13,000 acres isn't always enough. Sewanee students are encouraged to complement their experiences on the Domain with environmental study in other regions of the United States or the world.
The Island Ecology Program is an interdisciplinary summer field school. Students study geology, hydrology, soils, plant communities, land use, coastal marine biology, invertebrate zoology, vertebrate ecology, and animal behavior. The experience emphasizes the interdependence of these disciplines by exploring how the island ecosystem functions.
In this class, students explore inhospitable extremes in order to learn more about the earth and how people relate to it. We focus on two facets of the relationship between human societies and the natural environment: natural resources and natural hazards. Both are central to life in Iceland.
Sustainability and Global Environmental Change is a two-part class that begins on campus in the fall semester and continues with a two-week field trip to New Zealand during winter break. The class focuses on topics of biodiversity, natural resources, and natural hazards, using New Zealand as a case study.
The course focuses on the geological evolution of the Colorado Plateau, the Rio Grande Rift, and the Rocky Mountains. Extensive use of geologic maps and periodicals. The course concludes with a three-week field study trip to the many of the locations studied during the semester.
The Haiti Institute in Sewanee is a center for collaborative educational partnerships between Haiti and the University of the South. It’s goal is to promote, foster, and envision scholarship and research across a broad spectrum of interests pertaining to Haiti and Haitian studies. Opportunities include summer research internships and a spring break outreach trip.
A field immersion into two of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on earth: coral reefs and tropical rainforests. Students live in remote field stations in Belize, where they examine the ecology and natural history of these two systems through extensive field exploration and research.
