career Services offers career advising, internship opportunities, and professional services for students. We help students make professional connections with alumni and develop career paths that are both fulfilling and impactful.

Please visit our Careers page for additional career resources

Sustainability Themes

Sustainability Themes cut across all specializations—and give students, faculty, and partners a chance to dig deeper into a particular area of impact and interest. Themes are also used as rallying points for cross-campus research, teaching and civic engagement collaborations.

Learn More

Cities + Mobility + Built Environment

Climate + Energy

Conservation + Restoration

Cross-cutting

Food Systems

Water