Advising & Academics
At Rachel Carson College we seek to provide a holistic undergraduate pedagogy that combines class instruction with experiential learning opportunities, including advanced courses in sustainability and integrated, interdisciplinary training in hands-on skills and field research. Rachel Carson College strives to fill this niche through its courses and collaborations with UCSC departments, student programs, and community partners. Our objective is to teach and graduate students who can participate in real world solutions to complex socio-ecological problems.
Advising
Your advising team is here to help you navigate your academic path, explore your interests, and plan for what’s next. Connect with us whenever you need support or have questions.
Sustainability Studies Minor Program
Rachel Carson College’s Sustainability Studies minor invites students from all majors to explore sustainability through environmental justice, science, and social responsibility. Inspired by Rachel Carson’s legacy, the program equips students to understand environmental challenges and create just, equitable change.
Core Course
All first-year students at UC Santa Cruz take a college core course designed to build essential reading, writing, and analytical skills. At Rachel Carson College, the course theme is Environment and Society. Students explore local and global ecological issues while considering questions of nature, justice, and the impacts of climate change.
College Courses
College courses connect you with Rachel Carson College’s theme and community while helping you explore ideas, build skills, and prepare for your academic journey.
How we achieve our goals
Each of our ten Colleges has a core course with a slightly different theme. Unlike any other course you will take in your college career, this is a class that every single first year student will take at UCSC. This course is designed to help you develop and solidify your reading, writing, and analytical skills that will carry you through your college career, no matter what degree or major you end up seeking here at UCSC. At Rachel Carson College the theme in our core course is Environment and Society. Throughout the quarter, you will study various ecological and environmental topics, both local and global, all the while asking questions such as: What is nature? What are the causes and consequences of environmental and social injustice? What is justice in a time of global climate change?
Minor in Sustainability Studies
Rachel Carson College offers a minor in Sustainability Studies. The minor is designed to be highly interdisciplinary and rooted in college-based (vs. Department-based) undergraduate curricula and pedagogies, emphasizing the central academic role of UCSC’s college system on the campus. This interdisciplinary minor invites students to explore sustainability through the lens of environmental justice, scientific inquiry, and social responsibility – following the path paved by our namesake – visionary ecologist and writer Rachel Carson. Students will not only examine the roots of environmental degradation but also develop tools to catalyze just, equitable change.
Courses in the minor emphasizes both technical proficiency and critical awareness. For example, themes and tools that students can expect in their coursework will include: writing for change: inspired by Carson’s own groundbreaking work, students will learn how to communicate complex issues related to the environment from their own social location, engage in experiential and/or design based learning that asks how can sustainability practices can foster change, not just preservation, and consider questions related to who bears the burden of environmental harm and who gets to speak, research, or be heard?