Find solutions to crucial environmental challenges.
Our doctoral program is founded on the conviction that theory and practice go hand-in-hand and that our most essential research questions arise from integrating professional experiences and scholarship. Approach your research with a multidisciplinary perspective, integrating science, policy, humanities, education, and service to pursue sustainable solutions to pressing local, national and international environmental challenges.
This degree is offered by AU New England.
Program Overview
In this program, you’ll engage in coursework and seminars with a diverse and supportive group of students and faculty whose experience and wide-ranging interests will augment your own. Specialize in the research area for which you have a passion and apply the theories and methods best suited to your research interests.
Study with faculty who bridge disciplinary and methodological boundaries, who model the integration of scholarship and practice, who emphasize the role of service, and who are recognized locally, nationally, and internationally.
Environmental Studies integrates a wide range of concepts and ideas and embraces multiple methodological approaches to understanding and solving critical and emerging environmental challenges. The current areas of research interest and expertise among ES PhD students and faculty overlap significantly and intentionally, and indicate the richness of content, dialog, scholarship, and practice in our program.
The following illustrate the research areas of our students and faculty:
- Ecology and Conservation Biology
- Environmental Decision-Making, Policy, and Governance
- Environmental Humanities
- Environmental and Social Justice
- Environmental, Sustainability, and Science Education
- Food and the Environment
- Resilience, Climate and Environmental Change
Cohort-Based Doctoral Program Delivery
The doctoral program in Environmental Studies is a 69-credit program that can be completed in 4-5 years.
Environmental studies doctoral students complete four phases of the program with their cohorts. Each phase spans approximately a year. In the first two phases, students are required to attend classes for an 8-day summer intensive during the first two years of the program. They are also required to attend classes on campus four weekends (Friday – Sunday) during the fall semester and four weekends during the spring semester of the first phase of the program; three weekends in the fall and three in the spring of the second phase; and two weekends each fall and spring semester in the third and fourth phases of the program. These doctoral weekends typically fall on the first or second weekend of each month.
The cohort model offers exposure to classmates’ research, sparking collaboration and innovation. Students and faculty remain engaged in each other’s work via online communication tools, which enables pathways for resources, support and critique that often results in lifelong bonds of friendship and collegiality.
Doctoral Curriculum
The program also requires weekly online work to supplement class time on campus. Students have a maximum limit of ten years from the date of entry to complete all degree requirements, including the dissertation, and 69 semester-hour credits beyond a Master’s. Students must complete the Candidacy Exam and successfully defend their Dissertation Proposal before admission to the Dissertation Phase. All of the courses described are required courses unless otherwise indicated. Required courses are listed under each competency area:
Phase 1 - Foundation Courses (18 credits)
The initial phase of AUNE’s doctoral program in environmental studies instills the foundations of interdisciplinary environmental studies and scholarship through intensive, integrative, theoretically oriented courses. Topics include research design, ecological thought, applied ecological analysis, global environmental change, political economy and sustainability, and environmental history.
- Summer Semester: 8 day intensive
- Fall Semester: 4 weekends
- Spring Semester: 4 weekends
Required courses:
- Introduction to Research Design
- Ecological Thought
- Comparative Ecological Analysis
- Global Environmental Change
- Political Economy and Sustainability
- Environmental History
Phase 2 - Research Strategies and Learning Domains (24 credits)
The program’s second phase includes a series of seminars about scientific research where students focus on methodologies, literature, and theoretical frameworks to guide their research interests. They discuss their work with leading scholars and writers and learn how others frame and execute their research. Students also design and complete four individual “learning domain” courses, each with an individual mentor, that allows them to focus and deepen their knowledge and research skills in their specific area of future dissertation research.
- Summer Semester: 8-day intensive
- Fall Semester: 3 weekends
- Spring Semester: 3 weekends
Required courses:
- Research Strategy – Quantitative: Theory, Method, and Design
- Research Strategy – Qualitative: Theory, Method, and Design
- Doctoral Learning Domain
- Individualized Learning Contract, to be selected from:
- Approved Antioch graduate courses
- Doctoral Learning Domain Projects (independent studies, formal courses)
- Reading Seminars
Phase 3 – Candidacy (9 credits)
During the candidacy phase (or the dissertation phase), students complete a service learning seminar and project related to their academic goals. This phase also focuses on preparation to pass a qualifying exam in the form of writing an integrated essay about their area of research interests and completion of their dissertation proposals. The timing and sequence of the candidacy phase will vary for each student depending on her or his own pace.
- Summer Semester: 8-day intensive (optional)
- Fall Semester: 2 weekends
- Spring Semester: 2 weekends
Required courses:
- Doctoral Qualifying Exam
- Dissertation Proposal Seminar *
- Service Learning Seminar*
* May be taken the previous year in the program with permission of advisor and instructor.
Phase 4 – The Dissertation Process (18 credits)
During the fourth and final phase of the program, students participate in seminars designed to support all aspects of the dissertation process. They design and conduct original research and analyses that have direct social, environmental, political, and educational impacts. Finally, they write their doctoral dissertation.
- Summer Semester: 8-day intensive (optional)
- Fall Semester: 2 weekends
- Spring Semester: 2 weekends
Required courses:
- Service Learning Project *
- Dissertation Seminar
- Doctoral Dissertation
* May be taken the previous year in the program with permission of advisor and instructor.
Meet our Faculty
Hear from Jean Kayira, PhD, Director of Antioch’s PhD in Environmental Studies, on The Seed Field podcast.
Backgrounds, Goals, and Outcomes
Students who pursue AUNE’s PhD in Environmental Studies are united by the desire to research and move forward crucial environmental issues. They have diverse academic, professional, and personal experiences that add value to the comprehensive curriculum. Our students’ and graduates’ backgrounds include:
- Academic and Research Positions. Field biologists and conservation biologists who enter this program typically have extensive practical experience and have worked for state, federal, nonprofit, and non-governmental organizations in the US and abroad. They frequently seek positions in academic settings or research institutions after earning their PhD.
- Advanced Environmental Scholarship and Research. Environmentalists with significant work experience pursue this program to grow both academically and professionally. They are reflective practitioners interested in furthering their scholarship and research.
- Career Advancement. Educators, college faculty without a doctorate, independent scholars, education and policy consultants, journalists, naturalists, conservation biologists, environmental educators, and recent graduates of master’s level ecology and environmental studies programs earn their PhD in Environmental Studies from AUNE to advance their chosen careers.
- New Approaches. Independent scholars, outdoor or adventure educators, therapists, social workers, writers, and artists interested in the psycho-spiritual aspects of environmental studies pursue this program to develop new approaches to learning, teaching, healing, and organizational change.
ES Doctoral Weekend Intensives
Fall 2022
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- September: 9, 10, 11
- October: 7, 8, 9
- November: 4, 5, 6
- December: 9, 10, 11
Spring 2023
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- January: 20, 21, 22
- February: 17, 18, 19
- March: 17, 18, 19
- April: 21, 22, 23
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