Environmental Liberal Arts
Core Sequence

All Green Mountain College students share the experience of our signature 37-credit Environmental Liberal Arts Program, or ELA. The program includes four core courses taught by faculty members from across the academic disciplines:

Images of Nature
This course explores some of the ways in which human societies make sense of the natural world. Students read literature that ranges from folklore and poetry to environmental philosophy and natural science, and develop a sense of how culture determines our understanding of our environment. Frequent field trips acquaint them with the region while they test ideas from classroom readings.

Voices of Community (First year writing seminar)
Voices of Community provides students with more extensive practice in composition and revision. Writing skills are honed through a series of assignments that explore the environment of human relationships and communities in which we find ourselves. Understanding and appreciating diversity in human communities is one focus of this course.

Dimensions of Nature
This course focuses on the development of scientific thought as humans endeavored to understand the structure, origin and character of the natural world. Using original sources, students learn how the process of science has evolved from Aristotle and Euclid to Watson and Crick and chaos theory in mathematics. This course emphasizes critical reading, critical thinking and clarity of written and oral expression.

A Delicate Balance
This capstone course helps students understand what might be required to create a sustainable future for the world and in their private lives. Students read literature on current topics and apply what they’ve learned toward finding solutions to the problems posed. They also explore how to integrate major and career goals into their development as professionals, community members, family members and individuals.

Students are also required to take seven additional courses from these distribution categories:

• Scientific Endeavor
• Social Perspectives
• Humanities:
  • Experiencing the Arts
  • Ethics & Philosophy
  • Historical Backgrounds
• Health and Well-Being