Our Life with Words: Philosophies of Language

What are our moral obligations to other animals? Should non-human animals have legal rights and moral standing? If so, on what basis? How does the moral treatment of animals change across the contexts of food, research, captivity, and the home? Historically, western philosophers construct the animal in opposition to the human. Why? What is an “animal” and why is the “human” contrasted with it? How does language shape and produce our relationships with animals? How is the animal represented and characterized, and how does this representation impact our thinking about animal ethics?

This discussion-based course explores the relationships between humans and non-human animals. Drawing on fiction, philosophy, and ethology, we will examine our beliefs and assumptions regarding animals, human-animal relations, and the ethical implications of the human-animal binary. This course will focus on a wide range of theoretical approaches, including the traditions of animal liberation and animal rights as articulated by thinkers such as Tom Regan and Peter Singer, the growing field of animal studies as represented by thinkers like Jacques Derrida, and current debates in practical ethics, such as animal experimentation, hunting, and invasive species.

Upon completion of the course, students will have refined their understanding of the concept of the animal and they will be familiar with the key legal and ethical debates regarding human-animal relationships. Course requirements include class discussions, weekly writing exercises, a midterm exam, and a final paper or project. Students should come to this class prepared to read challenging philosophical essays and to share their ideas with others.

This course introduces students to the molecular and cellular processes that are essential for life. We will initially cover some basic chemistry to develop a common language for discussing the complex molecular events that are the basis of the structure and function of cells. This class will explore cellular processes involved in metabolism, communication, growth, and reproduction. There is a strong emphasis on the understanding the genetic basis of these processes as well as how these processes are controlled, and we will delve into the structure and function of the DNA molecule in some detail. We will examine how our understanding of genetic processes and genome sequencing has led to applications in research, medicine, agriculture, and industry, with time also devoted to discussion of the social and ethical consequences attached to these technological innovations. Students will be evaluated on participation, performance on problem sets and quizzes throughout the term, and a final oral presentation.

This is one half of a 20-week, two-term introductory course in biology, providing an overview of the discipline and prerequisite for many intermediate and advanced biology courses. The course will emphasize biological structures at the level of whole organisms and organs and their role in the survival and reproduction of individuals and the evolution of populations . We will explore principles of evolution, classification, anatomy and physiology, epidemiology, behavior, and basic ecology. The primary focus of the course is on vertebrate animals and vascular plants, but we will make forays into other phylogenetic lineages at intervals. Weekly field and laboratory studies introduce students to the local range of habitats and a broad array of protists, plants, and animals. Attendance at two lectures and one lab each week is required; course evaluation is based on class participation, exams, preparation of a lab/field notebook, and a presentation. It should be stressed that this course emphasizes the unity of the organism within its environment. Ideally students will subsequently enroll in Biology:Cells and Molecules in order to further their exploration of issues in a more reductionist form, but neither course is a pre-requisite for the other.

This course will provide students with a toolbox of techniques in statistical analysis, with a focus on the biological sciences. Students will learn how to choose and apply a variety of widely used statistical tests, how to design experiments and studies with statistical analysis in mind, and how to use a range of specialized statistical approaches for data types frequently encountered in the biological sciences. The methods we will cover include parametric and nonparametric tests; approaches designed for categorical, ordinal, and continuous data; biodiversity statistics and ordination methods; Bayesian vs. frequentist inference; and robust experimental design. The class will highlight the assumptions involved in statistical inference and the conditions that must be met in order to use statistical tests appropriately. In the lab, students will use the statistical programming language R to explore, display, and analyze data using the methods covered in class. By the end of the term, students should be able to choose appropriate analytical methods for a wide range of data types, design statistically valid experiments, and write code for basic statistical tests in R. Students will be evaluated based on daily homework assignments, weekly lab work, several take-home exams, and a final group presentation based on an original analysis of an archived data set chosen by the students. Note: each student should have a laptop for lab (PC preferred; limited support will be provided for Mac users). Contact the instructor if you do not have your own laptop.

This is the first half of a two-term sequence designed to help students describe and understand properties of materials. The course first explores how atomic and molecular structure relates to the physical properties of materials and their reactivity. The course explores the reasons, rates, and outcomes of chemical reactions. Course material is applied to better understand living systems, the natural environment, and industrial products. The course meets for three hours of lecture/discussion and for three hours of lab each week. Students are strongly urged to take both terms of this course. Evaluations are based on class participation, lab reports, and quizzes.

This course will explore the many roles that genes play in the biology of organisms, the molecular basis of gene function, and the methodologies used in genetic research and application. Students in this course should already have a basic understanding from an introductory biology course of the structure and function of genes and chromosomes, the processes involved in gene expression, and patterns of inheritance. This course will explore these phenomena more deeply as well as delve into a range of other topics, including population genetics, quantitative genetics, genes in development, genomics, and using genetic data to understand human evolution. We will also discuss the use of genetic engineering in industry, agriculture, medicine, and research. We will meet twice weekly for lectures and once per week for discussion of readings and problem sets. Evaluation is based on short problem sets, take-home exams, an oral presentation, and a final paper.

This course introduces the basics of statistical analysis that can be used in either a scientific or a social science frame of reference. While this course teaches you to perform both nonparametric and simple parametric analysis both by hand and computer, an emphasis will be placed on understanding the principles and assumptions of each test, rather than mathematical ability per se. We will also learn how to report statistical results in journal format, and there will be plenty of lab time to sharpen skills. Evaluation is based on lab participation, three quizzes, and a team project.

This will be a course that uses Psychology, Neuroscience, and Biochemistry to explain perception, movement, and the mechanisms of the senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. The material will first explain the development and cellular structure of the central and peripheral systems that control the senses. We will then broadly cover each sense and the biochemical and molecular reactions that occur in cells; allowing for the sensation of, and response to, external stimuli. A theme in this course will be the ways biological processes relate to our perception of the world, and how this perception relates to color theory, gastronomy, marketing, and our understanding of diseases. For example: the visual system will be introduced via cellular development and will describe basic structure of the eye before explaining how light is sensed by those structures. To tie visual systems with perception, the material will then describe the neural systems that contribute to visual perception and optical illusions. This can also be considered a course on the neural basis of cognition and perception.

The course is based in cellular mechanisms but can be broadly applied to a variety of studies including arts, marketing, and communication. The lasting impact of this course would be a foundation in the molecular biology that produces sensation, and a clear understanding of how sensation and perception influence the ways in which we interact with the world around us.

Assessment will be based on active participation in class discussions, the completion of multiple small problem sets, and a long-term final project with a written and oral component. The lab for this course will consist of workshops and discussions that utilize light, sound, and texture to convey principles learned in lecture.

This course will make use of some basic knowledge and concepts from the field of cellular biology. Students taking this class should have previously taken ES 1052: Cellular Processes of Life or have an equivalent background in cellular biology from a previous AP or IB class, or some other related coursework.

This course explores the physical, chemical, and environmental properties of carbon-containing materials such as plastics, solvents, dyes, as well as all living things, and once-living materials. The emphasis is on learning fundamental principles that allow one to understand and to predict the behavior of various types of organic substances. Evaluations are based on problem sets, lab reports, and quizzes. The equivalent of this course is a perquisite for biochemistry.

This course explores the physical, chemical, and environmental properties of carbon-containing materials such as plastics, solvents, dyes, and living things. The emphasis of this course is to apply foundational principles of Chemistry and Organic Chemistry I to gain perspective on how these processes fit into everyday life: materials and processing, research and medicine, connection to biochemistry, and food production. Evaluation will be based on: problem sets, quizzes, labs, a mid-term exam, and a final exam.

Families are a touchstone of many people’s identity, and stories about where we come from and who came before us are often key ways of orienting ourselves and understanding who we are. Storytelling, documentary and photographic collections, and other methods of preserving memories serve as the very concrete ways that many of us come to learn about our immediate family and our ancestors. New techniques of genetic testing provide a method that can contribute to that understanding and in some cases fill in blanks left about ancestors and provide a new source of stories in addition to those passed along from generation to generation. Recreational DNA testing can also provoke discussion about how to make sense of the genetic stories revealed and how they mesh with or challenge people’s sense of themselves. This class will explore the traditional methods of collecting family histories (oral history, genealogical research) and recreational genetic testing as a point of entry into complex issues around history, memory, ethics, race and the role of new technologies. Students will learn the basic skills of doing genealogical research as well as develop an understanding of the strengths and limitations of human genetic testing, which can reveal our shared history as well as our differences. Evaluation will be based on class participation, short assignments, and a final project. The expectations surrounding the final project explain why this course is designated as intermediate even though there are no specific pre-requisites. Students will be expected to conceptualize, plan and carry out their own projects, and they will be evaluated on their ability to self-direct, seek feedback and complete those projects. This class is appropriate for a wide range of students with diverse interests concerning identity and history.

What is the meaning of death? What is the nature of the soul or self? What happens after death? Is death bad? Would it be good to live forever? How does thinking about death change our thinking about life? The purpose of this course is to compel students to think philosophically about the many profound questions that arise in the face of death. We will read theoretical essays, short stories, memoirs, and a novella to explore topics such as the following: evolving definitions of life and death, immortality, nothingness, the afterlife, physician-assisted suicide, the ethics of killing, the death Peñalty, biotechnologies, cryonics, grief, corpses, and artistic depictions of death. Although we will engage with religious, legal, and medical perspectives, philosophy is the primary disciplinary framework for this class. There are no prerequisites for this course, but students should be prepared to engage and discuss challenging philosophical literature that requires careful and critical reading. Students will be evaluated on the basis of weekly writing assignments, midterm essays, a final paper, and class participation.

Bioethics studies ethical problems that occur in medical practice and the life sciences. Contemporary bioethics is an expansive and fundamentally interdisciplinary field, but this course will consider key dilemmas in bioethics from a philosophical perspective. More specifically, we will explore how bioethical issues complicate our concepts of right and wrong, good and bad, life and death, and the human and the natural.

We will begin with a quick overview of prominent ethical theories and we will consider the possibility of transcultural bioethics. Secondly, we will address the ethical and philosophical questions raised by the following topics: abortion, birth, population, reproduction, cloning, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, resource allocation and organ donation, human research ethics, genetic engineering, the doctor-patient relationship, and medical decision making. Throughout the duration of the term, we will consider how different ethical frameworks shape our assessment of contemporary moral dilemmas.

This course will introduce students to the principles of ethical thinking, familiarize students with pressing debates in bioethics, and compel students to discuss issues that are politically and socially contentious. Course requirements include engaged class participation, three short papers, a presentation, contributions to online discussion documents, and a final paper. There are no prerequisites for this course, but students should be prepared to engage complex, theoretical essays that require careful and critical reading.

Buildings account for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions. Sixty percent of Maine homes are heated with heating oil, the highest percentage of any state, and Mainers spend more than a billion dollars on heating oil each year. Improving the efficiency of our homes and buildings is essential for transitioning away from fossil fuels and reducing carbon emissions.

In this course, students will learn how to safely transition buildings away from fossil fuels. This includes understanding the science of energy and moisture movement through a building, how to monitor carbon monoxide and other harmful combustion gases, and methods to reduce energy loss, while maintaining comfortable levels of humidity and fresh air. Students will gain proficiency measuring air leakage with a blower door, using an infrared camera to assess insulation levels, calculating heat loss, and identifying solutions and best practices to develop a plan of action for homeowners.

They will also learn about high efficiency mechanical systems like air source heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, and how to assess lighting and appliance electrical usage. Students will learn how to carry out cost calculations for energy savings and research and share information on rebates and incentives available for homeowners. This will be a very hands-on course, with weekly labs to teach energy auditing field skills. This course will include presentations from local energy contractors, and students will participate in energy audits of residential buildings on or off campus. Through these experiences, students will meet and interact with home performance businesses and non-profit organizations in the local community. As time and weather conditions permit, students will gain experience implementing efficiency solutions such as insulation and air sealing.

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to conduct energy audits for homes, identify cost-effective improvements, and prioritize energy improvements to maximize energy savings. This course will provide students with the tools and experience to reduce building energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in a holistic, whole-building approach.

Evaluation will be based on completion of assignments, participation in class discussions, and mastery of field skills.

This class will explore general weather and climate patterns on global, regional, and local scales. We will discuss the major forcings driving global climate fluctuations – on both long (millions of years) and short (days) timescales, including natural and anthropogenic processes. We will also learn about basic meteorology and the processes producing some common spectacular optical weather phenomena (rainbows, coronas, cloud-types, etc). Students will complete a term project comprising a photo-documentary journal of the different weather phenomena they observe during the 10-week term. The field component of this course will be self-guided through the observation and documentation of weather phenomena. Who should take this course: No prior geology/science experience is needed – but expect to do a bit of basic math in this course! The course level is intermediate because it will not cover foundational principles of geology (or other sciences) but instead the course will be integrative and require students to practice both their quantitative and qualitative skills. Take this course if you are passionate or curious about climate change, but do not know much about the science of climate and weather!

Climate change is one of the biggest and most difficult challenges faced by contemporary societies. The challenge has multiple facets: environmental, social, political, economic – each with its own complexities. This course focuses primarily on the social, political and economic components of the climate problem, framed by the concept of climate justice. In the course students are introduced to basic conceptions of justice, the latest findings of climate science and possible impacts on regional scales, and the global politics of climate change, principally in the context of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Climate justice and its operationalization is the principal organizing theme for work over the term, addressing questions such as: how the costs of climate change impacts and efforts to address climate change could or should be distributed between rich and poor, global north and global south; and what are the possible means whereby those costs might be addressed through collective action at various levels: local, national, and global. Students will be evaluated based on regular quizzes, several short papers, class participation, and a final synthetic paper or project.

Climate change and biological diversity are prominent issues on the global political and environmental governance agendas and in public environmental consciousness. Each issue will be the focus of a major United Nations summit in 2026. At these meetings, Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UN CBD) and to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will carry on with implementation of these major international environmental treaties. Meanwhile, public narratives of the escalating and intersecting dual “crises” of climate change and biodiversity loss provide a broader context for questioning the role and effectiveness of intergovernmental treaty regimes in addressing these crises.

This course will take a comparative and critical look at these two multilateral treaty regimes on biological diversity and climate change. Students will study legal characteristics of each of the treaties, how problems are defined and addressed within each, mechanisms used for implementation, and the governmental and non-governmental actors involved in the work of treaty implementation. We will also look at how these two treaty bodies work together to address issues at the intersection of climate change and biological diversity. Finally, we will spend some time in the course reading a range of theoretical perspectives and pondering larger political and philosophical questions: Are our current intergovernmental institutions up to the challenge of addressing these immense planetary challenges? What are the potentials of and limits to intergovernmental spaces and collective action that might we discern? What role might there be for non-governmental actors and social movements to contest and construct more effective regimes? How does a study of these regimes help us imagine what a global politics of the terrestrial might look like?

Students will be evaluated based on their participation in class discussions, dedication to preparation for and participation at one of the meetings, and a final project related to one of the treaty regimes.

Participants in this studio course will examine the CoA campus path system from the standpoint of mobility, access, and landscape narrative. We will examine the path system as it exists as a physical artifact and the access and safety challenges associated with it (abrupt grade changes, inadequate lighting, etc.). We will also conduct research to uncover stories about the landscape history and landscape spaces on campus that might be curated to tell a rich story about this unique place, how it transformed over time, the ecology and biotic communities that are present, and some of the forces that might affect its future (climate change for example). Student teams will be led through a process to develop visions for the future of the campus path system, building on what already exists, and that synthesize technical parameters (associated with improved access through regrading for example) and qualitative and experiential dimensions of the path network experience. The goal will be to utilize these design visions to inform a campus-wide conversation as to what a better functioning, more equitable and more indelibly memorable campus path system could look like and be achieved. Given the focus on design and emphasis on an iterative process that will entail making drawings of paths and landscape features, the class is best suited for students with artistic/graphic backgrounds including drawing experience. Evaluations will be based on participation and sustained engagement with course content, responses to this material in the form of short, illustrated essays that combines notes and simple diagrams, photographs, and sketches, and commitment to an iterative process centering on use of drawings to convey information about existing spatial conditions and to project what these path spaces might look like in the future.

This topical studio explores the application of ecological design principles in urban settings to counteract ongoing environmental injustices. Participants will investigate low cost, high impact approaches to water reuse for a neighborhood in medieval Islamic Cairo (Egypt) suffering from poverty, food insecurity, and increasingly severe climate change impacts. As with many other neighborhoods in Cairo and cities throughout Egypt, the residents of al-Khalifa confront the irony of abundance amidst scarcity: living in a hot, arid desert environment where rainfall is virtually nonexistent at the same time dealing with a failing water supply infrastructure (leaky pipes) raising the groundwater table, saturating and undermining building foundations, and exacerbating respiratory illnesses. This studio will investigate possibilities for intercepting and treating this water to help drive community-scale rooftop gardening (in a city where food prices have risen dramatically in recent years), introducing street level evaporative (passive) cooling features to improve comfort by ameliorating the urban heat island effect, and in other ways enlisting recycled water to beneficial ends and premised on the notion that “there is no such thing as waste.”

A “research” studio is a highly collaborative one. Studio participants will have opportunities throughout the term to interact with a Cairo-based team of urban designers, digital animators, storytellers, engineers, heritage conservationists, ethnographers, and others. Students with experience and/or interest in design, food systems, chemistry, the arts, environmental sciences, environmental economics, women’s and gender studies, heritage and cultural history, and anthropology are encouraged to enroll (previous coursework in these areas is not required but will be helpful). This research studio resists “solutionist,” “techno-optimist” approaches (“we have the solution to all your problems”), operating instead from the standpoint of humility in the search for path-of-least-resistance correspondences between available resources and culturally appropriate end uses. To that end, reflection on and articulation of one’s positionality in our global world provides a subtext for all that we do.

Evaluations will be based on participation and sustained engagement with the core studio themes, honing of collaborative capabilities, and commitment to an iterative process involving succinct compositions of written narratives and diagrams and other visual representations of the systems we will be examining. Above all, the studio requires initiative and engagement as we transition from a highly facilitated framework at the beginning of the term (topics, resources and methods that the instructor choreographs) to more independent and applied research given the “life” that project-based work acquires as the term progresses.

