Master's in Environmental Policy

This course uses a systems framework to understand local, regional and global biogeochemical processes as a foundation to assess environmental impacts on social-ecological systems in the Anthropocene. In coordination with the economics, law, and policy courses in the program, this two-semester science sequence teaches students fundamental concepts in scientific assessment, including "Western" and indigenous perspectives, which are then applied to topics such as global nitrogen loading, Indigenous forest management and implications for terrestrial carbon sequestration under climate change, ecological intensification of agriculture, and how material flows analysis underpins the Circular Economy. Case studies are chosen to highlight the intersection between scientific understanding and the institutional inequities that lead to injustices in the distribution of environmental goods and harms, with examples of pathways to solutions.

By the end of the course, students will be equipped to:

• Critically assess arguments in the peer-reviewed science literature and synthesize key ideas across a wide range of environmental topics
• Understand and engage in discussion of the ways in which race and difference impact an individual’s health and welfare outcomes in the face of environmental harms
• Utilize a “systems” framework considering mass and energy balance to assess environmental health, including an understanding of life cycle assessment
• Consider alternative perceptions of “science” as a function of culture and tradition and how these may influence environmental management
• Confidently translate peer-reviewed science articles into common language to meaningfully interact with non-experts on environmental issues

The study of economics involves both a normative and positive frame; this year-long course offers both. We trace and analyze various schools of thought and their proponents including Smith, Marx, Keynes, and Hayek, which allows us to view current policy debates through multiple historical and value lenses. While economics has traditionally emphasized efficiency, modern economics has sharply pivoted towards values of sustainability, fairness, equality, and justice. This course incorporates these vital principles to assess the constraints and promises of policymaking, especially when paired with statistical tools that permit rigorous empirical testing of theories. The combination of theory and practice fosters students to hone their worldviews and value frames as well as acquire practical professional skills.

Learning Outcomes

• Recognize and appreciate competing value frames that inform policy
• Develop practical empirical skills to quantify, measure, and test the efficacy of various policy interventions
• Learn statistical mechanisms to identify causal linkages between policy interventions to outcomes

This course provides students with an introduction to the fundamentals principles of environmental law. We begin with an overview of the US legal system and then move on to assess key federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations. Towards the end of the class, we will also study the international environmental lawmaking process, with a focus on the international climate regime that has developed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Throughout the course, we will consider the political economy of environmental regulation and the interests of different stakeholders, including environmental justice communities. 

Upon completion of the course, students should have an understanding of the following concepts:

• The structure and goals of major federal environmental laws including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act
• The administrative lawmaking process as well as the procedure for challenging administrative rules 
• The history and present goals of the environmental justice movement
• The relationship between federal, state, and local bodies of law

Students will also gain experience interpreting judicial opinions and other legal texts, including federal and state statutes. 

This course introduces students to quantitative tools used for analyzing data, understanding the nature of causality, and developing policy. Through real-world applications, this course focuses on developing a logical structure underlying statistics and eschewing formulaic learning. A deep understanding of statistics allows students to recognize that statistical methods (such as the t test, ANOVA, and regression) form a logical and nested progression.

Learning Outcomes:

• Ability to explain statistical concepts rigorously in plain English
• Understand the nature and meaning of causality
• Develop an appreciation for connections among geometry, trigonometry, and statistics
• Test any hypothesis using a logical sequence of steps
• Write code in a programming language such as STATA or R

Communication skills are crucial to educators’ and policymakers’ ability to mobilize against structural environmental and climate change injustices.  Recognizing this, in the Communication course at Bard CEP, students work to become inclusive and inspiring writers and speakers.  Students learn how to take audience and purpose into account as they read, synthesize and communicate complex science, economic and policy information. The course covers both academic and professional written and oral genres: the blog post, memo, lit review, cover letter, slide presentation, interview.  

This course supports students’ ability to:

• frame their writing/presentations for differing purposes and audiences, with an emphasis on engaging community stakeholders
• find and evaluate relevant research and communicate it accessibly and accurately 
• support a reader through an argument via effective introductory/concluding material, coherent sections and paragraphs, thoughtfully placed transitions, precise word choice, and clear, concise, sentences
• craft and deliver visually engaging, effectively structured, and memorable slide presentations
• analyze their own and their classmates’ writing and presentations and give and receive constructive feedback

Using ESRI GIS software and associated apps, students will receive formal instruction in the fundamentals of using spatial information, conducting spatial analysis, and producing high-quality cartographic products. Students will learn how GIS may be used as a tool for identifying and assessing environmental justice (EJ) issues at the local, regional and global scale. Students will apply these GIS skills and knowledge base to a team-based research project focused on an environmental justice problem. The course culminates in a presentation session, where students show their analysis and results to their peers, professors and the greater Bard community.

