A Study of the Environment, Connectivity, and the World Around Us

Pacific Lutheran University sits upon the traditional lands of the Nisqually, Puyallup, Squaxin Island, and Steilacoom peoples; we acknowledge and respect the traditional caretakers of this land.

Environmental Studies is an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the relationships between humans and the environment. Managing the environment requires interdisciplinary tools and knowledge about natural systems, human institutions, beliefs and values, and the dissemination of these ideas through business, education, nursing and other professions.

Within the environmental studies curriculum, the social sciences provide perspectives on the environment from a human point of view, balancing the ecological perspectives contributed by the natural sciences with the economic and political aspects of human society.

Courses in the humanities bring the insights of religion and ethics as well as a body of literature and artistic appreciation that connect the natural world to human sensibility.

Natural sciences bring the insights of biologists, chemists, and geoscientists to studies of human interaction with the natural ecosystems, seeking answers to complex, inter-related problems of resources, population and pollution in an effort to care for the world we live in.

Junior and senior-level environmental studies courses draw on these diverse disciplines to integrate understandings of and solutions to environmental problems.

2023 Capstone Presentations

Majors and Minors

Our majors and minors learn how to ask questions about the complex relationships between people and the environment by drawing from a range of disciplinary perspectives.

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Clover Creek Watershed

Check out our Clover Creek Watershed website to learn about the unique interdisciplinary coursework our students complete in ENVT 350.

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Major gift to program

PLU alums David '57 & Lorilie '58 Steen's generous donation establishes the Steen Family Symposium on Environmental Issues.

Allison Sheflo '23

Allison Sheflo on campus by trees.
``The community I’ve found on campus is one I love so deeply,`` says Sheflo

Combatting climate change

Envt Studies interns with Dr. Lowell Wyse.
A group of PLU students spent the summer increasing the number of trees in the city to improve the livelihoods of those who live in urban areas.
Quick Links
  • Bradford Andrews
    Bradford Andrews, Associate Professor of Anthropology
  • Professor Mike Behrens
    Michael Behrens, Professor of Biology
  • Suzanne Crawford-O'Brien
    Suzanne Crawford O’Brien, Professor of Religion and Culture
  • Professor Romey Haberle
    Romey Haberle, Associate Professor of Biology
  • Professor Jenny James
    Sergia Hay, Associate Professor of Philosophy
  • Professor Rose McKenney
    Jennifer James, Associate Professor of English
  • Rebekah Mergenthal
    Rose McKenney, Professor of Earth Science and Environmental Studies
  • Brian Naasz
    Rebekah M. K. Mergenthal, Associate Professor of History
  • Kevin O'Brien
    Brian Naasz, Resident Assistant Professor of Chemistry
  • Professor Julie Smith
    Kevin J. O’Brien, Professor of Christian Ethics and Environmental Ethics
  • Priscilla St. Clair
    Nathalie op de Beeck, Associate Professor of English

Meet Our Faculty

Passionate faculty committed to critical thinking and care for the Earth support environmental studies students as they learn how to integrate multiple disciplinary perspectives to environmental issues on campus and on the Clover Creek watershed.

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Earth Day Lectures

Each spring semester, Environmental Studies coordinates the PLU Earth Day Lecture. Our speakers have included prominent scholars, noted activists, and political leaders.

Learn more about Earth Day Lectures