With the participation of faculty and students from many disciplines and departments, emphasis is placed on interdisciplinary activities that explicitly consider the complexity of the environment and integrated approaches to problem identification and solution. In particular, it seeks to foster an understanding and appreciation of ecological systems, human and nonhuman, and to demonstrate the value of ecological approaches to the solution of current and future environmental problems.

Current faculty come from the departments of anthropology, biology, biostatistics, city and regional planning, communication, environmental sciences and engineering, geography, geological sciences, marine sciences, public policy, and sociology. Whereas degree programs with a strong ecology component may be arranged in other departments, by combining many approaches and methods and by linking the social and natural sciences the curriculum explicitly considers the complexity of the environment and the need for integrated approaches to problem identification and solution.? Using the resources of many departments, the Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology provides both broad and specialized training in ecology, human ecology, and the study of environmental systems.