Women in the Sciences

Using the Campus as her Laboratory

"In understanding the global problem of biodiversity loss or ozone depletion, you will have an incomplete understanding of what to do if you only understand the science of it or the economics of it. . . and if you don't apply an ethical or philosophical perspective to it, you will be missing some of the broader concerns."
Beth DeSombre
Associate Professor
Environmental Studies

The value of a liberal arts education becomes crystal clear when you walk into the classroom of Beth DeSombre, an associate professor in Wellesley's new Environmental Studies program.

DeSombre embraces two values the College holds dear: One is that students learn best when they are able to apply their readings and coursework to their lives; the second is that a truly learned student has a working knowledge of many different disciplines.

In one of her courses, for example, students are required to change environmental policy on campus during the course of the semester. One group of students recently convinced the dining services to stop using disposable dishware. The class helped ease the transition by designing an attractive plastic mug and distributing it to every undergraduate for use instead of Styrofoam coffee cups.

"I love teaching the course because the students always have these 'aha' moments when doing their policy projects," DeSombre says. "They suddenly realize that the sorts of things countries are dealing with when negotiating climate change are really very similar to what students are dealing with when they are trying to remove disposable dishware from their dining commons."

The Environmental Studies program is interdisciplinary, combining skills from science, political science, philosophy and economics. Students have the option of focusing on one of three tracks: environmental policy and economics, which focuses on political decisions and economic choices, and requires a science background; the environmental science track, which focuses on a variety of scientific disciplines; or environmental justice and philosophy, which also requires a science background and focuses on the ethical decisions inherent in making scientific decisions.

"Environmental Studies brings together the types of learning we should all be doing in college anyway," DeSombre says. "There are phenomena you can't understand unless you do all these things simultaneously. In understanding the global problem of biodiversity loss or ozone depletion, you will have an incomplete understanding of what to do if you only understand the science of it or the economics of it. And even if you understand the science and economics of it, if you don't apply an ethical or philosophical perspective to it, you will be missing some of the broader concerns. For example, consider the economic time horizons you have to think about when considering policy implications affecting us vs. future generations. There is no political or economic process to account for impacts on future generations. You need to have a philosophical or ethical approach to take those needs into account."

DeSombre says the Environmental Studies program, by combining the skills of multiple disciplines, helps students with the mental calculus required in becoming a responsible citizen in the modern world. "We are teaching students how to add skills up and use them, rather than just to take a bunch of distribution requirements because you should learn these skills."