A unique major asks students to reflect on their place in nature like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Tho- When the major was first offered in 2006, it was a reau, Whitman’s environmental humanities majors hit with Whitties. In 2013, the projected 14 students seek to answer this question: How should we fit into who will graduate with an environmental humanities the natural world? degree will outnumber those who will graduate with “The reason why people are so incredibly passion- any other kind of environmental studies degree. ate about the environment isn’t simply about efficien- EH majorGaea Campe ’12, who along with Zim- cy or saving species,” saidDorian Zimmerman ’12, merman hopes to make a living as a writer, said, an environmental humanities major. “I think the en- “Through the reading and writing you do in classes vironmental humanities major really tries to locate, like The Nature Essay and literature of Nature – es- draw out and elicit the lessons and the reasons and pecially Don Snow’s classes – you really learn to write the inspirations for that passion.” in a way that you would write if you were writing for Phil Brick, the Miles C. Moore professor of politi- publications.” cal science, said there are relatively few colleges with The faculty has grown in innovative ways to meet environmental studies departments that have a student demand. Before Emerson and Thoreau came “three-legged stool” approach – a curricular design Homer, Herodotus, Theocritus, Vergil, ovid and that includes sciences, social sciences and humanities Pliny. So in 2011, Whitman hired Kate Shea to be the to make it truly integrative across all three areas of assistant professor of environmental humanities/clas- liberal learning. sics. Shea said her courses offer students a “greater Students get a better understanding of environ- historical, cultural and literary depth” to their under- mental issues from an interdisciplinary viewpoint. If standing of environmental issues. Her position is be- you examine wind turbines, for example, there’s en- lieved to be the first of its kind in the country. ergy physics to understand, and certainly the siting of “I see it not only as a program-building but a disci- the turbines has been politically contentious. And pline-building opportunity,” Shea said. “I get to make then, Brick said, the humanities ask different kinds of a significant contribution, both in my teaching and in questions, such as “Are they beautiful?” or “What do my research, to a new area of study and to be a model they mean?” for how that might translate into teaching positions To solidify the humanities component of the envi- in other schools.” ronmental studies program, in 2001 Brick helped lure Shea said other schools interested in following Don Snow to Whitman with the offer of a prestigious Whitman’s lead have already contacted her to learn Arnold Professorship. Snow founded Northernlights more about her pioneering classes. Magazine, a quarterly journal about art, politics and To offer students an opportunity to explore anoth- nature in the Rocky Mountains. Brick said he had er perspective that examines the intersection of na- been a fan of Snow’s writing and his journal for years. ture and culture, Whitman recently created another “once we had him here for four or five years, the groundbreaking position at the juncture of German student interest bloomed,” Brick said. studies and environmental humanities. Eight environmental studies students designed in- “This is a natural pairing, given the sustained in- dividually planned majors with a humanities concen- terest that German writers have shown in the rela- tration, and the environmental humanities major was tionship between humankind and the environment, built upon the template they created. extending back even prior to the Romantic move- “By about 2004, (Associate Professor of Philoso- ment,” said Jack Iverson, associate professor of French phy) Tom Davis and myself determined that we had a and chair of the Department of Foreignlanguages viable major here,” said Snow, the senior lecturer of and literature. “German thinkers, like Goethe, environmental humanities/generals studies. “We de- Hölderlin and Heidegger, have been extremely influ- veloped what we believe to be the first undergraduate ential in this domain, and it’s no accident that Ger- environmental humanities major in the nation.” man environmentalists have been at the forefront of Davis, who helped design the major and guide it modern ‘green’ movements.” through the approval process, said, “Figures like Em- Brick said, “By approving this position, the college erson and Thoreau don’t fit into disciplinary catego- is really making a substantial investment in environ- ries.” mental humanities, a field in which we’re right on the He and Snow saw environmental humanities as a cutting edge.” way to bring nature writing onto campus and not split it between the literature and philosophy departments. — David Brauhn July 2012 31
Whitman Magazine July 2012
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