We typically think of cities as centers of political and economic power, social vibrancy (and tension), and cultural richness, diversity and production. This course explores ecological “readings” of cities, landscapes transformed irrevocably due to human activities and the introduction of unprecedented concentrations of “unnatural” substances and significant loss of biological and hydrological integrity. The course also examines processes by which cities have transformed surrounding regional landscapes as both “wells” of resources and “sinks” for waste and the planetary scale environmental impacts of urban growth in the contemporary global economy. Following a succinct historical survey in the first part of the class (with focus on the interrelated forces of industrialization, colonization and explosive urban growth in the nineteenth century), we will look to recent efforts to reimagine cities such that they are more “ecological.” These efforts come in a variety of forms from “city as refugia” (establishing habitat for nonhumans) to “novel ecosystems” (working with new concentrations of contaminants and colonization of non-native biological communities) to cities as settings in which closed-loop, ecologically inspired systems drive processes of development. Of concern related to all of these ecological urbanisms is that conversion of city landscapes from grey to green and blue can lead to ever greater levels of inequality. In the final section of the course, we will speculate as to ways to intervene in cities-as-ecosystems that build on commitments to both social justice and ecological replenishment, bringing into relation the flourishing of humans and nonhumans in urbanized environments. Evaluations will be based on class participation and sustained engagement with the core themes: attendance, demonstration of close readings of texts, contributions to group discussions (including listening), honing of collaborative capabilities, and commitment to an iterative process with the three course projects (the last of which will be worked on in teams) that involve succinct compositions of written narratives and diagrams and other visual representations (multiple graphics workshops will be structured into the class).

How has human history shaped and been shaped by “the environment”? Environmental history is one of the most exciting new fields in history. In this course we examine world history from Mesopotamia to the present to see the role such things as resource scarcity, mythology, philosophy, imperialism, land policy, theology, plagues, scientific revolutions, the discovery of the new world, the industrial revolution, etc. on the natural, social, and built environments.

Environmental harms and benefits fall in predictable patterns across our bodies and landscapes, tracing lines of inequality that are embedded deep within our colonial history and modern societal structures. Environmental justice as a field of study represents an attempt to uncover and understand those patterns by drawing connections between harm and broader practices, laws, and procedures by state and private actors. It is also a study of resistance to harm, often led by those in marginalized communities, but increasingly led by more reluctant activists who find themselves on the losing side of capitalism’s growing list of externalities, from pollution, pipelines, and extraction to land degradation and climate collapse.

In this foundational course, we will navigate frustration and accomplishment, despair and hope, and the boundaries around what’s broken, and what may still be fixed, in our movement toward a more desirable future for life on earth. The course will draw on philosophy (e.g., John Rawl’s Theory of Justice), history and contemporary politics (e.g., Nina Lakahni’s Who Killed Berta Cáceres), and sociological theory (e.g., Naomi Klien’s Shock Doctrine) to ground specific case studies and bring context to their development so that students may begin to see what drives environmental injustice and response.

This course will be of value to students at all levels interested in bridging social theory with contemporary problems so that they may develop deeper analysis of and more sustainable solutions to ongoing environmental and social problems. Over the course of the term, we will pair readings and in-class discussion with the development of a “braided narrative” that brings together lived experiences and deep research. Students will be evaluated through a combination of self-assessment, written assignments, and in-person engagement.

Glaciers are rapidly retreating around the planet and predicted to continue this trend in the coming centuries. The decline of the world’s ice sheets and mountain glaciers will impact sea level, infrastructure, and fresh-water resources for communities around the world. To put current changes into a long-term geologic context, students will learn the processes, landforms, and impact of glaciers on the Earth’s surface as the planet has cycled through ice ages. This course is designed to provide students with a solid understanding of the dynamic interactions between ice, climate, landscapes, and humans over varying spatial and temporal scales. In addition, we will cover the basics of glaciology and the physics that influence the structure, size, and movement of ice. Through class discussions and assigned problem sets, students will reinforce the content covered in lectures. In addition, this course will give students hands-on experience with tools and methods commonly used to study glaciers and ice sheets (such as: ground-penetrating radar, LiDAR, rock sampling for cosmogenic analysis). This course will have various field trips during class time on Mount Desert Island to explore how an ice sheet shaped the region’s landscape during the Last Glacial Maximum. Students will be evaluated on weekly problem sets and readings and a final project and presentation related to this history of glaciation in Maine.

Level: Introductory. Prerequisites: None. Class limit: 14. Lab fee: $50. Meets the following degree requirements: ES.

Two international treaties, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement, are the legal architecture for global cooperation to address climate change. The national governments that are signatories to the treaties gather yearly at the Conference of the Parties (COP) to negotiate the implementation of the agreements. A large number of non-governmental actors also attend the meetings, including many from civil society and social movements who are there to pressure governments to act with the speed and scale necessary to address the growing climate crisis. This course is an introduction to both these treaties and the global politics surrounding their implementation. In the course, students will gain strong foundational historical, legal, and political knowledge of both of the treaties and the intergovernmental processes of treaty implementation. Through a focus on politically contested issues within the negotiations, students will be introduced to a range of the civil society organizations and social movements that engage in the global politics of climate change, and their politics, strategies, and tactics. Course material will include primary documents from negotiations, civil society documents, and conversations with key actors. Evaluation in the class will be based on class participation, several problem sets, and a final individual or group project.

This course will look at the complex issues surrounding the development, distribution, use and control of fresh water around the world. Focusing primarily on developing countries, we will examine three aspects of water use and control. First we will look at the scope and impact of water development projects; second we will examine the conflicts and solutions related to transboundary river basins; and third we will consider the implication of privatization of water resources. By way of background, we will review the variety of demands placed on fresh water and the political institutions related to water development. Students will gain a solid background in international environmental law as it relates to multilateral and bilateral treaties, customary law, multilateral institutions, and the guidance of international “soft law”. They will also understand the allocation and equity issues surrounding the privatization of water and the political dimensions of this shift. Ultimately, these issues will give a concrete understanding of some aspects of the concept of sustainable development. Evaluation will be based on class participation, short analytical papers, and a substantial term-long assignment.

This course will explore the rapidly expanding field of marine environmental history and historical studies that focus on fish and fisheries. Recent methodological and conceptual work as well as growing interest in the history of these topics driven by conservation and policy issues has made this an important and innovative field. Using the work of a variety of scholars from different fields the class will explore how historical accounts can be constructed with an emphasis on the types of available sources, the use of evidence, and how each author builds their argument. We will explicitly compare the methods, use of evidence and other aspects of different disciplinary approaches to the topic to highlight the strengths and limitations of each approach. This dimension of the class is particularly interesting because of the dynamic and interdisciplinary nature of scholarship right now that brings a wide range of research into dialogue. Students will learn about the history of oceans and fishes by looking at how historians and other scholars frame their works and make their arguments. Students will be evaluated on their preparation for discussion, mastery of the material, short written assignments, and a final project made up of a presentation and essay. This course is appropriate for students with interest in history, community-based research, marine studies, and environmental policy. Students who are just curious and interested in lots of things are also most welcome.

In this course students will learn content and skills so that they can participate effectively in sustainable energy projects, make personal and community decisions that reduce carbon emissions, and work in ventures in sustainable energy. Additionally, this course will be useful for those interested in energy and climate policy, either internationally or domestically. We will begin with a quick overview of current CO2 emissions levels and look at how this is related to energy use. We will then turn our attention to basic ideas from physics, including the definition of energy and the difference between energy and power. The bulk of the course will consist of a survey of different forms of energy consumption and generation. Throughout, we will quantitatively analyze technology from both a local and global point of view. For example, we will calculate how much electricity one can generate on a rooftop, and we will also examine the role that solar PV could play toward the goal of eliminating fossil fuel use worldwide. In a unit on financial mathematics, students will learn about the time value of money and several ways of quantifying investments, including ROI (return on investment) and IRR (internal rate of return). Students will apply these financial tools in several short case studies. If time permits, we may also cover negative emissions technologies and the electrical grid, including grid stability issues and the potential of smart-grid technology. This will be a demanding, introductory, class. Evaluation will be based on weekly problem sets.

This class offers an introduction to plant biology centered around plants that are useful to human societies. We will explore plant anatomy, physiology, evolution, and ecology through case studies involving plants that are useful to humans. Through lectures, readings, and discussions, students will gain a rich understanding of how plants function and how human societies depend on them in myriad ways. We will cover universal and familiar uses of plants such as food, building materials, and textiles, as well as less widely practiced uses including arrow poisons, lacquers, and living fences. We will discuss the origins of agriculture and methods of plant breeding, as well as the biogeographical history of important cultivated plant lineages. The focus will be on plants and our uses for them, but we will also discuss ethical concerns surrounding practices like bioprospecting and ex situ conservation. Students will be evaluated on participation and the successful completion of two presentations and a research paper.

Carbon is the building block of life. It is also central to one of the most critical challenges of this century: climate change. Combustion of fossilized carbon leads to the increase in atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide that threaten life across the planet. Trees and other living organisms that store carbon are celebrated as solutions to the growing crisis, yet rampant destruction of these carbon stores continues unabated. The global management of carbon and its impacts includes projects to decarbonize economies and recarbonize ecologies, as well as fantastical technofixes for carbon removal and blocking the sun. Who will decide how much fossil carbon ultimately gets burned? How much land will be claimed by global elites to soak up their continued fossil emissions, and where will it be located? What role do carbon markets and geoengineering play in addressing or perpetuating fossil economies? These are some of the questions we will explore. In the course we use several different theoretical lenses that look at intersections of institutions, nature, economy, and power (critical geography, political ecology, political economy) to understand more deeply the political, economic, and ecological relationships that emerge around forms of carbon (fossil fuels, trees and landscapes, monoculture plantations) in the context of global efforts to address climate change. Topics to be covered include the carbon cycle; carbon markets; climate models; geoengineering and carbon dioxide removal; international climate treaties and global politics of governing carbon; and carbon democracy and fossil capital. The aim of the inquiry, and what students should expect to take away from the course, is a broader and deeper understanding of global political economies and local political ecologies of climate change and carbon.

Readings will come from academic as well as non-academic literature from think tanks, non-governmental organizations, and social movements. Core course texts will include Carbon Democracy by Timothy Mitchell and Overshoot by Andreas Malm and Wim Carton. The course will be conducted in a lecture-seminar format, with emphasis on class discussion of readings and lecture material. Students will be evaluated based on engagement in class discussions, regular writing assignments and problem sets, and a final project or synthetic essay.

Students will participate virtually and/or in-person in the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In-person attendance is optional.

This is a hands-on, project-based class in which students will collaboratively plan for and participate in all aspects of renewable energy projects on College of the Atlantic’s campus. Examples of projects include installation of a solar photovoltaic array, airsealing and insulating one of the college’s buildings, or planning and installing a greenhouse heating system. Students will learn how to take a project from design through fruition while navigating the various phases of the project lifecycle including operation and maintenance. The course will begin with an overview of existing technology and an analysis of the current energy generation and consumption data for the project site(s). The class will then plan the project and present this plan to the community. As part of this planning process, students will learn about the economics of renewable energy systems, including return on investment (ROI), internal rate of return (IRR), and related quantities. Students who successfully complete this class will gain the skills necessary to conceptualize, plan for, finance, and implement renewable energy projects. Evaluation will be based on several short presentations, problem sets, and active and effective participation in all aspects of the project. Default grade is Credit/No Credit.

This is an intermediate/advanced reading seminar focused on contemporary, experimental, and speculative political ecologies. Readings will include books, dissertation manuscripts, and scholarly articles. The course is designed to allow students to explore intersections between their own individual and collective intellectual interests and endeavors and political ecologies. The course will be a collective intellectual endeavor conducted through conversation and written reflections, including through regular interaction on an online blog. Evaluation will be based on participation in real-time and blog conversations, including twice-weekly reflective blog postings; leading several class discussions; and a final synthetic essay on a topic of their choosing.

Does nature have rights? There is a growing global movement answering that question in the affirmative. But what does that mean and how does it function in legal and political systems? The Rights of Nature (RoN) movement(s) has the potential to revolutionize environmental law and our relationship to the planet. Many believe that existing environmental law is inadequate to solve the critical problems of climate change, habitat loss, and mass extinction. The RoN movement proposes strategies that include granting rights to nature through legal personhood and assigning property rights to rivers, culturally important plants, specific animals, and wildlife. The course explores both the promise and perils of this approach while also exploring the field’s multifarious origins, including Indigenous Law. By examining the concepts of rights, constitutionalism, standing, human rights law, and eco-centric law, students will gain an understanding of the context of the RoN movement. Although a powerful rhetorical concept, implementation of RoN as a legal strategy has been challenging and has met with mixed success. Fundamental questions of “who speaks for the trees” and what obligations are conferred when rights are granted are slowly being worked out in courts and national legislatures. These questions are particularly challenging where Western and Indigenous worldviews come together. Fundamentally, this seminar will explore what it takes to recognize the inherent rights of the natural world to “exist, thrive, and evolve.” Students will be evaluated through several written assignments, class presentations, and active and meaningful participation in seminar discussions. Students will be asked to engage in a term-long research project that examines a specific RoN case study.

Over 90% of today’s terrestrial flora are seed plants and provide the majority of the ecological energy across the world. Today the majority of the human population is dependent on the energy and nutrients stored in the seed of a remarkably few crops that arose through the breeding and saving of seeds. Today this critical interdependence is rich with questions and at are at the center of the food security and food sovereignty debates. Some questions of this human-plant co-evolutionary story to be addressed in this course are: How is crop breeding done in different parts of the world? What are the techniques for breeding, seed saving, and storage? What traits are selected for in traditional and modern breeding? What role do seed banks and libraries play in our common future? What are the current laws governing seed quality and ownership? How do these laws and treaties structure corporate consolidation, community initiatives, and possible mechanisms for developing crops in the face of global climate change? What is the “free the seed movement” and why might it be important? The second major debate to be explored will be the ethical and ecological implications of the “assisted migration” of wild plants as a means of conservation and adaptation to global climate change and the replacement of horticultural materials with wild plants as means for expanding native habitat corridors. We will contextualize these two major themes with an in-depth look into the biology of seeds as well as the ecological and evolutionary significance of seeds. In preparation for required attendance at the Organic Seed Alliance conference, laboratory exercises will cover seed dormancy and germination, and build skills in hand pollination and trait selection. Evaluation will be based on class participation, leadership in seminar discussions, quizzes, a group report on the Organic Seed Alliance Conference, and the development of a final project based on one or both of themes in the course.

We live in a world of problems . . . global warming, inequality, discrimination, child labor, slavery, waste, species extinction, domestic violence and a myriad of other issues occupy the headlines, courses and can feel overwhelming at times. Unfortunately, we rarely here about solutions, let alone have the opportunity to create our own solutions for the issues that concern us and inspire us to action.

Changing the world takes more than a critical eye for what is wrong, proselytizing a good idea and hope. There are many factors which contribute to creating social change and in this course we explore what it takes to be a successful change maker in our communities, and thus in the world. Reversing the lens we use to approach the problems of the world is part of what a Human Ecologist needs to do to understand our challenges:

“…social entrepreneurs are uniquely suited to make headway on problems that have resisted considerable money and intelligence. Where governments and traditional organizations look at problems from the outside, social entrepreneurs come to understand them intimately, from within.” — David Bornstein, How To Change The World

In this experiential, project-based course students will select a specific problem they would like to solve. Students will perform thorough research into a problem of their choosing, understanding it from within by identifying root causes and other exacerbating factors as well as investigating positive deviance and what people around the world are doing to solve this issue. Through these projects and other readings, students will examine a myriad of problems around the world and look at different strategies people are using to tackle them and create positive social change. The final project for the course will be a concrete proposal for solving the problem they selected. Students will be evaluated based on their performance, participation and the quality of the projects they produce over the course of the term.

This seminar serves as a design primer for human and environmentally friendly approaches to the design of the built environment captured by the term “sustainable architecture.” We will consider the different and sometimes competing understandings of what sustainable architecture means (for it is not one homogenous thing), discussing and evaluating these various “logics” from the standpoint of performance (energy efficiency and reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions for example) as well as from the perspective of aesthetics and architectural meaning. We will deconstruct and investigate building systems in the first half of the class: landscape and site systems; water; heating, cooling and ventilating (with a strong focus on passive or natural systems); and building materials, envelope, and construction. We will then discuss integrated building systems, that is to say, design strategies for achieving synergies between systems so the sum is greater than the parts (arguably the overarching goal of sustainable design). Exposure to and analysis of case study projects and guest talks by cutting edge contemporary practitioners will enrich our understanding of the current state of sustainable architecture and promising directions now under research and development.

This course does not require previous coursework in architecture and design, only interest in design and sustainability, curiosity as to their intersections, and overall commitment to the acquisition of basic architectural literacy skills that will be of value in multiple arenas and capacities (as future designer, client, advocate, critic, concerned citizen, other). Evaluations will be based on participation and sustained engagement with course material and content, maintenance of a sketchbook that combines notes and simple illustrations (diagrams), short quizzes to assess understanding of core sustainable design principles and strategies, and analysis of case study projects through a framework we will introduce in the first part of the class.

This seminar serves as a design primer for human and environmentally friendly approaches to the design of the built environment captured by the term “sustainable architecture.” We will consider the different and sometimes competing understandings of what sustainable architecture means (for it is not one homogenous thing), discussing and evaluating these various “logics” from the standpoint of performance (energy efficiency and reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions for example) as well as from the perspective of aesthetics and architectural meaning. We will deconstruct and investigate building systems in the first half of the class: landscape and site systems; water; heating, cooling and ventilating (with a strong focus on passive or natural systems); and building materials, envelope, and construction. We will then discuss integrated building systems, that is to say, design strategies for achieving synergies between systems so the sum is greater than the parts (arguably the overarching goal of sustainable design). Exposure to and analysis of case study projects and guest talks by cutting edge contemporary practitioners will enrich our understanding of the current state of sustainable architecture and promising directions now under research and development.

