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This interdisciplinary program is structured to give students significant flexibility in their coursework, the opportunity to receive additional certification in five subject areas (Environmental Health, Environmental Justice, Environmental Law and Policy, Sustainable Development, and Urban Environmental Policy and Planning), and the ability to complement classroom learning with more in-depth research (by completing a thesis) or practical experience (through on- and off-campus internships).

o earn an MA in Environmental Policy, students must complete 30 credit hours (or roughly 10 courses). Everyone must take the program’s three (3) core courses and at least one skills and methods course, and do either a master’s thesis or a semester-long internship. (Students can also choose to combine the EP program with a Community Fellowship. Those who do would count their fellowship toward this internship requirement.)

While some students take longer, it is possible to finish the program in as few as 12 months. Most students typically finish the program in 18 months (beginning in August and finishing in December of the following academic year).

Financial aid is available to help cover the cost of coursework, and EP also provides generous financial support for student research and professional travel.

Environmental Policy Elective Courses

Students have a significant amount of flexibility when it comes to their 4 or 5 elective courses. While by no means students’ only choices, five areas of concentration are especially well-suited to faculty expertise and program resources, and students can receive a graduate certificate (in addition to their Master’s degree) in these subject areas. (For more information on EP Graduate Certificates, click here.) These include:

Environmental Health:

focuses on the ways both the built and natural environments affect individuals’ physical and mental health and well-being.

Environmental Justice:

grapples with how individuals of different classes and races access environmental amenities, environmental threats, and opportunity-rich environments in drastically different ways.

Environmental Law and Policy:

is an intensive study of policy design and analysis and has been a centerpiece of the EP program since its inception.

Sustainable Development:

considers the feasibility of and best practices for rationalizing urbanization, ensuring people’s economic well-being, addressing environmental quality and reliance on non-renewable resources, and encouraging social inclusion and equitable growth.

Urban Environmental Policy and Planning:

looks at the policies and programs designed to best integrate our cities and nature, and to create places where people can live, work, and visit in sustainable ways and that provide residents with both a good quality of life and access to opportunity.