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, faculty researchers, community mentors and business partners. Our objective is to teach and graduate change agents who can provide real world solutions to complex socio-ecological problems and green entrepreneurs who can build green organizations, businesses and industries. 

Here’s how we achieve our goals:

The Rachel Carson College 1 Course focuses on our theme, “Environment and Society,” through examination of California's environmental history and how the contemporary landscape has been shaped by capital and through labor, technology and politics.  College 1 consists of a weekly plenary in which all of the new frosh hear experts on relevant topics, and a discussion section, in which students explore ideas and themes related to the focus of the plenary.  College 1 faculty have developed a Rachel Carson College wiki, which incorporates Web 2.0 technologies and principles. Much of the site is open access, and offers a range of timely and important information and resources.

Minor in Sustainability Studies. Rachel Carson College sponsors a minor in Sustainability Studies, which has been approved on a permanent basis.  Not only is this minor designed to be highly interdisciplinary, it is also the first such college-sponsored degree program in several decades.  As such, the Sustainability Studies minor offers a model for new college-based undergraduate curricula and pedagogies and emphasizes the central academic role of UCSC’s college system on the campus. The minor offers students opportunities to conduct research in sustainable energy, resources and food production, to developing green entrepreneurial capabilities and to writing business plans and grant proposal to support their projects.  For more information about internships, see the Service Learning Sustainability Internship placement page.  For more information about courses in the minor, see the Curriculum page.