This course does not require previous coursework in architecture and design, only interest in design and sustainability, curiosity as to their intersections, and overall commitment to the acquisition of basic architectural literacy skills that will be of value in multiple arenas and capacities (as future designer, client, advocate, critic, concerned citizen, other). Evaluations will be based on participation and sustained engagement with course material and content, maintenance of a sketchbook that combines notes and simple illustrations (diagrams), short quizzes to assess understanding of core sustainable design principles and strategies, and analysis of case study projects through a framework we will introduce in the first part of the class.

As a species, buildings are our single greatest ecological artifact. This seminar introduces sustainable architecture through the lens of ecological design, asking: what does it mean to design and build ecologically? Drawing on a broad design framework, we will explore architecture as an interconnected practice that shapes not only our shared spaces but also the systems of energy, water, materials, ecology, and community in which they are embedded. Central to this exploration is the idea of the building as an art product, an artifact, a work that must perform within resource limits, satisfy material need, and express and hold cultural and aesthetic significance and represent and endure as part of a larger ecological and social fabric. Rather than treating sustainability as a checklist or single definition, the course will consider multiple, sometimes conflicting, logics and definitions of ecology.

The first half of the course (five weeks) will introduce the five lenses through which the designer can contextualize building design and analysis: Habitable Planet; Circular Resources; Resilient Ecosystems; Protected Water Cycle; and Healthy Communities. Each student will select one common building material or component and assess its ecological impact and analyze an existing building which highlights this material. The second half will emphasize integration and synthesis, exploring how design decisions ripple across multiple dimensions and how resource efficiency can deepen rather than diminish architectural meaning. Students will design a building (new, existing, or renovation) to be proposed on a site on the College of the Atlantic campus.

Students will keep a design sketchbook, contribute to discussions, and complete two major assignments that synthesize course themes. No prior coursework in architecture or design is required—only curiosity, engagement, and a willingness to explore drawing and diagramming as tools of thought. Evaluations will be based on participation, sketchbook development, short assessments of core ecological design principles, and assessment of the two primary course projects.

This course explores politics of the terrestrial, of the earth and its defenders, through lenses of both theory and practice. Through their writings and, where possible, in direct conversation, we interact with activists and movements involved in struggles to protect earth, land, livelihoods, and community, and those actively working to build alternatives to ways of being in the world that they are struggling against. We also read theoretical reflections on these struggles, drawing from scholars in the fields of political ecology, political ontology, and political economy, among others. Locally rooted activities take place within global economic and political contexts – markets, international treaties, and other spaces and places where local and global come into contact, where ontologies collide, and where different forms of power are produced and interact across distances. Course materials and discussion will explore these global contexts, concrete ways and means by which economic and political power is contested in these spaces, and ongoing experiments with and strivings toward a different world, one where many worlds may fit. Topics explored include resistance against mining and other extractive industries, pipeline fights, land grabbing for agro-industrial expansion, carbon and biodiversity offset markets, and geoengineering. Evaluation in the class will be based on preparation for and participation in class discussions, regular reflective essays on readings, and a final extended essay, presentation, or podcast on some aspect of terrestrial politics.

Thermodynamics is the area of physics concerned with the behavior of very large collections of particles. Examples include the water molecules in glass of water, the electrons in a wire, or the photons given off by a light bulb. Thermodynamics studies properties of collections of particles that are largely independent of the particles’ detail, for example, the tendency for heat to flow from a hot object to a cold one.

This course will begin with a treatment of the first law of thermodynamics and basic thermal physics. Topics to be covered include the conservation of energy, heat and work, the ideal gas, the equipartition of energy, heat capacities, and latent heat. We will then move to the second law of thermodynamics, beginning with a statistical definition of entropy. This will require learning some combinatorics (a mathematical technique for counting) and approximation methods for working with very large numbers. This statistical approach will enable us to understand the origin of the second law of thermodynamics, and will lead naturally to statistical definitions of temperature, pressure, and chemical potential. We will then turn our attention to two broad areas of application. The first of these is heat engines and refrigerators, including heat pumps. The second set of applications involve free energy and chemical equilibrium. Depending on student interest, we will cover batteries and fuel cells, phase transitions, adiabatic lapse rates in meteorology, and nitrogen fixation. Thermodynamics is a broadly applicable field of physics, and so this course should be of relevance to students whose interests are in almost any area of science or engineering, as well as those who wish to gain a general introduction to a field that is one of the pillars of modern physical science. Evaluation will be based on weekly problem sets and a final research paper, presentation, or lab project.

In this advanced tutorial, students will deeply engage with the book The Long Heat (2025), by Wim Carton and Andreas Malm. The book is an in-depth, scholarly political-economic examination of technologies of climate change adaptation, carbon dioxide removal, and geoengineering. Students will also undertake a term-long research or communications project, likely in conjunction with non-governmental organizations that are engaged in advocacy to address or prevent the impacts associated with adoption of the technologies discussed in the book. Class meetings will include a mix of lecture, discussion, and direct interaction with colleagues within the collaborating NGOs. Evaluation will be based on class discussions and attention to the quality of work in the final project.

This course investigates an ecological design approach that centers on water and water systems as a means of achieving community development goals in an equitable and environmentally responsive manner. Participants will investigate contemporary water challenges facing communities (the combination of which varies from location to location): scarcity, poor water quality, downstream ecological impacts associated with processes of urbanization, climate change and sea level rise, and others. We will examine and reframe these challenges through the lens of the “hydro-social,” a term geographers use to describe how cultural perspectives shape our relationships to water (in other words, water is more than simply H2O). Through use of case study project examples, we will explore how combinations of age-old (premodern and vernacular) water systems design strategies and cutting-edge approaches can lead to projects of greater resilience, ecological responsiveness, beauty, and civic identity than more conventional, engineered, “end-of-pipe” solutions. We will lastly explore how these strategies might apply to a case study watershed that we will investigate in the last portion of the class. The course does not require previous experience in design; rather it is intended to engender greater awareness of how systems-based design thinking can allow us to address contemporary hydro-social challenges holistically. Evaluations will be based on participation and sustained engagement with course content; responses to this material in the form of short, illustrated essays that combine written narratives with simple diagrams, photographs, and sketches; analysis of case study projects through a framework we will introduce in the first part of the class; and a “final synthesis” assignment that involves speculating about the application of strategies and approaches discussed throughout the class to the case study watershed.

2024 is the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order (NIEO) by members of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UNGA). This course examines both the roots of efforts through the 1960s and 1970s by newly decolonized states to change the economic architecture of the global system, and current initiatives for reform to the global economy, including through calls for a NIEO II. The text for the first half of the course is Adom Getachew’s Worldmaking after Empire: the rise and fall of self-determination. This part of the course explores the efforts by leaders of anti-colonial struggles in the Caribbean and Africa to shape a new post-imperial world, both politically and economically, building to the effort in the UNGA for the NIEO declaration. The second half of the course will focus on the international trade and financial institutions (World Trade Organization, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, multilateral development banks), their role in ongoing sovereign debt crises, and current efforts underway to reform the international financial architecture shaped by these institutions. The course will be conducted as an advanced seminar, with significant student responsibility for leading our conversations. Evaluation will be based on contributions to the collective learning throughout the term, regular short essays on course material, and one or more presentations made to the class on historical figures or topics of interest to them. As this is an advanced seminar, students taking the class should have had one or more previous courses in areas related to politics or economics.

How have schools changed and how should schools change to ensure “the good life”? This interdisciplinary, team-taught course examines the potential and limits of a human ecological education as an instrument of enlightened progress and lasting positive social, cultural, and environmental change. It explores three essential questions about education and its relationship to human development and social progress. Looking at the role of formal educational institutions and their relationship to government and other social institutions: What is the role of schools in development and social change? Considering the role of teachers as agents of change: What is the role of the teacher in school/organizational change and community development? And finally, reflecting on our subjective motives for working in the field of education: Why do you want to become an educator? Through course activities such as service-learning in schools and group project work on a contemporary educational phenomenon (e.g., school choice, new technologies for learning, single-sex education), students will learn how educational policy at the federal, state, and local levels impacts teaching and learning, investigate the moral dimensions of the teacher-student relationship, and reflect on the construct of teacher-learners. Students will be introduced to a variety of educational research methods (i.e, ethnography, case study, quasi-experimental, correlational) that will allow for critical analysis of the knowledge base that strives to impact educational policy and practice. Evaluation will be based on participation, reflective writing, service learning, and group projects and presentations.

How does a child think? What causes them to learn? What teaching approaches work best with young children? These questions and more will be explored through readings, lectures, field observations, and planned class activities. This course will provide an introduction to early childhood education (preschool to eighth grade). Theorists such as Piaget, Vygotsky, Montessori, Gardner, Erikson, Maslow, Kohlberg, and Gilligan will be used to examine the physical, mental, emotional, moral, and social aspects of childhood growth and development. Students will explore a range of curriculum models, approaches, and strategies as they learn to apply developmental theory to best practices. These best practices will include the role of teachers in creating meaningful learning experiences and classroom environments (curriculum), documenting learning, assessment, inclusion, and family involvement. The primary modes of instruction for this class will be lectures, classroom discussions, field observations/reflections, and cooperative hands-on learning activities. Short reflective papers, an observational journal, and class projects will be used to assess learning.

This course is a broad overview of children’s literature and its place in the elementary school classroom. It examines the range and trends in literature for children that includes all genres, prominent authors, illustrators, awards, critical evaluation, and integration into instruction across the curriculum. Students participate in and design lessons which incorporate or extend children’s response to literature. They survey poetry and media appropriate for elementary students. Students read an extensive amount of children’s literature, keep a response journal, develop an author study, and create a teaching unit using children’s literature.

This course is designed for students planning to teach in schools whether in Maine or outside of the United States. Culturally sustaining/revitalizing education (CSRE) builds on the aims, values, insights, and practices of anti-racist education, culturally relevant pedagogy, culturally responsive teaching, culturally sustaining/revitalizing pedagogy, decolonizing education, global education, intercultural education, and multicultural education. In particular, it aims to contextualize education in the history of colonization, land theft, slavery, the continued struggle for sovereignty and self-determination of native tribes and First Nations, and calls for wider community accountability. This educational approach challenges deficit mindsets and structures that undergird policies and practices that widen the opportunity gap and equitable access to basic human and civil rights and impede educational access for sustaining and revitalizing cultures that settler colonialism has attempted to eliminate, assimilate, or marginalize. Students will practice asset-based and growth mindsets to gain an understanding of the relationship between CSRE and respect for tribal sovereignty and support of contemporary struggles for tribal continuity and resistance to cultural genocide and epistemicide. The course also opens a dialogue on the applicability of CRSE for immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking students whose relationship to their new place of residence may be tenuous at best and whose heritage languages and cultures are also endangered as a result of first- to second-generation assimilation in their adopted communities. Students will gain an understanding of conceptual frameworks, knowledge of empirical studies documenting outcomes and impacts of these approaches, and skills in ethically and effectively teaching indigenous, immigrant, and other culturally and linguistically diverse learners. For students seeking Maine teaching endorsements, this course will prepare them to implement LD291 requiring Maine educators to teach Wabanaki history and culture. Students will learn through field trips, guest speakers, films, discussions, critical exploration and reflection, independent research, observation/fieldwork/practicum, and peer teaching. Evaluation will include artifacts to be incorporated into a teaching portfolio: a lesson plan, teaching video, self-assessment, assessment of PK-12 student work, and communication with families and community members. Although there are no prerequisites, the following are recommended; Learning and/or proficiency in a language other than English; a psychology, sociology, or anthropology course; and/or a prior education course.

Human ecologists who educate, embrace not only the interdisciplinarity of knowledge, but also the complexity of individual student development in political school environments. This course focuses on two essential nuts and bolts of teaching: curriculum design and assessment. How can a teacher learn what students know, how they think, and what they have learned? How can a teacher use this knowledge of students and subject matter to plan learning experiences that will engage diverse interests, adapt to a wide range of learning styles and preferences, accommodate exceptional needs, and meet state-mandated curriculum standards? This course is a required course for prospective secondary school teachers that provides an introduction to the backward design process and diverse assessment strategies. Students will engage in examining theory and practice designing and implementing curricula and assessments. A service-learning component will provide students with the opportunity to observe and participate in a variety of assessment methods in the subject they aim to teach. The final project will be a collaboratively designed, integrated curriculum unit, including lesson plans and assessments. Evaluation will be based on participation, reflective writing, individually designed lesson plans and assessments, and the final project.

Even before John Dewey published Experience and Education in 1938, experiential education had been practiced in various forms around the world. This course explores the philosophy of experiential education and its diverse practices in the realms of adventure education, service learning, workplace learning, environmental education, museum education, and school reform. Group activities and fieldtrips will provide opportunities to participate as both learner and teacher in a variety of teacher-led and student-designed experiences. The final project involves researching an existing experiential education program, its philosophy, and its practices. Evaluation is based on class and fieldtrip participation (including one multi-day fieldtrip), reflective logs, curriculum design, service-learning journal, an oral presentation of the service-learning, and a final essay that articulates a philosophy of experience in education.

Humans don’t have a steady growth rate. In the first two years of life for human children the rate is fast, and then it slows for the next seven to ten years and then things speed up again. Interestingly, a child’s brain is already at 90% of its full size by age five. So many factors go into the development of children from their birth to the time that they enter adulthood. What do children inherit from their parents, biologically, culturally, socially, and how do those influences help us understand individual child development? In this course, students will explore and examine the contributions of prominent theorists and empirical research to foster a deeper understanding of the complexities of child development from birth through adolescence. This foundational learning will support students as they investigate additional influences on development. Students will be asked to reflect on their own development and the factors that helped to shape their own growth. Additionally, students will read and discuss current research in psychology, neuroscience, education, and sociology as integral parts of student learning. Understanding the arc of development is essential for individuals who work in education and related fields. Knowing what to expect in typical development is imperative to providing appropriate experiences and curriculum, and facilitates positive coaching and partnering with parents and caregivers. While this class is primarily geared towards individuals who may pursue education or education-adjacent fields, it is ultimately a class intended to explore what it means to develop and grow as a human from early childhood up to adolescence. Students should expect the following experiences and assessments: rich class discussions based on readings and personal reflections, field observations, hands-on activities, assigned work, and class presentations.

This course is designed to prepare prospective teachers with methods necessary to implement a comprehensive literacy program for grades PreK-3 to include all aspects of literacy acquisition. Major areas of focus will include oral, visual, and technological communication, shared and interactive strategies, phonics, word study and spelling, independent and guided reading, writing workshop, and writing in all content areas. The course content focuses on an integrated approach to the acquisition of literacy skills, current best practice, and lesson design, questioning techniques, formative and summative assessment. Learning objectives address the standards for Maine’s teaching standards and Maine’s Learning Results. There is a fieldwork component of 50 hours for this ten-week course. There will be a weekly one-hour lab, shared with Integrated Methods I: Gr 5-8. Evaluation will be based on the quality of a course portfolio to include class participation, curriculum and assessment design, performance assessments, cooperating teacher feedback, and reflections on the fieldwork and required readings.

This course is designed to prepare prospective teachers with methods necessary to implement a comprehensive literacy program for grades 3-6 to include: motivation and the upper elementary reader; helping middle grade students develop their writing voice through knowledge of language, vocabulary acquisition and use, and working with a variety of text; teaching critical, creative, and collaborative technology use; using multiple tools to differentiate instruction; creating and using rubrics/alternatives for assessing writing. The course content focuses on an integrated approach to the acquisition of literacy skills, current effective practices, lesson design, questioning techniques, and formative and summative assessment. Learning objectives address Maine’s teaching standards and Maine’s Learning Results. There is a field studies component of 50 hours and there will be a weekly one-hour lab, shared with Integrated Methods IA: Gr PreK-3. Evaluation will be based on the quality of a course portfolio to include curriculum and assessment design, performance assessments, cooperating teacher feedback on classroom performance, and reflections on the fieldwork and required readings.

How can an integrated curriculum for elementary school students help to deepen the relationships children and young adolescents construct with the natural and social worlds in a way that promotes their capacity to know themselves and the communities in which they act?

For students interested in working with learners in grades preK-6, this course provides an enriched guided apprenticeship focused on necessary knowledge, skills, and experience to begin integrating science curricula with social studies, math and English language arts. Students will observe and practice creating and maintaining a constructive learning environment while teaching diverse learners using appropriate teaching methods and learning technologies. In addition students will explore providing effective feedback and constructing and implementing relevant assessments. Learning objectives include all eleven of Maine’s teaching standards as well as a working knowledge of the Parameters for Essential Instruction (PEI) for Science. Students will participate in an eight-week field work practicum observing and participating in elementary classrooms as well as planning and teaching in a weekly lab environment. Readings, discussions, and experiential learning in class will complement the field work component. Evaluation will be based on reflection on fieldwork, participation in discussions of readings and field work, curriculum and assessment design and implementation, and professional performance at the practicum site.

How can an integrated curriculum for elementary school students help to deepen the relationships children and young adolescents construct with the natural and social worlds in a way that promotes their capacity to know themselves and the communities in which they act? For those preparing to be elementary school educators (grades K-8), this three-credit course provides an intensive guided apprenticeship that prepares the student-teacher with the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience to design an integrated math, science, and social studies curriculum, create and maintain a constructive learning environment, teach diverse learners using appropriate teaching methods and learning technologies, and assess student learning. Learning objectives include all eleven of Maine’s teaching standards as well as a working knowledge of the Parameters for Essential Instruction (PEI) for Math, Science, and Social Studies. Students will participate in a ten-week field work practicum observing and participating in elementary classrooms as well as planning and teaching weekly in a lab environment. Readings, discussions, and experiential learning in class will complement the field work component. Evaluation will be based on reflection on fieldwork, participation in discussions of readings and field work, curriculum and assessment design and implementation, and professional performance in lab school and at the practicum site.

How can an integrated curriculum for elementary school students help to deepen the relationships children and young adolescents construct with the natural and social worlds in a way that promotes their capacity to know themselves and the communities in which they act?

