The Environmental Economics and Policy option highlights the ways in which communities and the natural world interact and helps students develop the skills to reduce the negative effects of community decision making on the environment. “This option prepares you for positions where you can influence people to make better decisions,” Sinasky explains. “You can go into cooperative extension, nonprofit or government service, the Peace Corps, or lobbyist work on Capitol Hill.”

Students in the Community and Economic Development option can learn to assist people and communities in improving the quality of life for their residents. “If you want to build sustainable communities—whether in countries that are not quite underdeveloped or in neighborhoods in rural America—you’ll learn to survey the region, build a framework, and present plans to the community,” she says. “This option prepares students to figure out how to use a community’s available resources to its best advantage.”

Sarah Erdlen, a sophomore from York, Pa., was drawn to the CED major after taking a biodiversity study tour to Costa Rica. She says she saw how the curriculum could prepare her to pursue her passion: building environmentally and economically sustainable communities.

“My dream job is to consult with a community that is struggling economically or environmentally, help it to take stock of available natural and human resources, and advise on how to use these resources most effectively,” she says. “I feel the broad background in economics, environmental science, political science, and leadership development that the CED major provides will best help me accomplish my goals. It was hard for me to choose between the three options because all are related and all have bearing on my own career goals. I picked Environmental Economics because I would like to be involved in environmental and community policy making.”

The CED major is well suited to students, like Erdlen, who are interested in the social-science aspects of the environment, Sinasky notes. “If you want to get your hands in the dirt, then Environmental Soil Science or Environmental Resource Management might be better, but CED is the people side. This major is about working with people in their own neighborhoods, creating positive and sustainable change— for the people, the community, and the world.”

—Gary Abdullah