After taking this course, a student will better able to:

• Perform geographic inquiry - ask spatially-based questions, acquire and evaluate data, develop methods, and summarize results
• Produce effective maps for decision-making through traditional cartographic techniques as well as web-based applications 
• Use GIS in creating solutions to environmentally and inequity-based problems

The content of the Food/Energy Policy course is continually updated to reflect cutting edge policy and legislative issues.  It is generally supported with invited speakers who span a spectrum of stakeholders from sustainability coordinators in private sector food companies to labor organizers working on protecting farmer worker rights to legal defense organizations working on banning toxic pesticides, in the case of food policy, or for energy policy, state-level regulators developing policy on off-shore wind to electric vehicle experts speaking on charging infrastructure.  Students engage in teams to develop policy position statements for presentations to stakeholders to gain skill in integrating across competing interests.

This course supports students’ ability to:

• Explore specific policy challenges and solutions in the food or energy system arenas that may lead to the radical change needed to address these global issues;
• Draw on the disciplinary expertise they are gaining in their economics, science, law and politics courses to take “theory into practice”;
• Understand the perspectives of various stakeholders on an issue, and explore the art of compromise in policy formulation.

Extended Professional Internship

The extended professional internship is a unique feature of the Bard CEP program. In the second year of study, all students complete a four-to-six month, high-level internship in locations ranging from Washington, D.C., to New York City, Texas, Oregon, and Alaska; across the world in Thailand, South Africa, Geneva; and close to home, in the Hudson Valley. Some recent internship experiences are captured in this video.

The internship typically forms the basis for the students' Master's Capstone Projects. Between 30% and 50% of internships turn directly into jobs. The internship is a major item on our graduates' resumes, and supports development of their career networks. 

In their own words . . .

“My internship experience through Bard CEP was a unique life and career experience. I was a project assistant for WASTE, a Dutch NGO (nongovernmental organization), working on implementing an integrated solid waste management system in Haiti. Being engaged in fieldwork for six months helped me to truly understand the realities while allowing me to perform to my highest capabilities. The opportunity launched my international development career and helped me grow as a young professional. I am currently working at VNG International as a policy advisor.” —Rachel Savain ’12

Placement Options

Bard CEP helps students find internship opportunities with a variety of institutions, and is continuously expanding its list of internship sponsors. The internship allows students to follow their preferred areas of specialization locally, elsewhere in the United States, or abroad. The internship gives students an applied focus to their degree and an opportunity to learn in a professional setting the job-specific skills they will use upon graduation. Internships also expand professional networks, often leading directly or indirectly to employment. 

Students can pursue two different Master’s Capstone avenues: (1) the Thesis, which is designed to help students understand evidence-based policy formation by generating a research question, developing its proof and communicating these ideas to a potential policymaker audience, and (2) the Project, which is designed to replicate a professional experience, either in the form of a consulting project or a communication piece.

Students begin to formalize capstone ideas the summer after their first year, in consultation with an advisor on the faculty. The internship allows students to explore policy issues and usually serves as the springboard for the capstone.

This seminar is offered annually in the spring and covers current topics in environmental policy. The class is held jointly with first year students, allowing the two classes to work together and share perspectives.

Energy Policy

This seminar provides an interdisciplinary review of the technology, economics, and politics of energy production, distri­bution, and use by humans with a focus on policy-level decisions, including recent events shaping a changing landscape. The course provides an overview of policy frameworks, available technologies, and analytic tools followed by an in-depth review of current systems and the New York State’s “Reforming the Energy Vision” (REV) proceedings, which seek to change the landscape.

Food Policy

This seminar investigates the influence of federal agriculture policy by exploring the Farm Bill and Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and the degree of influence they have on farming practices, role of large multinationals on food systems, food justice issues, critiques of “local food,” controversies around the USDA National Organic Program, GMO labeling laws, competi­tion created by biofuels for land and water resources, and how crop insurance is playing a role in the loss of land enrolled in Conservation Reserve Programs, among other topics.

Careers in environmental policy require excellent analytical skills, but also the ability to lead policy implementation. This class focuses on values-based leadership—understanding different leadership approaches, critical skills, and pathways to engage a community in a policy vision. It emphasizes self-awareness and communication as foundations for leadership. Students learn how leaders communicate clearly and accurately about environmental problems, becoming familiar with various approaches to framing and conveying messages. The course also helps students develop their career skills, focusing on fundraising and negotiation skills, as well as interviewing techniques, using social media creatively and effectively.

The Capstone Seminar offers a platform for students to present successive iterations of their capstone research. Students discuss the policy problems and methodological challenges they encounter in their work, along with different ways of dealing with them. The seminar also offers students the chance to receive feedback from their peers and the Bard CEP faculty, and to focus on effectively communicating the results of their research. 

Student-Driven Capstone 

At Bard, the Master's Project provides the opportunity for students to develop true mastery in their chosen field of interest, ranging across topics such as water, energy, biodiversity, toxic pollution, and environmental justice. Unlike at many other schools where a capstone project is derivative of a faculty member's research interest, at Bard, students develop their own capstone topics, typically focused on solving an environmental policy problem identified during the student's internship. In these cases, students devote an entire year to practical work in the area in which they are passionate: six months of hands-on experience, coupled with six months of academic analysis and reflection through their capstone work. This kind of mastery provides a strong foundation for career success. Each Master's Project is carefully mentored by two Bard CEP Faculty members, including a primary and secondary advisor.