For students interested in working with learners in grades preK-6, this course provides an enriched guided apprenticeship focused on necessary knowledge, skills, and experience to begin integrating social studies curricula with science, math and English language arts. Students will observe and practice creating and maintaining a constructive learning environment while teaching diverse learners using appropriate teaching methods and learning technologies. In addition students will explore providing effective feedback and constructing and implementing relevant assessments. Learning objectives include all eleven of Maine’s teaching standards as well as a working knowledge of the Parameters for Essential Instruction (PEI) for Social Studies. Students will participate in an eight-week field work practicum observing and participating in elementary classrooms as well as planning and teaching in a weekly lab environment. Readings, discussions, and experiential learning in class will complement the field work component. Evaluation will be based on reflection on fieldwork, participation in discussions of readings and field work, curriculum and assessment design and implementation, and professional performance at the practicum site.

This course focuses on the segment of the human life span from puberty to early adulthood. In this class we will examine the physical, cognitive, social, and moral aspects of adolescent growth and development. Issues to be considered include adolescent relationships (peers, family, romantic), adolescent issues (identity formation, at risk behavior, schooling, and stereotypes), and critical reflection on one’s own adolescent experience. The main objectives of this course are to: 1) provide students with a working knowledge of the theories of psychology which pertain to early adolescent development; 2) help students develop the ability to critically analyze information and common assumptions about the development of adolescents; 3) consider contemporary issues and concerns of the field; and 4) to afford students the opportunity to explore their own adolescent development. Course work entails lecture, discussion, extensive case analysis, and a field component.

This is intended as a survey course that will overview the contemporary theories, issues, and techniques of professional counseling. In brief, topics to be considered in this course include; a) legal and ethical responsibilities associated with professional counseling); b) assessments of differing therapeutic approaches (theories and techniques) to the counseling process; and c) reflection on the changing perspectives and practices in counseling including pluralism and diversity models. Students will begin to develop their own perspective of counseling through lectures and discussion, demonstrations, guest speakers, case studies, mock counseling sessions, reading, and writing papers. Experiential learning, through mock counseling sessions, with feedback from classmates and the instructor, will be stressed. Evaluation will be based on written assignments, class participation, and independent research.

This course is designed to prepare those who are intending to meet the learning needs of diverse populations of students in grades 7-12 or late adolescent young adults in other learning environments. It is an objective of the course to communicate that teaching is intellectual work, that it requires a dedication to and a love of subject matter, a respect and caring for students, a concern for equity, and a moral imperative for excellence in teaching. Students spend 70 hours with their target population and curriculum, as well as consulting with content faculty. (Some of these hours may be reserved for fall term.) These learning-teaching experiences are integrated into class discussion where students analyze the elements needed for successful teaching, learning, and assessing in their own content area and across disciplines. The purposes, problems, opportunities, issues, strategies, and materials involved in teaching diverse adolescent and young adult learners will be examined critically, and students will be evaluated through class discussions, individual and group work, reflections on field experiences, and peer and virtual teaching and assessing.

This is an introductory course in special education. We will explore the needs of children with disabilities and techniques for meeting these needs in the regular classroom. The course will emphasize both the social and instructional aspects of the concepts of inclusion, differentiation and serving students in the “least restrictive environment”. Participants will be introduced to concepts central to understanding the role of regular classroom teachers in meeting the academic, social, and emotional needs of students with disabilities. Objectives: By the end of the course students will be able to: identify and describe current issues and trends in education related to individuals with disabilities and their families; describe the Special education laws and procedures impacting individuals with disabilities; develop a working definition for each area of exceptionality in relation to achievement of educational goals, and develop strategies and resources for modifying, adapting and/or differentiating curriculum and instruction.

In a world marked by complexity, uncertainty, and diverse challenges, the role of teachers extends far beyond the transmission of knowledge. Students in this course will explore the question of what helps certain teachers to bring a continual sense of hope to their professional practice despite often relatively low pay, long hours, negative attention during political clashes, and increasing stressors on youth and society that inevitably appear in the classroom. Why do people choose to teach? And what keeps them in the classroom? How do teachers experience the impact of various education-focused policies on their efforts, and what are some ways teachers navigate and influence policy to maintain their visions for successful schools? Through critical readings, podcasts, guest speakers, small group interviews, and classroom observations students will reflect on how teachers bring and maintain hope in their learning communities. Students can expect to speak with area teachers as well as education experts from a variety of realms, and texts will include choices from authors such as Patrick Harris II, bell hooks, John Dewey, Regie Routman, Parker Palmer, and Nel Noddings. Final projects will allow students to creatively share their learning with one another and with teachers whose ideas have been most influential in their growing understanding of this realm of world-changing efforts. This course is suitable for future teachers or those considering teaching as well as education enthusiasts and anyone interested in the profound impact of education on society.

Why should we study the economics of education? One answer is the significant amount of money that individuals and society spend on education across all levels. In 2024, the United States alone spent nearly $1.5 trillion, or about 5.5% of GDP, on education. Likewise, governments throughout the world devoted considerable resources on the financing and operation of schools. These investments in education are motivated by the belief that the strength of the economy depends on the knowledge and skills of the workers. But does higher education expenditure cause better learning outcomes? Does better test score cause higher economic growth? How do policymakers design education policies that produce skills valued by society and rewarded in the labor market? How do the organization of schooling and incentive structure affect students, teachers, parents, and learning outcomes?

We will engage these questions both substantively and as a way to learn about how quantitative methods – e.g., cost-benefit analysis, and causal inference – are used to design, debate, and evaluate public policies. As such, this class is valuable for (i) students who are interested in education policy debates, (ii) who want to learn about the increasingly dominant role of causal inference models in public policy design, or (iii) who want to acquire quantitative reasoning skills through an applied, policy-oriented approach.

Topics may include return to schooling, education production function and inputs, financing of local K-12 schools, teacher labor market, incentive and students’ performance, and peer effect and learning environment effect. Throughout the course, you will have ample opportunities to develop quantitative reasoning skills, including causal analysis, natural experiment, and randomized control trials. Some knowledge of introductory microeconomics is beneficial but not required. Students will be evaluated through leading group discussion of assigned reading materials and developing a summative research proposal on a relevant topic.

This course is designed to provide an overview of the use of international law in solving transnational environmental problems and shaping international behavior. We examine, as background, the nature and limitations of international law as a force for change. The course will then explore customary law, the relationship between soft and hard law, enforcement of international law, implementation mechanisms, and the effectiveness of multilateral environmental agreements. Special attention is given to existing international environmental law frameworks addressing climate change, Arctic and Antarctic development, ozone depletion, biological diversity, forest loss, export of toxic chemicals, and the host of issues raised by the 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development and subsequent environmental fora. Students will also consider the interface between international environmental law and other important international forces such as the Bretton Woods institutions, human rights frameworks, and international development entities. Students will be evaluated on the quality of their classroom comments and several analytical problem sets given during the term. Students will also be asked to complete a major research project examining the effectiveness of a treaty or a proposed international environmental legal arrangement.

This class will be an intensive, immersive exploration of Congressional elections in the United States. It runs only in the Fall of midterm Congressional election years, using the current campaign as a lens through which to explore a wide array of issues related to Congressional elections specifically, as well as elections in the US generally. It is structured as a working lab that is supplemented with a series of discussion and lecture sessions. Regular discussion and lecture sessions will provide students with a crash course in interdisciplinary approaches to a range of issues related to the conduct of US Congressional elections. This may include examinations of the history of campaigns, campaign advertising and messaging, the structure of elections, the conduct of voting and voter access, campaign finance reform, empirical research on campaign effects and outcomes, polling and poll methodology, campaign organization and administrative structure, best practices for GOTV and targeted mobilization, etc. Students will combine into teams to conduct term long tracking projects focused on the upcoming US Congressional election. This may include battleground state profiling, campaign finance monitoring, litigation tracking, advertising and media placement, debate watches, candidate travel schedules, etc. A great deal of what will be covered will depend on the nature of the current campaign in that particular year and which issues are most salient. The remaining class sessions after the election will focus on debriefing the results as well as addressing any outstanding issues that linger beyond election day (e.g. disputes over election counts and the certification of results). Students will be evaluated on the basis of their engagement with class sessions and other class related activities, their work for their tracking projects, short-form response papers related to discussion topics, their debrief reports, and check-in meetings with the instructor. This class is open to a wide range of students with varied interests. Given the working lab nature of the class, it is flexible enough to accommodate both students who have had extensive experience with politics and campaigning in the US context, as well as students for whom this will be their first exposure to anything campaign related, and everyone else in between. However, all students, regardless of their background, should be prepared to adapt to a fluid and changing electoral landscape, especially in the days leading up to the election. This may necessitate scheduling evening sessions outside of normal class time, responding to unfolding events, and pivoting topics on short notice.

The fear of the “hidden” enemy that lurks behind the curtain, controlling events from the shadows, is a narrative topos that continually seems to raise its conspiratorial head in all kinds of spaces and venues: from politics to pop culture, movies, novels, music, political speeches, etc. Yet, there is also evidence to suggest that widespread acceptance of these conspiracy “theories” has the potential to cultivate and propagate inherently antidemocratic, divisive, and dangerous beliefs. Those who posit the existence of conspiracies, or at least certain ones, are often dismissed outright as irrational, without any consideration made as to the substance of their claims. Belief in conspiracies, or at least certain ones, is taken as a sign of faulty logic or reason. Yet, despite this, conspiratorial explanations of various phenomenon actually have a long and vibrant history of popular acceptance in US political culture (as well as in other parts of the world). Some have gone so far as to suggest that narratives of conspiracy, as alternative or resistant explanatory frames, are actually a necessary component of democratic political life. After all we know that conspiracies, political and otherwise, have existed in the past, and may exist again in the future. How do we make sense of this tension? If conspiracy theory as a mode of explanation is inherently “irrational,” what does this mean for its enduring presence in our political discourse? Is the only difference between a “reasonable” claim rooted in fear and what we consider the paranoid ramblings of “kooks” and “nutjobs” simply a matter of which one is “correct?” Is there a silver bullet theory or magic wand that would allow us to differentiate the supposed good from the bad? Is the very act of labeling something a conspiracy theory itself a form of political hegemony? Even if conspiracies might exist, is it better to live in a world in which we assume they don’t? What do we actually mean by conspiracy theory in the first place? This seminar will explore a variety of topics related directly to how threats of conspiracy become manifest in public discourse. Readings will focus on secondary research that examines the role of conspiracy theories in political and social life, both in the United States and abroad. We will also supplement this with primary “artifacts” such as pamphlets, social media postings, videos, speeches, etc. Along the way we will also use this as an opportunity to reflect on what inter and trans disciplinary research actually looks like. The study of conspiracy narratives is an ideal example that helps us think about how different fields attempt to make sense of a phenomenon. We will survey, compare, and attempt to synthesize research from a wide range of fields, disciplines and methodologies including those from historians, anthropologists, political scientists, legal scholars, literary critics, psychologists, and others. This is an advanced seminar and students should expect to encounter readings that are rooted in disciplinary perspectives they are not familiar with. Students will need to adapt to shifting perspectives in order to both the various texts in conversation with each other. Evaluation will be based on in-class discussion as well as individual student writing assignments. Students will produce several short length essay assignments during the term as well as a longer research paper at the end of the term. Weekly lab sessions will be used for screenings of primary material and students may also be responsible for at least one primary source presentation during these sessions. This class is open to students of all interests regardless of their experience with politics, government, or social theory.

This introductory class in constitutional law will have one fundamental objective: understanding the current and historical role of the US Supreme Court in the recognition of civil and associated rights. The rights we will examine will include reproductive rights, freedom of speech in both the general and academic contexts, marriage equality, the rights of individuals in the transgender community, and racial equality. In order to understand these specific issues of Supreme Court doctrine, the class will begin with a review of how our courts function, how the doctrine of judicial review developed, and how to read and understand decisions of the Supreme Court. The question looming over the course will be whether the Supreme Court is a distinctive legal institution, an anti-democratic policy making body, or both – and whether this question can be resolved independent of our views on the underlying issues. The course will conclude with a “moot court” exercise in which students will play the role of either Supreme Court justices or lawyers appearing before the Supreme Court. The topic of the exercise will be drawn from a case or cases currently pending before the Supreme Court.

Assessment will be based on evidence that the student has completed assignments and readings, meaningful participation in seminar discussions, the preparation and presentation to the class of a summary of a judicial opinion under discussion, two short quizzes, and performance in the moot court exercise.

This class will be an intensive immersive exploration of presidential elections in the United States. It runs only in the Fall terms of US presidential election years, using the current campaign as a lens through which to explore a wide array of issues related to presidential elections specifically, as well as elections in the US generally. It is structured as a working lab that is supplemented with a series of discussion and lecture sessions. In lab sessions students will combine into teams to conduct term long tracking projects focused on the upcoming US presidential election. This may include battleground state profiling, campaign finance monitoring, litigation tracking, advertising and media placement, debate watches, candidate travel schedules, etc. In addition to the lab sessions, regular discussion and lecture sessions will provide students with a crash course in interdisciplinary approaches to a range of issues related to the conduct of US presidential elections. This may include examinations of the history of campaigns, campaign advertising and messaging, the structure of presidential elections and the role of the electoral college, the conduct of voting and voter access, campaign finance reform, empirical research on campaign effects and outcomes, polling and poll methodology, campaign organization and administrative structure, best practices for GOTV and targeted mobilization, etc. A great deal of what will be covered in both the lab and discussion sessions will depend on the nature of the current campaign in that particular year and which issues are most salient. Students will also take part in ongoing community education projects at different times throughout the term, whether that involves providing assistance through voter registration and access, debate watch debriefings, issue education, candidate profiles, community forums, etc.. On the night of the election the class will organize and host a returns watching festival on campus. The class will develop the various activities and events for the festival, and coordinate the planning alongside the instructor. The remaining class sessions after the election will focus on debriefing the results as well as addressing any outstanding issues that linger beyond election day (e.g. disputes over election counts and the certification of results). Students will be evaluated on the basis of their engagement with class sessions and other class related activities, their work for their tracking projects, short form response papers related to discussion topics, their debrief reports, and check in meetings with the instructor. Presidential election season can be a stressful, and at times uplifting time for many community members. This class is a great way to engage the campaigns in a direct and hands on manner, while also learning more about elections generally and presidential elections specifically. It is open to a wide range of students with varied interests. Given the working lab nature of the class, it is flexible enough to accommodate both students who have had extensive experience with politics and campaigning in the US context, as well as students for whom this will be their first exposure to anything campaign related, and everyone else in between.

This course provides an overview of environmental law and the role of law in shaping environmental policy. We examine, as background, the nature and scope of environmental, energy, and resource problems and evaluate the various legal mechanisms available to address those problems. The course attempts to have students critically analyze the role of law in setting and implementing environmental policy. We explore traditional common law remedies, procedural statutes such as the National Environmental Policy Act, intricate regulatory schemes, and market-based strategies that have been adopted to control pollution and protect natural resources. Students are exposed to a wide range of environmental law problems in order to appreciate both the advantages and limitations of law in this context. Special attention is given to policy debates currently underway and the use of the legal process to foster the development of a sustainable society in the United States. Students are required to complete four problem sets in which they apply legal principles to a given fact scenario.

This course provides students with an overview of the American conservation movement from the 1600s through the present. Through an examination of historical accounts and contemporary analysis, students develop an understanding of the issues, places, value conflicts, and people who have shaped conservation and environmental policy in the United States. They also gain an appreciation for the relationship between the conservation movement and other social and political movements. Students should come away with a sense of the historical and cultural context of American attitudes toward nature. We also seek to apply these lessons to policy debates currently underway in Maine. Working from original writings, students do in-depth research on a selected historical figure. Evaluation is based on problem sets, group activities, participation, and a final paper.

“Save the whales”; “save the tiger”; “save the rainforest” – – increasingly wildlife and their habitats are the subject of international debate with many seeing wildlife as part of the common heritage of humankind. Wildlife does not recognize the political boundaries of national states and as a result purely national efforts to protect wildlife often fail when wildlife migrates beyond the jurisdiction of protection. This course focuses on two principle aspects of international wildlife conservation: 1) the framework of treaties and other international mechanisms set up to protect species; and 2) the system of protected areas established around the world to protect habitat. We begin with an examination of several seminal wildlife treaties such as the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, CITES, migratory bird treaties, and protocols to the Antarctica Treaty. Using case studies on some of the more notable wildlife campaigns, such as those involving whales and elephants, we seek to understand the tensions between national sovereignty and international conservation efforts. The Convention on Biological Diversity and its broad prescriptions for wildlife protection provide a central focus for our examination of future efforts. Following on one of the key provisions in the Convention on Biological Diversity, the second half of the course focuses on international and national efforts to create parks and other protected areas. In particular we evaluate efforts to create protected areas that serve the interests of wildlife and resident peoples. Students gain familiarity with UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserve model and the IUCN’s protected area classifications. We also examine in some depth the role that NGO’s play in international conservation efforts. The relationship between conservation and sustainable development is a fundamental question throughout the course.

This course provides an introductory lens to understand the economy as a whole – the macroeconomy – and how its various parts interact. We will study topics such as (i) the short-term fluctuation of the general price level, employment level, and total output level, (ii) the linkages between structural unemployment, economic inequality, and government policies, and (iii) the long-term trajectory of economic growth and the unevenness of capitalist development. Some of the key questions we will explore include: How do we measure the macroeconomy, and what do our conventional measurements often leave out? Why do cyclical economic booms and busts exist and what drives them? What can governments do to limit the costs of job loss on workers? Looking globally, why are some countries rich and other countries poor? How have global living standards improved over the long run, and at what cost to humans, non-human beings, and the environment?

This course aims to increase your ability to use abstract, quantitative models to describe and articulate the various ways in which macroeconomic factors frame the condition of possibilities for people, their families, and their communities. Upon completion of this course, you will have developed practices of thinking critically and politically about public policies and debates. You will also expand your capacity for numerical literacy and quantitative skills such as drawing valid conclusions based on data and communicating your reasoning and results effectively and clearly. The course is especially valuable for students with interests in civic engagement, social justices, political transformation, and sustainable development. Previous knowledge in economics, calculus, statistics, and linear algebra is not necessary. Familiarity with elementary algebra will be helpful but not required. Students’ learning will be assessed through problem sets, and take-home exams.

