Core faculty members of this program are affiliated with the Anthropology Department and engage in research focused on the human dimensions of environmental issues. Some are also members of the Climate Change Institute or work on climate change research. These faculty are directly involved in teaching the program’s courses, advising students, participating in research projects, and providing guest lectures as needed.

The program engages students in the human dimension issues of one of the most important scientific and cultural challenges facing the world today. These engaged students are able to understand the diverse human causes and impacts of climate change to better enact successful policy decisions at local, national, and international levels. The program provides students with skills useful outside as well as within the academic environment. Specific skill sets are both quantitative and qualitative and focus on ethnographic methods and analysis such as participant observation, directed interviewing, and statistical analysis of qualitative and quantitative ethnographic data. Graduates of this program will seek positions in private business as well as in state, national, and international institutions that deal with policy decisions related to the human dimensions of climate management and change.