The Department of Environmental Studies

About the Department

Environmental Studies students, faculty, and staff work together to understand and to reflect the complexity of human-environment systems. We aim to engage meaningfully, collaboratively, and respectfully with diverse communities in pursuit of a more just and sustainable world.  Many of our graduates go on to the environmental careers for which they trained, finding exciting and fulfilling careers in:

  • Federal, tribal and state agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Forest Service, Park Service, Department of Ecology, Department of Natural Resources, and more
  • Local governments as GIS analysts, emergency managers, natural resource managers, and environmental policy analysts, and more
  • Private sector as environmental analysts, environmental consultants, sustainability officers, health & safety officers, entrepreneurs, and more 
  • Non-profit sector as community organizers, educators, environmental communicators, environmental interpreters, policy advocates, environmental justice advocates, and more
  • Others continue their studies in education, law, natural resource management, public administration, and community development. 

Students, faculty, and staff in the Department of Environmental Studies examine interacting social and natural systems. Our curriculum, which creates direct dialogue between the social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities, is designed to help students make the intellectual connections and gain the practical skills necessary for building socially just and environmentally sustainable futures.

Through the integration of the natural sciences, social sciences, and allied professions, the Department of Environmental Studies at the College of the Environment endeavors to educate problem solvers who are able to meet the social and environmental challenges of our times.

Students meet with the Swinomish Director of Environmental Protection.

Students meet with the Swinomish Director of Environmental Protection.

    General Contact Information

    Department of Environmental Studies
    Main Office - Arntzen Hall 217
    College of the Environment
    Western Washington University
    516 High Street - MS 9085
    Bellingham, WA 98225

    (360) 650-3284 (Office)

    Interactive map: Arntzen Hall,  College of the Environment, WWU
    Driving directions to Arntzen Hall

    Students studying together outdoors as part of Spring Block.

    Students studying together as part of Spring Block. 


    Environmental Studies acknowledges with respect...

    We acknowledge with respect to the Coast Salish peoples on whose traditional territory the department stands, and to the Lummi and Nooksack peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.