Economics has a popular reputation as a field of study centered around making money and getting rich. However, for most of its history, economics has been about understanding and changing the way the world works. How do we get our dinner every night? What does it take to transform coffee beans harvested in plantations in Costa Rica to the morning cup of Starbucks across their 38,000 global locations? Why do some individuals amass unfathomable personal wealth while others face daily struggle for material survival? These questions are what economists primarily study. Whether seemingly straightforward or seemingly unfathomable, at their core these issues are about the process of social provisioning. It can be further broken down into the following questions: (i) As a society, how do we determine what to produce and how much? (ii) As a society, how do we distribute what we produce? And (iii) Who benefits from and who are harmed by our production, distribution and consumption? In this course, we will examine these questions from the perspective of individuals and firms, and we will consider the ways an individual’s preference and decisions are shaped by social institutions and how they, in turn, affect other beings, both human and non-human. You will be introduced to topics such as: individual’s decision making under constraints, social coordination dilemmas, firm’s wage-setting and labor discipline, supply-demand and price setting, market’s successes and failures, and the limits of economic growth. This course aims to increase your ability to use abstract, quantitative models to approach complex, real-world problems such as worsening economic inequalities and global climate change. Upon completion of this course, you will have developed practices of thinking critically and politically about public policies and debates. You will also expand your capacity for numerical literacy and quantitative skills such as drawing valid conclusions based on data and communicating your reasoning and results effectively and clearly. The course is especially valuable for students with interests in civic engagement, social justices, political transformation, and sustainable development. Knowledge in calculus, statistics, and linear algebra is not necessary, and familiarity with elementary algebra will be helpful but not required. Students’ learning will be assessed through problem sets and (take-home) exams.

The “law” affects every aspect of human activity. As human ecologists we must garner some basic understanding of how law is used (or misused) to shape society and human behavior. This course examines two aspects of the American legal system: 1) the judicial process or how we resolve disputes; and 2) the legislative process or how we enact policy. Course readings cover everything from classic jurisprudence essays to the daily newspaper. We use current environmental and social issues to illustrate specific applications of the legal process. Legal brief preparation, mock courtroom presentations, lobbying visits to the Maine legislature, and guest lectures are used to give a practical dimension to course subjects. Students analyze Federal Election Commission documents to understand the impact of campaign financing on public policy and look closely at other current issues facing the legislative and judicial systems. Evaluation is based upon two papers and several other exercises.

Contemporary political theory often explores how our established institutions drive seemingly intractable forms of ecological degradation and social harms. These critiques can offer potent models for pathologizing the injustices around us, but—by their magnitude—are also exhausting, making it difficult to imagine alternative ways of living together. As climate change disrupts our food systems, as pathogenic diseases spread and mutate, as social conflict grows, how can we possibly dream of more just and sustainable futures when we are regularly consumed with what it takes just to survive?

In this highly interactive course, we will explore one possible answer to this question by considering whether mutual aid—both as an idea and as a really-existing practice—offers any useful speculative and technical tools for responding to our emerging “polycrisis”. We will first theorize mutual aid through a biological lens as a tactic of survival among species, and situate this theory in historical and social context. We will then explore mutual aid as an emergent practice that is always already occurring around us, and conclude by discussing the potentialities it opens (and those that it doesn’t) for imaging alternative futures within, without, and around our existing institutions. Students in this course will be expected to read and reflect on high-level theoretical texts, participate actively in classroom discussion, and engage in community and campus-level projects that mirror our classroom discussions. Students will also conduct and self-publish original research on how mutual aid networks emerge in domains such as food, medical care, and community support work. Evaluation will be collaborative, based on engagement and intellectual growth and application of themes both in and outside of the classroom.

From first contact through the confrontation surrounding the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Dakota Access Pipeline, Native American law has tried to reconcile two incommensurate legal systems and widely varying government policies. This course examines the evolution of federal Native American or “Indian” Law from colonization onward as impacted by treaties, executive orders, congressional enactments, and major U.S. Supreme Court cases interpreting the U.S. Constitution and statutes as they involve Native American legal issues. This is not a class about tribal law or the indigenous legal systems that exist among the various tribes in the US. Rather, it examines the legal system imposed on tribes from the outside; a system that has evolved over time and creates the legal framework which tribes operate under today. Students will gain an understanding of law as a policy tool and framework, and acquire the necessary skills to work on policy issues affecting native peoples. We will focus on primary legal material as well as secondary interpretations of that material. There will be some comparative law analysis from other countries and an examination of how the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples relates to US practices. Students will complete several analytical problem sets that require an application of course concepts to fact scenarios as well as a major paper on a legal topic of their choosing. A class visit to a Maine reservation will allow conversation with tribal leaders involved with current environmental and Native American issues in Maine.

By definition “public lands” belong to all of us, yet public lands in this country have a history of use (and abuse) by special interests and a shocking absence of any coherent management strategy for long-term sustainability. This course is taught in seminar format in which students read and discuss several environmental policy and history texts that concern the history and future of our federal lands. We also use primary historic documents and texts to understand the origins of public ownership and management. We examine the legal, philosophical, ecological, and political problems that have faced our National Parks, wildlife refuges, national forests, and other public lands. An effort is made to sort out the tangle of laws and conflicting policies that govern these public resources. Special attention is given to the historic roots of current policy debates. Evaluation is based upon response papers, a class presentation, participation in class discussions, and a group project looking closely at the historical context and policy implications of a management issue facing a nearby public land unit.

This class will provide a broad introductory overview of the history, practice, and core concepts that encompass political messaging and persuasion through an empirical examination of grounded applications of such strategies. In order to capitalize on the saliency of the Fall election cycle, the course materials will be based on a series of historical case studies directly tied to American presidential campaigns. Instead of studying various theories of political persuasion in the abstract, we will extract principles that commonly appear in political messaging from these case examples. In addition, students will participate in two collaborative projects. The first will involve tracking political persuasion techniques in campaigns that are occurring in real time during the term. The second will involve students working in teams to produce their own political messaging materials for a hypothetical campaign. The overall goals of the course are three-fold. First, to provide a broad survey of the history of political campaign communication and advertising as it has developed in the United States. Second, to confront some of the pragmatic issues that go into producing messaging strategies for electoral candidates. Third, to help students cultivate a more critical approach to analyzing the political messages that they confront in their daily lives. The class will be highly interactive with discussion being the primary mode of instruction. However, there will also lecture components that provide the historical basis for the case studies we are examining. Final evaluation will based on a combination of class participation, several take home essay assignments, the contemporary tracking assignment, and a final creative project in which student produce their own campaign materials. The class is open to all students, regardless of their experience in politics or their knowledge of American history. It is well suited for introductory students who are interested in politics, human persuasion, and mass communication. However, it is also equally valuable for advanced students seeking to deepen their understanding of political persuasion.

People organize to bring social change for many reasons – e. g. to end oppression, bring peace, prevent ecological collapse, promote cultural survival or advance sectarian interests. The character and success of strategies depend on social and historical contexts. People typically alternate between – or combine – varied approaches including: social movements, electoral politics, lobbying, nonviolent (or sometimes violent) struggle, technological innovation, social entrepreneurship and community organizing. This course uses theories of social movements as a starting point to look at strategies for social change and criteria for evaluating them. The course assumes it is important to understand views and strategies we disagree with respectfully and with careful analysis. The class combines readings in history and theories of social change, and diverse case studies from both the left and the right. It looks both at classic cases (e. g. Gandhi, King) and a variety of efforts from recent years and the present (e.g. Indivisible, the Tea Party, #MeToo, Zapatistas, 350.org, Black Lives Matter, Cambridge Analytica, and alternative food system entrepreneurship). This is a course for students who want to develop skills for doing critical analysis of society, for developing effective plans to create social change, and for applying strategies to implement those plans. Evaluation will be based on progress in developing those skills as demonstrated in homework and class participation, short papers, and a term project developing a sample strategy document for a viewpoint of the student’s choice.

This course will be an in depth exploration of contemporary flashpoint issues involving the design, administration, and regulation of elections for public office in the United States. We will take up a series of case studies by examining their history, the stakeholders involved, and the pros and cons of the relevant alternative reform measures that have been proposed. Topics covered in a given term will vary based on changing external factors such as the timing of elections as well as student interests. Students enrolling in the class should expect to be contacted by the instructor prior to the start of the term to discuss areas of interest. Likely areas that may be covered include: campaign finance reform, gerrymandering, instant runoff voting, election technologies, voter suppression, alternative governmental models, the electoral college, party primaries, campaign communication regulation, government funding of elections, nationalization of election standards, etc.. This advanced seminar will emphasize collaborative work, discussion, and debate. We will ground our work as a group in tangible solutions that address existing problems in how elections are conducted in the United States. While the emphasis of the class will be on the US context, we will often draw on international case studies as comparative reference points to assist in evaluating possible policy alternatives. While familiarity with the US political system is not a requirement for this class, students should have completed some previous coursework in areas related to law, policy, government, or politics (domestic or international). Students will be evaluated based on their participation and engagement with class discussion, various short in-class presentations, short form individual response papers, and a longer form longer form project due at the end of the term.

Loren Eisely once remarked, “If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” Eisely’s observation is an underlying premise of this course – that there is something very special about moving water. This course is taught in a seminar format in which students will read and discuss ecological, historical, sociological, political and legal aspects of river conservation and watershed protection. Special emphasis is placed on understanding the policy issues surrounding dams, river protection, and watershed planning. In conjunction with readings and class discussions, students will use a term-long study of a local stream to learn about the threats facing rivers in the United States and the legal and policy mechanisms for addressing these threats. In addition, the class will take an extended field trip to western Massachusetts to gain first-hand knowledge of the tremendous impact river manipulation can have on a social and ecological landscape. We will spend time looking at historically industrialized and now nationally protected rivers in the region. Through weekly excursions on Maine rivers, students will also develop skills to enable them to paddle a tandem canoe in intermediate whitewater. Evaluation will be based on problem sets, role-playing exercises, contribution to the class, short essays, and paddling skills. Weekly excursions to area rivers entail special scheduling constraints as we will be in the field all day on Fridays.

In his seminal essay on the “Land Ethic,” Aldo Leopold explores the incongruity between man’s legal structures and the natural world around him. This incongruity is particularly acute in the area of wildlife conservation. Students will develop the ability to analyze and understand complex legal problems involving wildlife. In addition, this course examines the legal, philosophical, scientific, economic, and political problems surrounding man’s relationship with other species on this planet. The far-reaching goals and impacts of the Endangered Species Act are a central focus of the course. Significant time is also dedicated to legal issues concerning marine mammals, Native American’s wildlife concerns, migratory birds, animal rights, and agencies entrusted to manage wildlife. The class will also cover the growing rights of nature movement, the plight of Right Whales, and 30×30 campaigns in some depth. Students will complete a term-long group project that applies the course content to a pressing wildlife issue. Evaluation is based on class participation, problem sets, and contribution to the group project.

In “Beginning to End Hunger,” M. Jahi Chappell quotes the Brazilian sociologist Herbert Jose “Betinho” de Souza, who said “I’m not some stupid optimist. I’m an active optimist.” Chappell goes on to argue that active optimism—the notion that problems can be solved if we act on them with critical knowledge—is precisely what is needed to end hunger. This course will embrace the practice of active optimism by engaging students in place-based efforts to address food systems issues at COA. In this advanced course, students will form project teams and work collaboratively to build on on-going campus food systems initiatives. During week one of the course, students will select project teams and work with the instructor to develop a reading list and schedule tailored to the groups’ needs. Thereafter, class time will be dedicated to discussing readings, developing and peer-reviewing research plans and materials, presenting progress-reports, collecting and analyzing data, and facilitating community input and outreach activities. Depending on their project, students may focus more or less on data collection and analysis, policy development, or program implementation. Students will be evaluated based on their participation (including self-directedness and professionalism), the quality of the processes and outputs of their projects, and their ability to work collaboratively with classmates and the campus-community (in particular, community-partners including COA’s dining managers, farm managers, Food Systems Working Group, and the Cabinet).

The global demand for food and fiber will continue to increase well into the next century. How will this food and fiber be produced? Will production be at the cost of soil loss, water contamination, pesticide poisoning, and increasing rural poverty? In this course, we examine the fundamental principles and practices of conventional and sustainable agriculture with a primary focus on crops. By examining farm case studies and current research on conventional and alternative agriculture we develop a set of economic, social, and ecological criteria for a critique of current agricultural practices in the United States and that will serve as the foundation for the development and analysis of new farming systems. Evaluations are based on two exams, class presentations, participation in a conference on potato production, and a final paper.

This three-credit integrated class will include fieldtrips, travel, on-campus classes, and independent project work. The class will explore the history of humans’ relationship with apples (and fruit more generally) to explore the thousands of years of observing, eating, planting, and selecting that lay behind our love of apples. Students will learn about everything from the evolutionary history and geographic distribution of the Malus species to the history of apple cultivars in America. By 1900 there were perhaps 20,000 named varieties of apples in North America, and we will look at that explosion of diversity and then its loss in the 20th century. Students will work with trees, harvest fruit, and gain hands-on experience in orchards. The class will travel to the preeminent apple germplasm collection in the world in Geneva, NY, and will have the opportunity to explore the over 6,000 exemplars in the collection. Fieldtrips will also take us to commercial orchards, cider producers, local relict orchards, and conservation collections. Part of the class will be contributing to the work of tracking down, researching, and identifying old historic trees from around downeast Maine. This will require developing research skills, phenotypic identification skills, fruit exploration, and a wide range of other skills. We will also do deep dives on apple genetics, the deep history of agriculture, the introduction of European fruit in North America, changes to farming in Maine, and the conservation of heirloom crops.

The work of the class will include reading, writing, mapping, intensive fieldwork/fieldtrip experiences, hands-on elements, and a major independent research project. The class is appropriate for students with a very wide range of interests, but specific interests could include: history, food studies, horticulture, agriculture, genetics,and cultural heritage. This class will seek to integrate many fields of study to undertake a study of humans’ relationship with their food, the land, and the past through the focus on apples. Students will be evaluated on active participation in class discussion, completion of projects, field journals, written assignments, demonstration of phenotypic identification skills, capacity to learn in field settings, and a major independent project.

This course will take an in depth look at the art and science of fermented and cultured foods. The first half of the class will focus on the microbiology of fermentation with a specific focus on products derived from milk and soybeans. Each week there will be a laboratory portion in which students will explore how the basic fermentation processes and products change with different milk and soy qualities. These small-scale experiences and experiments will be complemented with field trips to commercial enterprises in Maine and Massachusetts. In the second half of the term students will explore the differences in flat, yeast, and sourdough breads. Final projects will focus on a foodway of choice and will culminate in presentations that explore the historical and cultural context in which these different cultured foods were developed and how these microbial-mediated processes enhance preservation, nutritional and economic value, and taste. Evaluations will be based on class participation, short quizzes, a lab report, journal, and a final project.

In the last decade the plight of wild and domesticated bees has pervaded the media and public discourse, yet bees remain largely misunderstood in our society. This course examines the interconnected relationship between humans and bees and asks what bees can teach us about ourselves and our food systems. Through readings, fieldtrips, and guest lectures, students will examine the social, economic, and political dimensions of human-bee interactions, investigating topics such as: historical and contemporary beekeeping practices; the political economy of honey; the role of pollination in agriculture and agroecosystems; domestication and human-animal relationships; biodiversity loss in agricultural systems; pollinator conservation and policy; and cooperation and decision-making in human and bee societies. A truly human-ecological course, Bees & Society integrates the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences to examine the applied problem of protecting pollinators in a time of abrupt environmental change. Students will be evaluated based on: (1) participation in class discussions, fieldwork, and field trips; (2) a series of short reflection papers; and (3) a final class project. For their final project, students will develop two native bee conservation workshops—one for elementary school students and one for farmers and gardeners—and host the workshops at COA’s farms.

Just three aquatic species account for most seafood consumed in the US: shrimp, tuna, and salmon. But worldwide consumption is more diverse, including an array of finfish, invertebrates, aquatic plants, algae, and other animals. These ‘blue foods’ are fished, collected, gathered, or grown in the sea or freshwater and play essential roles in supporting human health, nutrition, livelihoods, and culture. Recent studies have shown that the top 7 categories of nutrient-rich animal-source foods are all aquatic in origin. So why do food policy and science still heavily focus on terrestrially produced foods, overlooking blue foods? This course will unpack this conundrum and examine blue food systems from ‘bait to plate’ by analyzing food production, provisioning, and consumption as interlinked activities. Blue food production includes small-scale and industrial harvesting and wild capture and aquaculture systems. Provisioning activities link production and consumption: the offloading of catch, storage and transportation of highly perishable foods, transformations from raw fish to the final product, and the marketing and distribution affected to reach consumers. Finally, consumption includes how we acquire our food, cook and eat it, and dispose of waste, as well as our nutritional and health outcomes. While conventional food policy and science have focused on food production in isolation, a food systems framework sheds light on dynamics that impact the flows and distribution of foods with equity implications: which foods are made by whom, where does food go, and who benefits? This course will introduce students to key changes in the goals and means of food policy, focusing on how the emergent dialogue on food systems in fisheries is reframing how we know and govern aquatic resources. A significant portion of the course will be dedicated to examining blue food case studies, which may include: seaweed farming in Tanzania, fishing cooperatives in Mexico, tuna longliners in the Mid-Atlantic, and Lobster fishing in Maine. Students will work in teams to analyze one of these case studies in-depth, applying a food systems lens to examine each case’s sustainability and equity challenges. Students will be evaluated through their participation in class discussions and in-class activities, weekly writing reflections, and co-leading a class with your case study team. The final project will be a group policy proposal outlining how stakeholders could better govern from a ‘food systems’ perspective in your blue food case study.

