WELCOME

As we enter this new century, many of the most exciting opportunities and daunting challenges facing humanity are larger in scope than the traditional singular disciplines. Right in our face are deep and central questions, such as "Who are we, as individuals and a society?'' and "What is the proper place of humans in nature?''

The Program in Nature and Culture, unique in the nation, offers an integrative, flexible, and rigorous curriculum steeped in natural science, social science, arts, and humanities. The major provides students with methodological and intellectual tools to be leaders in the new millennium. Courses in Nature and Culture explore and contrast different modes of inquiry, from scientific to poetic to spiritual.

We seek to render transparent the constellation of beliefs and myths that guide our culture in the areas of gender, ethnicity, class, religion, and science. In this major, especially in our core courses taught by interdisciplinary teams of faculty, students gain an understanding of the limits of traditional modes of inquiry, and get theory and practice in emerging frontiers of creative activity such as habitat restoration, integrated landscape art, and bioregional/watershed centered society.