University of Colorado Boulder
AC-4: Graduate Program

Meeting the environmental challenges of the 21st century requires research, education, and training that spans traditional disciplinary boundaries. The Environmental Studies Program provides unique training that equips students with the knowledge and skills needed to confront complex problems affecting social-environmental systems. The program is flexibly structured, giving students the opportunity to pursue diverse areas of interest, especially those that do not fall neatly within disciplinary boundaries. Environmental Studies graduates pursue diverse career paths, including positions in academia, government, education, environmental consulting, natural resource management, and those within the private sector.

The Masters of the Environment Graduate Program at the University of Colorado Boulder is an interdisciplinary, applications-focused professional master’s degree that meets the growing demand for analytically trained and skilled environmental professionals who can address complex problems encountered in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. MENV provides environmental leaders with the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary to understand a changing world and build a more just, sustainable, and productive planet.

The mission of Masters of the Environment (MENV) is to educate our students to advance sustainability solutions across a wide range of environmental careers and sectors by promoting a community of learning through engaged and interdisciplinary classes and real-world professional experience.

Environmental engineers play a vital role in maintaining the quality of both human environmental systems and the natural environment. Environmental engineering encompasses the scientific assessment and development of engineering solutions to environmental problems impacting the biosphere, land, water and air quality. Environmental issues affect almost all commercial and industrial sectors, and are a central concern for the public, for all levels of government, and in international relations. These issues include safe drinking water, wastewater processing, solid and hazardous waste disposal, outdoor air pollution, indoor air pollution and transfer of infectious diseases, human health and ecological risk management, and prevention of pollution through product or process design.

To address these challenges, environmental engineers work in a multidisciplinary arena. Solutions to many environmental problems require contributions from engineers, scientists, lawyers, business people and the public. Good communication skills, as well as technical proficiency, are essential for success in this arena. In addition, technology designed to address environmental problems is marketed globally, opening up increasing opportunities for international work in the environmental engineering field.

CU Boulder leads the nation in research and programs addressing environmental, energy, and natural resources issues—with a longstanding reputation for innovative work on water resources, climate change, and energy. For more than half a century, environmental and natural resources law has been a key part of the Colorado Law curriculum. The school’s commitment to teaching and research in these areas complements the school’s physical location in the Rocky Mountain West—a region defined by its vast natural resources, public lands and parks, and many American Indian reservations. Ranked consistently among the very best in the nation, Colorado Law’s Environmental, Energy, and Natural Resources program is one of the strongest and deepest of its kind.

Environmental justice (EJ) refers to the conditions of or right to a safe and healthy environment for everyone, regardless of race, class, gender, ability or other considerations. From this perspective, the environment is not separate from society and “out there,” but a space where people live, work, play, learn, and/or pray. Research demonstrates that environmental and climate-related problems and hazards often disproportionately impact the health and economic opportunities of racial and ethnic minorities, Indigenous communities, workers, low-income people, women, the young and the elderly. These patterns are related to systemic forms of inequality in society, including unequal representation in environmental decision-making and leadership, racism and other forms of oppression, and the neglect of diverse value systems.

The purpose of the graduate Certificate in Environmental Justice at CU-Boulder is to provide structured training in environmental justice for CU graduate students, opportunities for graduate students and faculty to interact on environmental justice issues, and equip CU graduate students to be effective scholarly leaders and practitioners in this dynamic field. The Certificate draws upon the strengths of our world-class interdisciplinary faculty who teach and conduct research on environmental justice issues, and balance theoretical and applied approaches. In particular, the certificate guides students to engage with diverse theoretical underpinnings of environmental justice and social change; explore the real-world justice implications related to issues such as climate change, land use, waste, transportation, energy, and food systems; and consider local environmental conflicts and issues through a global lens.