Introductory chemistry and biology are explored in the context of food and drink: the biology of crops, culinary chemistry, and the biochemistry of brewing. Major chemistry topics include atomic structure, periodicity, bonding, acid base chemistry, kinetics, equilibrium, colloids, and solubility of gases in liquids. Major biology topics include photosynthesis, respiration, plant and yeast life histories, cellular reproduction, and metabolism. We will also explore agricultural chemistry from a systems perspective: examining strategies to for keeping pace with the demand for nitrogen and phosphorous in soils. This course is meant to offer important, fundamental chemistry and biology through the framework of food, a universal human experience. These fundamental topics in Chemistry and Biology will be explored from the ground up, so no prior experience is required. Meanwhile, the culinary and agricultural framework should offer enough new content for students with a background in natural sciences. Students will be evaluated based on participation in classroom and laboratory sessions, projects, and quizzes.

This course uses food as a lens to explore human origins, cultural diversity, social structure, and human/environment interactions. Through academic articles and films, the course exposes students to the different ways anthropologists think about food and the frameworks they use to answer questions concerning the human experience. The course also engages other disciplinary perspectives—including history, economics, and political ecology—to make larger connections between food and society.

Designed as a survey course, this course introduces students not only to writing as process—prewriting, writing, and rewriting—but also to the broad and dynamic subfield of food anthropology. The course is organized around four themes. The first—human origins, diets, and biocultural evolution—explores the uniqueness of cooking to the human species, and how the co-evolution of human diets and culture has shaped different groups’ dietary needs, practices, and restrictions. The second—globalization and international trade—looks at the flow of foods and food practices around the world, from sugar to sushi. The third—hegemony and difference—considers how race, gender, and class are constructed and expressed through food. The final theme—consumption and embodiment—considers the relationship between eating and the body; readings in this section focus on body image, eating practices, and critical studies of the rhetoric around hunger and obesity. Students are evaluated based on class participation, a series of reflection papers, a dietary analysis, and a recipe project involving a prepared meal, an audio-visual presentation, and a critical analysis paper. This course meets the first-year writing requirement.

This course explores the rich history of capitalism through the lens of two of the most ubiquitous and valuable crops in the world: corn and coffee. The crops provide insight into the global and local dimensions of both historical and contemporary reality in the countries where they are grown with a focus on Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States. Corn and coffee provide a convenient vantage point from which to examine the social, economic, and cultural dynamics of community-based production of both crops on the one hand and their globally-connected production as commodities. The course moves from a broad macro perspective on each crop to an intensive exploration of how both are produced in Guatemala. In this way, class participants will be able to look at how global historical trends in consumption have played themselves out in local communities. The class will simultaneously be able to look at the processes at work in pueblos throughout Guatemala that root the corn economy into rich cultural and social dynamics that are at the core of communal life. Using these two crops as a starting point, the class will allow students to develop a holistic and synthetic understanding of how global food systems land in places. The course emphasizes attention to the broad global dimensions of corn and coffee’s production as well as the fine-grained study of Guatemala’s socio-cultural life in historical and anthropological perspective. Through discussions of the books, this seminar-style course seeks to provide students with deep insights into the history of a specific place while maintaining a sense of the global and regional context. Intensive readings will provide students with a snapshot of trends in both history and ethnography while broader synthetic analyses of both corn and coffee will embody more popular approaches to the topic. Students will lead discussions of the readings, write short synthetic essays, and undertake a research project for the class. Evaluation will be based on short writing, course participation and the final project.

Farming has always operated with a degree of tension in relation to wild things and wild places. Agricultural tradition has often embraced the idea of “taming” nature or driving back the wilderness in order to meet human needs. In the 20th Century, an increasingly competitive economy, coupled with rising human populations emphasized massive monocultures that had serious impacts on wildlife and native vegetation. There is no question that conflict can exist between the wild and the curated, however there are also real possibilities for a more harmonic interface between humanized and non-humanized landscapes that can benefit both. In this team- taught course an experienced livestock farmer and a seasoned field ecologist will lead students in exploring the complex and nuanced relationships between managing land for production agriculture and land conservation. By utilizing Peggy Rockefeller Farm (PRF) as its primary case study students will be able to explore the complex histories of land conservation and the current practices of farming on the edge of nature. Students will also explore how farms can enhance native wildlife by providing key habitats and food sources. Students will be expected to learn through course lectures, extensive readings on farming, and wilderness, and practical, hands-on experience on the farm in making domesticated plants and livestock “wild safe”. Evaluation will be based on class participation, two short “problem sets” and a comprehensive final exam. Intermediary. Interdisciplinary. Students will be evaluated based on class participation, weekly quizzes, assignments, and a final project and presentation.

Downeast Maine, from the Penobscot River east to the Canadian border, includes Hancock and Washington Counties, a region of extremes between high levels of tourism, like Mount Desert Island, and many coastal towns that are heavily reliant on fisheries for their economic existence. This long history of cultural and economic dependence on fisheries makes the region particularly vulnerable to fisheries decline, such as the collapse of the sardine and cod fisheries. Recent trends in the lobster, clam, scallop, and elver fisheries, as well as aquaculture, show various levels of instability and risk. At the same time, numerous initiatives in the region focus on revitalizing and stabilizing fisheries, while enhancing community resilience. This class uses a variety of interdisciplinary approaches to examine the relationships among marine resources, fisheries policy, harvesters, and communities. In this course, we will examine the relationships within this linked social-ecological system, and use historical data, current documents, interviews and oral histories to examine the human-ecological relationships among residents, policy, and resources. We also will examine relationships between other industries, uses, and values placed on the coast and their relationships to fisheries and aquaculture. The course will include guest speakers and field trips (including an overnight to the Cobscook Bay area) to Downeast communities. Evaluation will be based on several assignments during the term, including journals, analysis of oral histories, and research on a Downeast fishery. Students will also work on a final project examining a research question using multiple information sources and ways of knowing with a presentation due at the end of the term. Active engagement during class, with guest speakers, and on field trips will be expected.

It feels like pizza has always been considered American, but we know that it was originally brought to the US by Italian immigrants. Both the US and Italy claim pizza as a national dish, and this type of debate about where food comes from—and who it belongs to—is highly connected to our national and local identities. As humans continue to migrate across borders and blur the boundaries in digital spaces, our identities continue to develop as we interact with each other and different types of food. We will consider how this movement shapes our ideas of ‘foreign’ and ‘local’ and how one becomes the other, as well as the line between honoring a culture and appropriating it.

We will examine the intersections of the genre conventions, rhetorical situation, and the writers’ identities to understand how these elements work together when producing texts. We will learn key composition concepts (genre, rhetorical situation, and multimodality) and support the development of your genre research skills. We will use these concepts and conduct genre research to examine various food writing genres, such as narratives, recipes, and social media posts to understand how writing is an activity that goes beyond putting words together on a piece of paper. These activities will support your overall genre research skills and deepen your understanding of writing, which can be transferred to other writing activities beyond this course. Classes will be based on genre analysis activities and group discussions. We will read works that address food writing genres and identity, and we will watch documentaries that explore the intersections of food, identity, and migration. Course assignments include your reproduction of a food writing genre, weekly reading responses, reflections and narratives to document your learning trajectory, which will also be used for assessment purposes.

Food systems have long been globalized and interconnected. Consequently, conflict in one part of the world often affects food systems in other parts of the world. Indeed, some scholars have argued that war has made our contemporary food systems. In this course, we will draw on the fields of food studies, history, anthropology, international studies, and political science to understand how war has shaped and been shaped by past and contemporary food systems. Designed as a two part course, Food & War Part I focuses on World War I, World War II, and the Cold War between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies. We will also examine the influence of the Cold War on efforts to bring about a “green revolution” across Asia in the 1950s and 1960s and across Africa today. Throughout the term we will consider how modern war tactics have evolved from historical approaches to conflict, from burning and salting fields to slaughtering livestock and wild game. As a reading and discussion based course, we will primarily examine our topic through books and peer-reviewed articles as we consider the questions: How has food been used as both a weapon of war and a tool of diplomacy? How has conflict transformed the ways people grow, harvest, and eat food? And how have agricultural methods, inputs, technologies, and cuisines spread and evolved in relationship to war? Students will be evaluated based on preparation for and participation in class discussions; a series of synthesis papers; and a final paper. As an intermediate seminar, this course is best suited for students who have taken a course in food studies such as Transforming Food Systems or U.S. Farm & Food Policy, and who have had at least one course in history, anthropology, or international studies. Students who take Food & War Part I are not required to take Part II.

In his 1893 text The Conquest of Bread, Russian Geographer Petr Kropotkin exclaimed “It is bread that the revolution needs!”. Kropotkin was not drafting a radical shopping list but rather offering a commentary on the relationship between our agency over the food we eat and our ability to sustain social movements. The production, distribution, and consumption of food has always been at the center of our social bonds, but today, our global food systems are controlled by a small number of private corporations who dictate what we eat, how we eat, and who we eat with. This system is not only corrosive to our democratic politics, it is also poisoning our bodies and ecosystems. While the severity of these challenges cannot be understated, neither can the resistance movement against it. From India’s independence movement to landless peasant organizing in the Americas, from guerilla gardening in urban Detroit to Maine’s local food movement, people across the globe continue to demand more autonomy over what they consume and how. This movement is rooted in the idea of food sovereignty—or the right to healthy, culturally appropriate foods and access to the necessary conditions (land, political power, knowledge) that get us there.

In this course, we will explore the shifting landscape of food from a common resource to a private one and back again, focusing in particular on how changing food systems become sites of political agency and resistance. Using social ecology as a lens, students will come to link global movements for food sovereignty over time and space back to the unfolding politics of food sovereignty in our own community as we consider what it would mean—and potentially work together in real time—to enact a food sovereignty ordinance in Bar Harbor. This seminar-style course will be highly participatory. Students will be evaluated through a combination of self-assessment, written assignments, and in-person engagement and evidence of intellectual growth and application of themes both in and outside of the classroom.

This class offers a good foundation of knowledge for a gardener to begin the process of organic gardening, as well as an understanding of what defines organic gardening. The information presented focuses on soil fertility and stewardship, the ecology of garden plants, soil and insects, and practical management of the above. The garden is presented as a system of dynamic interactions. Emphasis is given to vegetable crops and soil fertility. Laboratories include soil analysis, tree pruning, seedling establishment, weed and insect identification, garden design, covercropping, composting, and reclamation of comfrey infested area. Evaluations are based on participation in class and lab, written class work, exam, and final individual garden design.

This course will explore the history of agriculture from the vantage point of Downeast Maine with a focus on apples. The premise of the course is that by exploring this fascinating crop in detail from the local vantage point of Downeast Maine students will be able to grasp the many historical processes at work from the introduction of the fruit in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries to the age of agricultural improvement in the eighteenth on to the rise and fall of commercial orcharding as a major component of Maine’s farm economy in the early twentieth century. Using sources ranging from secondary sources, historical atlases, aerial surveys, and diaries, we will explore how the culture of apple agriculture in Maine develops over time as part of an interconnected Atlantic World where crops flow back and forth between Britain and the colonies/U.S. over hundreds of years. Course activities will include fruit exploration and fieldtrips to track down and identify antique varieties, as well as visits to the local farms where a new generation of apple culture is taking shape. The course will also engage students with the process of cider-making, both sweet and hard, as well as exercises in the preparation, storage, and processing of apples. Students will be evaluated on their participation in discussion, how they collaborate with others in class projects, and a final individual or collaborative project. This course is designed for students interested in history, farming and food systems, community-based research, and policy/planning issues. It is also very appropriate for students who like apples and just want to know (a lot) more.

This course examines homesteading as a food systems, cultural, and economic practice. Maine is a center of homesteading activity in the United States and an ideal place to study the theory and practice of homesteading. From a food systems perspective, homesteading represents a means of divesting from the global food system through the practice of subsistence agriculture and food preservation. Viewed from an anthropological perspective, homesteading raises interesting questions about why some individuals eschew conventional lifestyles and seek significant degrees of self-sufficiency, various forms of intentional living, and commitments to non-commodified production. A critical examination of homesteading raises questions about privilege and the benefits and limits of social movements founded on personal choice and private property. And viewed through political economy, homesteading can be seen as a choice to resist the intrusion of market-based relationships into social life and an attempt to restore social relationships and normative values other than efficiency to production and consumption.

Applying these lenses, this course will examine the conditions that influence contemporary homesteading practices. Three key questions frame the course: (1) What motivates self-identified homesteaders to resist normative lifestyles and seek self-sufficient, non-commodified ways of living? (2) How do variables such as class, education, race, geographic location, and property-ownership shape homesteading practices? (3) What are the benefits and limits of homesteading as a form of resistance to commodified production and consumption? Through classroom discussions, readings, and fieldwork students will attempt to answer these questions. Readings will include personal and ethnographic accounts of homesteading as well as critical studies of non-commodified living. We will be joined for several class meetings by guest discussion leaders with additional expertise in food systems, anthropology, and related areas. Field work will include visits to several homesteads. Students will be evaluated based on participation, interviewing exercises, a field journal, and a series of reflection papers.

The fungal kingdom contains a diversity of mushroom forming and non-mushroom forming organisms which exhibit a wide range of life histories. As mutualists, pathogens, and decomposers, fungi are important components of almost all ecosystems on Earth. In addition, fungi have had huge impacts on the environment and human society, from causing the recent die-off of bats, frogs, and several tree species, to the production of alcohol and antibiotics. In this course students will get an overview of the fungal kingdom by learning the biology, ecology, and systematics of major fungal groups, with an emphasis placed on those fungal groups that can be easily observed in the field. Lectures and in class discussions will be supplemented with frequent field trips to observe fungi in their natural habitat and collect specimens for further identification.

This course provides an introduction to small-scale farm production and planning with an emphasis on organic vegetable production practices. This course includes lectures from professionals in the field, tours of local farms, and hands-on learning at COA’s Beech Hill Farm and Community Garden. Students will explore all aspects required to successfully plan and grow produce for an organic, small-scale market farm. Topics covered in the course will include soil health, crop botany, crop planning and rotation, pest control, disease and weed management, tractor safety and operation, farm budgeting, and farmland access strategies. Student evaluation will be based on attendance, participation in class discussion and activities, problem sets, and a final project focused on the development of a profit-oriented farm plan.

States cannot exist without armies, and armies require soldiers, laborers, and food; additionally, other expressions of state power require massive resources. To support these endeavors, for centuries state power in most parts of the world relied on appropriation of labor and agricultural surplus, principally from peasants, to the point that state power was directly equated with control of intensively-used, monocropped agricultural land and associated peasant populations. This course examines the patterns and processes of how states have sought this appropriation from peasants, how peasants have resisted it, and how food plays a central part in this dynamic. Our principal focus regarding peasant resistance will be on more every-day, persistent and “micro” forms, such as social sanction (e.g. gossip), foot dragging, sabotage, cultural difference-making, illegibility, and (particularly) flight, as opposed to more organized efforts such as open rebellion (which is costly and rarely successful) and transnational movements (which are relatively new). Put another way, the course is about how ordinary people resist authority, particularly in regard to the choice, production, and distribution of food. The course is necessarily human ecological, exploring food studies, political, environmental, and agrarian history, economic anthropology, political theory, and political economy. Beyond the lives of the estimated 1.2 billion peasants living in the world today, course ideas have widespread contemporary relevance and application regarding compliance and resistance to states, corporations, technology, and capitalism, as well as the nature of cultural incorporation and marginalization. Evaluation will be based on preparedness for class, participation in classroom discussions, and several in-class written exercises.

Food is central to the human experience. It can bring us profound joy and a sense of belonging to a place, to a people, and to ourselves. And yet, food is frequently used as an additional form of punishment for the nearly 2 million people incarcerated in jails and prisons across the United States. In this course, students will learn about different kinds of prison food systems, from those using food to dehumanize incarcerated people, to those using food as a tool to help promote rehabilitation and support successful reentry. We will explore this topic through readings, lectures, field trips, and interviews with folks working to transform prison food systems. Simultaneously, students will learn how to produce a podcast from start-to-finish in order to share the stories they gather.

To understand the U.S. carceral system, we will read works by Michelle Alexander and other scholars, using as our primary text Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prisons, published by the organization Impact Justice in 2020. The audio production skills students will learn include recording, importing, mixing, editing, mastering, and exporting sound. Students will be evaluated based on their participation in class discussions, performance on a series of audio-production exercises, preparation for and completion of interviews, and production of a short podcast episode.

How will students in this course be evaluated?: Students will be evaluated based on their participation in class discussions, performance on a series of audio-production exercises, preparation for and completion of interviews, and production of a short podcast episode.

Sheep play profoundly important roles in human societies. This course is a human ecological exploration of sheep and wool, combined with a hands-on component in which we will work with sheep and learn fiber arts. This class will meet for one studio session and two lecture/discussion sections per week, plus at least one Saturday field trip. In the studio sessions, we will study sheep husbandry through visits to Peggy Rockefeller Farm, and learn a variety of techniques for working with wool, from the preparation (shearing, washing, and carding) to spinning and working with yarn (including knitting, crochet, and weaving). The lecture/discussion sessions will cover topics such as the ecological impacts of sheep in different parts of the world, the physics of spinning and the chemistry of dyes, and the symbolism of sheep in the mythology of different cultures. The course will draw on a wide range of material and intellectual approaches, with sheep and wool as the unifying theme. Students will be evaluated based on participation, short written assignments, and a final oral presentation.

No prior knowledge of fiber craft is necessary, but students who come in knowing one of the basic techniques may be able to explore advanced techniques like lacework or design in three dimensions. Students should meet with the instructor before spring break to discuss goals and equipment needs for the studio sessions. Some basic supplies will be provided, but students should plan to purchase additional equipment such as knitting needles depending on the projects that they choose.

The aim of this practicum is to pursue a collaborative project with seed workers at the local, national, or international level. A basic background and interest in seeds will be critical to a student’s success in this course. The course will examine key readings in the field of seed systems and investigate the practice of different seed workers. This course will involve fieldwork outside of class time. In the first few weeks of class, we will review the foundation of angiosperm seed biology and develop skills in plant trials, evaluation, harvesting and processing. The term-long project may include an expansion on the Maine Heirloom Seed Project, a seed library serving Hancock County, archival research of the rich history of the beans and their uses across Maine, or a project proposed by one of the participants in the course. Evaluations will be based on research, participation, and sustained engagement with peers and stakeholders in the larger community, and a final presentation to the stakeholders of the project.

