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Oakton adds environmental studies concentration

Many companies, agencies and organizations are employing environmental experts to help them respond to calls for better environmental stewardship. Oakton Community College is helping to meet this challenge by announcing the addition of an environmental studies concentration for fall 2016.

It will prepare students for transfer into a variety of majors concerning the environment, such as sustainability; environmental philosophy, law, and policy; environmental art and literature; environmental engineering and chemistry; conservation biology and natural resource management; and environmental journalism.

"There are numerous current issues affecting the environment such as food scarcity, pollution and climate change," said Oakton Associate Professor of Biology Paul Gulezian, co-coordinator of the concentration. "It's important for students to understand and care about these topics and to be able to communicate about them effectively."

The 19-semester-hour concentration provides students the opportunity to examine the connections between the environment and the community, both locally and globally. Through a combination of coursework and connected-learning experiences, the program prepares students to address the many environmental challenges being faced today, including matters of public policy, economics and ethics.

Professor of English Marian Staats, co-coordinator of the concentration, said having a humanities aspect to the program makes it unique.

"Narratives are an integral part of environmental study," she said. "Also, there's a growing genre of literature out there called cli-fi (climate fiction) that deals with severe changes in weather set in the present or near future."

The Oakton Educational Foundation provided a $5,000 grant to be used for restoration equipment such as shears, goggles and gloves for outdoor work at the Des Plaines campus that will be part of course work, and a $2,000 grant for speakers, writers, activists and scientists to talk to students.

For information, contact Gulezian at (847) 376-7120 or pgulezia@oakton.edu; or Staats at (847) 376-7103 or mstaats@oakton.edu; or visit www.oakton.edu/esc.

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