Watershed Semester Goals & Structure

Goals established by faculty and staff for the Luce Semester:

• Develop an understanding of the deep connections between natural resources and humans from multiple perspectives and within an immersion experience.
• Train students in ecosystem analysis field techniques through extensive hands-on experience with a variety of ecosystems in different climatic zones.
• Expose students to the cultural contexts wherein environmental problems are created and in which solutions are conceived and implemented.
• Engage students in meaningful, long-term community projects with people who, by virtue of their diverse experiences, have much to teach us.
  

Summary of the Structure of the Program:

It is a single, interdisciplinary, integrated course, for the equivalent of a student’s normal 4-course load.
Generally, students receive credit for:
ES 330 (Environmental Distruption and Policy Analysis)
ES 335 (Analysis and Management of the Aquatic Environment)
ES 310 (Applied Estuarine Management)
ES 501 (Independent research)

Students from other majors or with other needs will work with faculty to customize their course credit.

The course involves classroom activities, community-based field work research, independent research, and travel within the Chesapeake Bay watershed and lower Mississippi River Basin, including:

• Nine weeks of study in Chesapeake Bay watershed (8 at home and 1 week within the mainstream of the Bay).
• Three weeks of study in the lower Mississippi River Basin including travel through the Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Mississippi portions of the basin.
• Independent research, most of which will be centered on community-defined environmental problems and done in conjunction with ALLARM.
  
  

For more information, see the Watershed Semester Model Curriculum.

Click here to view a presentation by Prof. Wilderman outlining the Luce Semester:

From the Chesapeake Bay to Coastal Louisiana (Picasa Web Album)