This course will create the opportunity for students to do project-based learning on pomology, preservation of and research about historic apple varieties and a wide range of other apple-flavored projects. It will involve fieldtrips, roaming around looking at apples and visiting orchards all with the intention of deepening students’ knowledge base and feeding their curiosity. One key element of the course is to provide the opportunity for students to conceptualize, plan and carry out their own research or creative projects. Students will be evaluated on their project work, engagement with course materials, and their progress deepening their knowledge.

This course will create the opportunity for students to do project-based learning on pomology, preservation of and research about historic apple varieties and a wide range of other apple-flavored projects. It will involve fieldtrips, roaming around looking at apples and visiting orchards all with the intention of deepening students’ knowledge base and feeding their curiosity. One key element of the course is to provide the opportunity for students to conceptualize, plan and carry out their own research or creative projects. Students will be evaluated on their project work, engagement with course materials, and their progress deepening their knowledge.

This course explores possibilities for transformative change across local and global food systems. The course centers on the questions: What would it take to ensure access to healthy, safe, affordable, culturally appropriate foods for all people? The first part of the course critically examines capitalist food systems with particular attention to the ways culture, politics, and economics shape our interactions with food. Through readings and exercises, we explore issues such as nutrition, worker safety, contested agricultural and land use policies, hunger, and environmental and community health. The second part of the course examines case studies of transformative food movements around the world, from the Zero Hunger programs in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, to La Via Campesina global campaign for agrarian reform. We focus particularly on food sovereignty and agroecology movements. The final third of the course focuses on transformative work in Maine and at COA. Students take multiple field trips to participate in local movements and to learn about their philosophies, objectives, and activities. By the end of the course, students will be able to analyze how power shapes food systems and articulate a theory of change for addressing a food systems problem of their choice. Students are evaluated based on participation in class discussions and field trips, a series of reflection papers, and a final project including a paper and an audio-visual presentation.

This course offers a broad introduction to food and farm policy in the United States. Food and farm policy encompasses laws, regulations, norms, decisions, and actions by governments and other institutions that influence food production, distribution, access, consumption, and recovery. This course focuses on the policy process and two major policy tools: the U.S. Farm Bill and U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

The course begins with an overview of the evolution of food and farming technology in the United States. Students are then introduced to the concepts, institutions, and stakeholders that influence farm and food policy, and examine examples of some of the most salient contemporary issues. Topics covered include: food production and the environment; farm-based biodiversity conservation; international food and agricultural trade; food processing, manufacturing, and retail industries; food safety; dietary and nutrition guidelines; food labeling and advertising; food and biotechnology; food waste and recovery; food advocacy and activism; and food insecurity and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Through case studies and exercises students examine the policymaking process at the local, state, and federal level and learn to evaluate various policy options. Finally, the course compares and contrasts international perspectives on farm and food policies and programs. Students are evaluated based on participation in class discussions, a series of op-ed essays, in-class briefs and debates, and a policy recommendation report on the upcoming U.S. Farm Bill.

For much of the past 5000 years the sea has played a major role in a broad variety of human cultures, histories, arts, and economies. Sea-faring peoples have developed a rich lore and technology that allows them to both survive and even thrive in an often hostile element. This course will mix practical, hands-on learning of aspects of seamanship with a survey of fiction and non-fiction that address maritime themes. During the early part of the term we will concentrate on aspects of small-boat handling, using the College’s inflatables, rowing boats, and the larger research vessels, Osprey and Laughing Gull. Students will learn how to launch and land small-craft from docks and beaches, basic rowing skills and use of an outboard motor. They will learn essential knots useful aboard ship and on the dock, how to lay out a course using a chart and compass, use of GPS and depth sounders, basic Rules of the Road, and elements of celestial navigation. During some lab periods we will go on short voyages in the general area of Frenchman Bay. As the term proceeds and weather worsens, we will turn to an increasingly greater literary component, reading accounts of famous voyages and local fishermen, discoveries, battles, legends and poetry. Possible texts include, but are not limited to: Working the Sea by Wendell Seavey, Master and Commander by Patrick O’ Brian, Maiden Voyage by Tania Aebi, The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger, In the Heart of The Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick, Longitude by Dava Sobel, Slave Ship: A Human History by Marcus Rediker, Kon Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl, We Didn’t Mean to Go To Sea by Arthur Ransome as well as excerpts from The Greenlanders’ Saga, Moby Dick, The Old Man and the Sea, The Voyage of the Beagle, and Two Years Before the Mast. Students will be evaluated on the basis of class participation, a number of short “quizzes” – which will include practical elements – and a term paper focusing on one aspect of working the sea.

Using Acadia National Park as a case study, this course will explore the various facets of “the national park idea” and what it means for Americans in terms of history and identity. Through direct experiences in one of the “crown jewels” of the park system, the class will examine the historical, ecological, cultural, social, legal, economic, and spiritual context in which national parks are formed and continue to exist in the 21st century. We will work with National Park Service professionals to look at various aspects of park management and day-to-day challenges of implementing the “national park idea.” Through weekly field trips, journaling, service learning opportunities, and projects, we will be immersed in the management and experience of Acadia. We will explore, through reading and writing, the broader themes of wilderness preservation, attitudes toward nature, the history of conservation, and the commodification of nature. This experiential class is specifically geared toward first-year students and they will be given preference for enrollment. Assignments will include journal writing, short exercises, a group project/service learning opportunity, short presentations, and papers.

In 1903, American naturalist John Burroughs triggered a fierce public debate when he accused some of his peers of writing “sham natural history.” These other naturalists, Burroughs claimed, had given in to the major temptation lying in wait for all nature writers: “the danger of making too much of what we see and describe—of putting in too much sentiment, too much literature—in short, of valuing these things more for the literary effects we can get out of them than for themselves.” The ensuing debate over the responsible depiction of nonhuman nature went on for five years in the pages of popular magazines, drawing in dozens of writers and one U.S. president. More than a century later, we remember it as the “nature faker” controversy. But though this episode has taken its place in the history books, its unresolved tensions and questions live on, occupying nature writers and filmmakers to this day: How can writers tell stories that spark human interest in the natural world while doing justice to that world’s alterity? What does it mean to value nonhuman animals “for themselves” and not for the reasons we might project onto them? Are emotion and imagination incompatible with good nature writing?

In this writing class, students will not only get to know this longstanding conversation; they will also be asked to weigh in. Students will study the strategies that help experienced writers make their own marks on existing debates: strategies for posing rich problems, analyzing texts, representing and responding to other voices, giving and using feedback, and otherwise developing a sustainable writing practice. Students will become better navigators of writing for various contexts and audiences by studying and practicing the ways in which public and scholarly writers convey their ideas to readers. Students will be evaluated on a rhetorical analysis of a single text; an analytical essay that incorporates multiple sources and makes an original argument; a reflection that analyzes their own approach to writing; participation in in-class work; and the completion of short, low-stakes assignments preparing them for class. This course will be helpful for new college students looking to establish a base of knowledge about analytical writing, as well as for students at any point in their college careers who want to dedicate some time to working on their writing.

Natural history collections are important artifacts that provide pivotal information on the past, present, and future of our natural world. They document species ecology and distribution, changes in aspects of phenotypes, and aid in conservation initiatives. Collections have tremendous value in understanding and documenting our natural and cultural world. Yet their history, and the practice of scientific collecting, is muddled with bias, controversy, and colonial practices. Through discussion and practice, we will explore the science and art of scientific collecting, preparing, and caring for specimens (plant and animal). We will discuss the history of scientific collections, and collection practices, and consider their role and value. We will visit natural history museums, their collections, and the curators that care for them. Thus, there are two required field trips, including one overnight. We will also practice the art of specimen preparation and care, learning different preparation and cataloging techniques. This class is open to anyone with any interest or curiosity about natural history museums, collections or scientific collecting. It is recommended for students interested in museology techniques or those interested in pursuing careers in museum studies. Assessments include written responses to weekly prompts, discussion participation, written essays, and a term project.

This course is designed for science students developing their professional communication skills. It will improve the students’ writing ability by introducing them to writing for the scientific community and for the lay public. The course involves understanding the protocols for writing a scientific paper based on lab or field data, including learning to write an abstract and literature review. Students will also learn and apply visual and oral communication skills to construct and present a scientific poster. In addition to working with the instructor and in-class peer reviews, students will work on the content of their writing and grammar with writing tutors.

This course focuses on the ecological and evolutionary consequences of associations formed between organisms that are markedly different in form and function. A diverse array of interactions ranging from pollination and termite digestion to hitch-hiking mites are examined in order to explore the role of symbioses in biological systems. In this context we explore the changing conceptions of the major divisions of life; current models for explaining the origin of eukaryotes, angiosperms, and two-sex systems; coevolution; keystone species, and models for assessing mutualism and parasitism within an ecological context. Evaluations are based on ability to read and critique primary scientific literature, class participation, and the completion of a term project.

This course provides a deep dive into the practice and art of preparing museum study skins. Study skins are a traditional form of specimen preparation that preserves the skin and feathers of organisms for research purposes. Preparation techniques vary by taxon and research objective. In this course we will read about the history of study skins, how preparation techniques have evolved over time, and the role of study skins in our understanding of our natural world. A foundational component of the course is to learn how to prepare study skins. Therefore, we will establish a practice of preparing study skins weekly. Through this practice students will learn different techniques of preparation, as well as gain a strong foundation in anatomy related to different organisms and learn how to use appropriate anatomical language. The course meeting time is structured to support this weekly practice. While we will discuss preparation techniques for different taxons, iterative practice of techniques will depend on availability of organismal specimens and will be biased towards vertebrates, particularly mammals and aves. Assessments will include a reflection journal documenting each student’s preparatory journey; discussion and activity participation; and the completion of a series of study skins demonstrating improvement in technique over the course of the term.

This course builds on concepts discussed in Collecting Nature, and other organismal courses. The course is particularly suitable for students who would like to pursue careers in organismal ecology, taxonomy, or museum studies, and would like study skin preparation to be a part of their skillset. It would also serve students who are interested in gaining an in-depth knowledge of organismal anatomy, or those who are interested in different preparation techniques.

Most of the ocean is deep, dark, and cold – conditions that at first glance appear terribly inhospitable. And yet the past century and a half of deep-ocean exploration has revealed an astonishing abundance and diversity of life, with forms and functions that, though seemingly alien, reflect exquisite adaptation to the unique challenges of surviving in such an environment. Our expanding knowledge about the deep ocean is only possible with the boundary-pushing technologies and instruments developed to delve deeper, see further, and collect more from the most remote depths. As we have learned more about the ecosystems in the deep ocean, it has also become clear that human activities are not so removed from them as we once believed. Discussions about deep ocean biology now include debates about our obligation to protect and conserve it.

In this course, we will take a tour of the variety of life that exists in the deep ocean, learn about how we observe and study it, and discuss the ways that humans interact with and affect it. Our guiding questions for the course are:

What kinds of life exist in different deep ocean ecosystems? How are deep sea organisms adapted to life in an environment of extremes? What technologies are used to study life in the deep ocean and what are their capabilities and constraints? What do we owe to life in the deep ocean in terms of conservation? What do we owe to human society in terms of deep-ocean exploration, discovery, and resource use?

We meet twice a week in class and have one afternoon lab period. Classes are a combination of lecture, discussion and activities, and labs focus on one or two elements of deep-sea biology for deeper investigation as a group. This course is open to anyone but is particularly suited for students interested in marine studies, ecology, evolutionary biology, and/or environmental ethics. Students will be assessed based on short research assignments throughout the course and a term project.

This course examines ecology in the classic sense: the study of the causes and consequences of the distribution and abundance of organisms. We examine the assumptions and predictions of general models of predator-prey interactions, inter- and intra-species competition, island biogeography, and resource use, and compare these models to the results of experimental tests in lab and field. In addition we discuss appropriate techniques used by ecologists in collecting data in the field, note-taking and the appropriate collation and storage of field data. Although this course is NOT a course in Conservation Biology, we examine how ecological principles are applied to conservation questions. Readings include selections from the primary literature. Students are evaluated on the basis of class participation and two in depth problem sets,drawing extensively on the primary literature.

In this course we explore the different terrestrial habitats that occur on Mount Desert Island (MDI). We practice taking observations and investigating these habitats using different field ecology techniques. Therefore, a vast majority of classes are spent outside in the elements. We discuss what our observations—and data—can teach us about the natural history of landscapes and their inhabitants. We partner our adventures with readings on different foundational ecological concepts. We discuss the complexities of these concepts, their applications, and limitations based on our own observations and experiences. Students are expected to keep a field notebook of their observations, and are required to submit weekly reflections in a field journal. Students also explore topics through essays and/or other activities. Class meets for two sessions per week.

The course is open to anyone interested in gaining skills in ecology and natural history, or those interested in learning more about the habitats of MDI. The course is designed to provide foundational skills in natural history observations and other field sampling techniques. This course is a partner course to Intertidal Ecology, meaning we explore the same topics just in different environments. Therefore, students may enroll in either Ecology: Natural History or Intertidal Ecology, but not both. A joint session of the courses is held at the end of the term.

Ecosystem ecology is the branch of ecological science that considers the large-scale transfer of matter and energy among different living and non-living compartments in ecosystems. Thinking about the natural world with this level of abstraction has provided critical insights into the processes that support life on Earth, the feedbacks that connect the geosphere and atmosphere to the biosphere, and the ways life is likely to respond to large-scale perturbations such as climate change. In this course, we will explore the deep history of life on earth and how living things have transformed the chemistry of the planet. We will study how energy flows and nutrients cycle in present-day ecosystems, and how these processes are coupled and regulated by the actions of living organisms. Using examples from terrestrial, freshwater, and marine systems, we will study how to quantify fluxes of energy and matter. We will analyze the factors that affect rates of ecosystem processes such as plant growth and decomposition in different ecoregions. We will explore the feedbacks that link living and non-living matter into a single complex network. The drivers and ramifications of climate change will be a recurring theme throughout the term. This course will be useful for students interested in global change research, particularly those who plan to pursue graduate degrees in related fields. Students will be assessed based on class participation, a research paper and presentation, and a project on communicating scientific information.

The simplest definition of an estuary is a place along a coast where freshwater and saltwater meet; however, estuaries are far from simple. They are complex systems driven by a fascinating network of interactions and feedbacks. This course offers a comprehensive exploration of estuaries as complex systems, integrating their physical, chemical, biological, and ecological processes. We will cover advanced topics such as estuarine hydrodynamics, sediment transport, productivity, ecosystem function, and biogeochemical cycling. Every estuary is different and throughout the course we will examine case studies of different estuaries, developing a global perspective on their variety. After building a foundation of knowledge on estuarine processes, we will explore how these systems respond to perturbation, how they exercise resilience, and how pivotal features of estuarine networks can be drastically altered by human activities. Estuaries are at the intersection of myriad anthropogenic influences and are critical environments supporting human survival, health and happiness. Together we will explore the various ways that humans interact with and affect these systems.

We meet twice a week for in-class work, and once every other week for an extended afternoon lab session when we go on field trips to explore local estuaries. The course also involves one required weekend field trip to a far off-site estuarine system. Assessment in the course will be based on case study problem sets, reading responses, and a term project.

This course is intended as an advanced offering for students interested in environmental research, management, and/or restoration. A solid background in marine biology, environmental science, or related disciplines is essential to succeed in the course. Experience and comfort with mathematics (particularly the basics of calculus) will also be very beneficial. If you are unsure of whether you have the math skill set for this course, I encourage you to reach out to me.

This course provides students with the opportunity to put their knowledge of ecology and diversity into an evolutionary framework. The emphasis is on how populations of organisms are currently evolving, with a focus on the ecological context of natural selection. Topics in the course include the genetic basis of evolutionary change, selection and adaptation, reproductive effort, co-evolution, the ecology and evolution of sex, behavioral ecology, speciation, and applied evolutionary ecology. In addition to a textbook, students read several original research articles. The course has two lectures and one discussion section per week. Evaluations are based on exams and short essay sets.

Contemporary marine science research relies on a rapidly developing world of aquatic technologies, yet there has also been a recent revolution in low-cost, DIY electronics and components. For experimentalists, there is immense value in having a broad knowledge of the assorted tools in your methodological “toolkit”. Often, the instrument to collect the data you need doesn’t exist or is unaffordable, in which case the best option may be to build it yourself. Learning how to operate, fix, or even construct instruments to answer a research question builds a strong and interconnected foundation of scientific skills, both concrete (programming, simple electronics, instrumentation, machining, and engineering) and cognitive (critical thinking, creative problem solving, cost-benefit analysis, forethought, resilience, and the “methods” part of the scientific method).

In this course you will (1) practice the practical and cognitive skills that experimental marine scientists use to do research, and (2) learn how to design and construct custom aquatic instrumentation to answer a scientific question. The course will start with you constructing a simple aquatic sensor to build basic skills, move on to creating a lab setup designed to manipulate some aspect of the aquatic environment, and end with self-directed research projects devising and building an instrument to explore your own scientific question. Much of our class time will be spent in a collaborative learning setting similar to a research group. Throughout the course, we will explore the ways that creative custom instrumentation can push the boundaries of science and make high-quality research more accessible.

This is a project-based course that is intended for STEM-motivated students. It would serve particularly well to bridge students into pursuing more advanced scientific research endeavors.

This class is very much a group effort, and assessment will be based on active participation in class experiences as well as written assignments in the style of a technical report, short weekly reflections, and a presentation at an end-of-term symposium. In addition to class meetings, expect to spend a substantive amount of time outside of class working on your projects.

