An Expanding Curriculum
To meet emerging environmental challenges in the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, SNR developed more interdisciplinary programs, added concentrations in the social sciences, and expanded the school’s reach. A few highlights include:
- An interdisciplinary program in remote sensing, launched in collaboration with the Institute of Science and Technology, and still in operation today
- Environmental communications courses
- A Wildlands Management Center linked with several countries and international organizations addressing global environmental concerns
- Concentrations in (1) resource ecology and management, (2) resource policy and behavior, and (3) landscape architecture
- A microcomputer laboratory installed in the basement of the Dana Building
- A multi-year grant from the Hewlett Foundation, beginning in 1983, to support a further redesign of its integrative interdisciplinary curriculum
Continuing efforts to expand the curriculum reflected a broadening of research interests in faculty and students.
The Brundtland Commission
In recognition of the heavy deterioration of the human environment and the world’s natural resources, the United Nations established the Brundtland Commission in 1983. The commission’s mandate was to identify critical sustainability issues worldwide, formulate innovative and realistic solutions, and create a united international community with shared sustainability goals. The Brundtland Report, released in 1987, defined the new concept of “sustainable development” to consist of three essential pillars: economic growth, environmental protection, and social equality, stating that:
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Gro Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister of Norway, recent director-general of the World Health Organization, and chair of the UN World Commission on Environment and Development, delivered the annual Wege Lecture at SNRE in 2004.
Master’s Projects
Launched in the mid-1980s, master’s projects offer an alternative to the standard thesis. Initially proposed by long-time faculty member and SNR alumnus Steve Yaffee, the interdisciplinary capstone experience enables student research teams to develop innovative solutions to pressing problems faced by real-world clients and partners.
Rachel Kaplan
A leader in the field of environmental psychology, Professor Kaplan sought to understand the role the environment plays in helping people become more reasonable, effective, and psychologically healthy. Her work with husband Stephen Kaplan on Attention Restoration Theory, as it came to be known, influenced how generations of landscape design professionals and environmental psychologists view humanity’s relationship with nature.
James E. Crowfoot
JAMES E. CROWFOOT joined the school in 1972 as a professor of natural resources and urban and regional planning. Crowfoot served as dean of SNR from 1983-90, guiding it through a challenging period of change and reorganization. He also established a new research division and fundraising program. Crowfoot’s teaching and research centered on conflict management in environmental and other social-change organizations, environmental education, and social inequities and justice.