Despite uniform rules of development, seed plants exhibit an incredible range of forms including succulent cacti, bug-eating sundews, dainty annuals, and leafless parasites. These differences in form often are correlated with habitat and life history parameters such as nutrient and water availability, herbivores, light quality, and modes of perennation. In this course we begin by examining the morphological development and organization of seed plants from inception in the seed to reproductive maturity. With this general developmental framework, we then examine whole plant and organ level patterns of variation, modification, and ecological specialization that underlie the variation in form observed today. Evaluations are based on laboratory quizzes, paper, midterm, and final exam.

The ever-increasing human population and its profound impact on the Earth’s systems and finite resources pose significant risks to all of nature and human societies. As researchers continue to gather and publish data on these challenges, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have emerged as a critical tool for understanding the complex interrelationships between human activities and environmental and social threats. Many of the issues facing the planet and its inhabitants are place-based, meaning they are tied to specific geographic locations and regions. Addressing these challenges requires tools that can analyze, visualize, and help people work together towards solutions. This is precisely what GIS offers by integrating geography, cartography, spatial analytics and data science using ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online, the technology used in this class.

GIS enables individuals and organizations to collaborate effectively using the best available tools and information. Given its importance, proficiency in GIS is increasingly becoming a prerequisite for entry into many graduate programs and professional roles. Particularly in fields such as natural resource management, conservation, ecological inventories, climate studies, land and ocean planning, policy, health, and many other areas. It is an important tool for applied human ecology.

This course is designed to provide students with both technical and applied knowledge of GIS. It begins with foundational underpinnings and training in the technology, introducing students to key concepts, industry practices, and influential figures in the field. Once the basics are established, students transition to applying their skills through self-designed projects that tackle real-world issues. These projects form the core of the coursework, allowing each student to explore topics of personal or academic interest. GIS is particularly well-suited to the philosophy of “thinking globally and acting locally,” as it provides tools to address problems at various scales, from local communities to global ecosystems.

Students utilize ESRI ArcGIS software and can draw from extensive data, training, and information available on ArcGIS Online and other sources. Many students incorporate data they have collected during fieldwork or research for other classes, making their projects highly personalized and relevant. To support their progress, students meet with the instructor for 30 minutes each week outside of class for status check-ins on how they are doing in the class, project consultation, and guidance.

This course is designed for students with an intermediate to advanced level of understanding of their field or subject of interest, with a prerequisite of readiness for independent work and a solid concept for their term project. Course evaluations are based on a combination of factors, including the timely completion of exercises and assignments and how effectively students apply GIS to their academic or professional interests, as demonstrated by their independent projects and accompanying documentation.

Wilderness has been the clarion call for generations of environmentalists. Henry David Thoreau once said, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.” That single sentence and the controversy surrounding that idea provides the central focus of our explorations over the term. This course examines the question of wilderness from multiple perspectives in the hopes of providing an understanding of the concept and real spaces that constitute wilderness. Starting with a week-long canoe trip down Maine’s Allagash Wilderness Waterway, we look at historical and contemporary accounts of the value of wilderness, biological, and cultural arguments for wilderness, and the legal and policy difficulties of “protecting” wilderness. Considerable time is spent evaluating current criticisms of the wilderness idea and practice. Students are involved in a term-long project involving potential wilderness protection in Maine. This involves some weekend travel and work in the Maine Woods. Classwork emphasizes hands-on projects as well as theoretical discussions.

The intertidal occupies the space on the ocean shore between the highest and lowest extents of the tides, and the organisms inhabiting the intertidal must adapt to an ever-fluctuating environment. It is unique among ecosystems in that it condenses and concentrates many ecological processes along a strong physiological gradient, and so serves as an ideal environment to observe and investigate fundamental ecological principles.

In this course, you will be introduced to the many diverse intertidal ecosystems of coastal Maine, from rocky shorelines to tidal mudflats to salt marshes. Through discussions in class and observations in the field, we will endeavor to answer the questions:

What organisms are found in the intertidal, and how are they adapted to life there? How is the distribution of intertidal organisms dictated by living in a transitional environment? How do intertidal organisms interact with each other, and how does this shape the community?

We meet twice per week for class time with one afternoon lab period. During lab time we will be going on field trips as much as possible to explore the local intertidal habitats. This course is intended as an accessible introduction to marine community ecology and field work. Assessment is based on weekly question sets, lab assignments, and a short research proposal.

This course is a partner course to Ecology: Natural History, meaning we explore the same topics just in different environments. Therefore, students may enroll in either Intertidal Ecology or Ecology: Natural History but not both.

Planet Earth is misnamed. Seawater covers approximately 70% of the planet’s surface, in one giant all-connected ocean. This ocean has a profound effect on the planet’s climate, chemistry, ecosystem, and energy resources. Billions of years ago life began there, in what now we regard as the last unexplored frontier of this planet. In this course we examine the various disciplines within oceanography, including aspects of geology and sedimentology, chemical, dynamic and biological oceanography. The course concludes with an introduction to marine ecosystems examined at various trophic levels, including phyto/zooplankton, fish and other macrofauna. Fieldwork (weather dependent) includes trips on RV Indigo, trips to intertidal and estuarine ecosystems, and possible visits to the college’s islands, Mount Desert Rock and Great Duck Island. Evaluation will be by lab, quizzes and a final paper.

This intensive, field-based course examines fundamental concepts and processes of tropical ecology through exploration and investigation of a diverse array of bioclimatic zones found within the Central American country of Costa Rica. Students will spend extensive time in the field learning the biotic diversity of each region through observation and application of field techniques. Students will then integrate these field experiences with readings from the primary literature and classic works to contemplate and discuss current topics in tropical ecology. Primary emphasis in this course will be placed on the vertebrate fauna of Costa Rica, with arthropod diversity and ecology addressed in the Tropical Entomology course. The course will visit Caribbean slope rainforest, pre-montane forest, montane cloud forest, Pacific slope dry forest, Pacific wet forest, and Pacific beach/marine communities. Non-travel days will typically consist of early morning to early/mid-afternoon field time, afternoon lectures, or discussions followed by early evening to late night field time. Evaluation will be based on quality of work associated with a series of field-based independent research projects, level of engagement in class discussions, and overall commitment to all aspects of this immersion experience. Permission of Instructor required. Previous coursework in the areas of ecology, organismal biology, or natural history will be taken into account during the selection process.

This course is part of a three-credit expeditionary program in neotropical field ecology. Students must enroll in all three courses.

This course is designed to introduce students to how, and why, we study and manage wildlife populations. We will discuss the socio-political background and establishment of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, considering its biases and limitations. Using a variety of readings, case studies, and hands-on activities, we will explore the ecological processes and common conservation management tools that underlie wildlife management. We will explore examples from throughout North America, with a particular focus on the different wildlife populations found on MDI. The class will be a mix of discussion, in-class and field activities. Students will be required to participate in at least one weekend day of wildlife sampling. Assessment will be based on participation, activities, and written reflections.

This course is open to anyone interested in wildlife ecology, particularly those interested in its history, concepts, and role in modern conservation movements. It is particularly suitable for students interested in pursuing careers in wildlife biology or those interested in working with state or federal agencies, or NGOs.

Nearly 80% of all described species belong to the class Insecta. Due to their abundance, diversity and adaptability, insects are crucial components of terrestrial, freshwater and human-made ecosystems. Students with a background in entomology can apply their knowledge of insects to many other fields, including botany, ecology, anthropology, epidemiology and medicine, agriculture, climate change, visual arts, history, and even the culinary arts. This course will give students a sampling of entomological applications within these diverse fields. Students will be given a solid introduction to insect biology, ecology, taxonomy and identification through lectures, lab sessions and field trips. They will assemble their own insect collections and will learn to identify all Maine insect orders and many common insect families. Lectures, field trips and readings will emphasize the important role of insects in human lives and our impact on the environment. Students will be evaluated on their insect collections, performance on lab quizzes, participation and one paper with presentation.

This course is a phylogenetic survey of the major groups of animals without backbones. These animals range in size from single cells to giant squids, and they include the vast majority of animals on earth. Using text readings, assigned articles, and one afternoon per week of field/lab work, students gain an understanding of the classification, physiology, ecology, evolutionary relationships, and economic significance of this remarkably diverse collection of organisms. Students are evaluated on lab notebooks, weekly homework assignments, and two short research projects.

Islands have played a major role in the development of ecological and evolutionary theory. Most recently, islands have served as an important metaphor in the development of conservation biology. Maine is blessed with a plethora of islands -between 4500 and 6000 at the last count- and the history and pre-history of these islands is intimately entwined with that of the continent itself. This course examines historical and current interpretations of island biogeography and the interplay between natural and human history and human ecology. The class will be taught as a combination of term-time seminar and in the field, based on the College’s field station on Great Duck Island and the College’s research vessel. During the Spring term we will be meeting regularly to examine the theoretical basis of Island Biogeography and islands as the subject of scientific and literary discussion since Aristotle. Readings will include Darwin, Alfred Russell Wallace, and contemporary authors. In late August we will re-convene for the field component of the class. During the first half of this component, we will be focusing primarily on Great Duck Island and its immediate surroundings, learning and applying theoretical approaches to islands’ landscapes, with extensive reading from the primary literature. During the second half of the class, we will move further afield, exploring a variety of islands in eastern Maine, and relating our observations to theoretical predictions. Ultimately we hope to travel to Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy to observe a large island community, see the traditional weir fishery, and observe firsthand migrating right and humpback whales, and northern seabirds. Evaluation based on participation, quizzes and a term project.

A survey of Anglo-American literature from the Scientific Revolution to the present. Focuses on the ongoing debate about the role of science in Western culture, the potential benefits and dangers of scientific experimentation, the spiritual, religious, social and political issues that come about with the Ages of Discovery and Reason, and their treatment in literature. Specific debates include concerns over what is “natural,” whether knowledge is dangerous, the perils of objectivity, and the mind/body dichotomy; works include Shelley’s Frankenstein, Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, Brecht’s Galileo, Lightman’s Einstein’s Dreams and Naylor’s Mama Day as well as short stories and poems. Writing-focused option.

This is a survey course that broadly covers the biology of organisms in various marine habitats (rocky shores, mud and sand, estuaries, open ocean, the poles, coral reefs, deep sea), and some policy and marine management and conservation issues. A large part of this course is focused on learning the natural history of the local marine flora and fauna of Mount Desert Island’s coastal habitats.

Each week the course meets twice in class and once for laboratory work or field trips.

Evaluations are based on the quality of participation in class, one in-class practical, several sets of essay questions, and a field notebook emphasizing natural history notes of local organisms. This class is intended as a broad introduction to the biology of life in the ocean for students in any year.

This course provides an introduction to the biology and natural history of marine mammals, specializing in species resident within the North Atlantic. Topics covered include: phylogeny and taxonomy; anatomy and physiology; behavior; sensory ecology; and management/conservation issues. The course includes field trips to observe animals in their natural habitat, dissection of specimens, and exposure to the professional peer review field. Students are expected to complete two individual literature-based reviews, one species- and one system-based, to be presented in class. Assessment is based on class participation, presentations as well as written submissions. Lab fee covers costs of field trips, including potential boat and field station time, and optional travel to a regional conference during the term. Offered every other year.

This Fall course provides an introduction to the biology and natural history of marine mammals, specializing in species resident within the North Atlantic, in a field setting. Students spend two weeks prior to the start of the fall term at the College’s Mt. Desert Rock Marine Research Station. In addition to introductory topics in marine mammal biology that include phylogeny and taxonomy; anatomy and physiology; behavior; sensory ecology; and management/conservation issues, students also integrate themselves into the resident research team and work on team projects that will include observation of animals in their natural habitat. In the Fall, students meet 3-4 further times for dissection of specimens, team project presentations, and optional attendance at a regional conference. Assessment is based on two individual literature-based reviews, one species- and one system-based, to be presented in class, participation in research projects, and written submissions of their research. Lab fee covers costs of field trips, including boat and field station time, and conference costs. A $250 nonrefundable deposit is required by June 1. Offered every other year.

Where is the largest population of humpback whales in the world, the largest caribou herd in North America, the only confirmed Viking settlement in North America, and Paleozoic water bottled for consumption? The remote Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador presents a stunning landscape, an astoundingly rich ecological setting, and a tragic history of poverty amidst an incredible natural resource, the northern cod fishery, that was ultimately destroyed. The province has been alternately invaded or occupied by different groups of Native Americans along with Norseman, Basques, French, British, and the U.S. military, because of its strategic location and rich fishing and hunting grounds. One of the first and one of the last British colonies, this richest of fisheries produced a very class based society, composed of a wealthy few urban merchants and an highly exploited population of fishing families often living on the edge of survival. But within the past 50 years, Newfoundland society has been forced to evolve. The provincial government looks towards oil and mineral exploitation to turn around the economy, while ex-fishermen consider eco- and cultural tourism with growing ambivalence. This then is our setting, and background, for an intense examination of the human ecology of this province; the relationship between humans and their environment, sometimes successful, sometimes otherwise, the struggle between the tenuous grasp of civilization and this marvelous, terrible place. To do this we will discuss various readings, examine case studies and review the natural and human history of this unique province. Our learning will culminate with a two-week trip to Newfoundland to examine its issues firsthand. Evaluation will be based on class and field trip participation, responses to reading questions, a field journal, and a final project.

Museums play a powerful role in shaping how communities understand history, culture, science, and the environment. Far from neutral spaces that display objects, museums construct narratives about what matters, whose stories are told, and how knowledge is interpreted and trusted in public life. Situated within the field of Educational Studies, this course examines museums as institutions that influence how knowledge is created, framed, and experienced beyond the classroom. Drawing on critical and sociocultural approaches to education, the course examines learning as a social and institutional process that extends into cultural and civic spaces. Students investigate how exhibitions, collections, educational initiatives, and interpretive practices shape public understanding and how questions of power, representation, ethics, and community voice emerge within those processes. We will ask: What counts as public knowledge, and who decides? What is the purpose and role of a museum within society? Which knowledge, histories, and ways of knowing are centered in public institutions, and which are marginalized or erased? Through close reading, case study analysis, site visits, and conversations with practitioners, students will examine how theoretical perspectives on learning and power operate in the everyday practices of cultural institutions. Students will engage in work including argumentative writing addressing ethical dilemmas or speculative re-imaginings of institutional purpose, as well as final project options such as interpretive interventions or educational program design proposals. We will explore multiple frameworks for evaluating museums and practice translating critical analysis into context-responsive practice. The course may be of interest to students pursuing work in education, public history, environmental communication, nonprofit and cultural organizations, for example, and anyone concerned with how knowledge is produced, interpreted, and shared in public life.

Assessment will be based on active participation; ongoing written or multimodal responses to readings and site-based work; analytical and argumentative essays; and a final collaborative project in which students will have the option to either design an interpretive intervention or educational program. Evaluation will emphasize sustained engagement, critical reflection, and the application of theory and inquiry to institutional practice.

Welcome to the wonderfully weird world of Aves! This advanced course is designed to provide students with in-depth knowledge and experience in all aspects of avian biology. We will dive deep into evolution and taxonomic relationships and discuss the historical and cultural impacts birds have had globally. We’ll use museum specimens, dissections, and direct field observation to explore anatomy, physiology, behavior and ecology of birds up close and in-person! Emphasis will be on local and regional groups, but we will discuss global biodiversity. While the class is structured as two lectures and a laboratory component, the course is built around active learning where in-class discussions and activities should be expected. Assessment will be based on participation, weekly quizzes, activity reflections, and a written review paper on a topic of avian biology of your choosing.

As an advanced course, this course builds on concepts discussed in Vertebrate Zoology. The course provides students with a strong foundation in all aspects of avian biology, including field techniques to monitor birds. Thus, the course is particularly suitable for students who would like to pursue careers in avian ecology. It would also serve students who are interested in gaining an in-depth knowledge of a particular group of organisms; those who are interested in gaining experience in synthesizing primary literature in a written form; or those who are curious about what being a bird really means.

Systematics is the scientific study of classification, specifically the placement of organisms into groups based on their common descent. This course focuses on the classification of land plants, with a particular focus on herbaceous taxa found in coastal Maine. Through lectures and field, lab, and herbarium work, we will gain familiarity with the practice of systematics and the characteristics of plants that are used to infer their phylogenetic relationships. Lectures will cover the theory and practice of systematics, including botanical nomenclature, plant identification terminology, relationships among the major plant groups and characters with taxonomic significance, herbarium specimen preparation, and bioinformatics. Labs will cover collection methods, specimen preparation, and field characters for about 30 plant families in the region. Evaluation will be based on participation, field and lab quizzes, a 5-minute oral presentation on a plant species chosen by the instructor and a 15-minute oral presentation on a topic in plant systematics chosen by the student, and a collection of at least 30 plant specimens from at least 20 different families prepared and identified by the student. Students should plan to begin collecting specimens over the summer in preparation for the course, following guidance that will be provided to registered students during the spring term. Please note: all collecting must be done in accordance with state and federal laws; there must be NO collecting in Acadia National Park and no importation of specimens from outside the US.

The Arctic and Antarctic represent some of the most extreme environments on the planet. As physical places, both poles play an important role in governing the planet’s climate and heat flow. Both are suspected to be rich in minerals and are thought to perhaps hold short-term relief from current world shortages in natural resources. As ecosystems, both are hugely productive in spite of, and in part because of the extreme temperatures they experience; certain species are found nowhere else and in fact thrive in these remote locales. Superimposed upon these natural environments is the presence of humans. Exploration of both areas has been particularly focused in the past century, with countless stories of the perseverance and persistence of our pioneering spirit. Initially surveyed to forward nationalistic agendas, both poles are now sites of scientific inquiry. In particular, the political model that currently governs Antarctica as one massive Protected Area has no precedent and perhaps suggests a way forward for environmental agendas working on global scales. More recently, the poles have been exploited by ecotourism businesses.

This class examines the provinces of the Arctic and Antarctic, wildernesses whose boundaries can be defined physically, biologically, geologically and politically. We will examine the rich and highly adapted diversity of life as it is affected by local and global oceanography and atmospheric science, and assess the impacts of climate change on these fragile environments. We will also review our relationship with these places and examine what future we might play in preserving, and/or exploiting the polar regime, using Human Ecology as a model for our understanding. Evaluation will be by two term papers and participation in class activities.