Yale School of Forestry Bulletin of Yale University
 
Introduction
Faculty Profiles
Degree Programs and Courses
Special Centers and Programs
Admissions
General Information
Statistics and Lists
 
Calendar
Yale President and Fellows
Yale Officers
Administration and Faculty
Message from the Dean
Mission of the School
History
Statement of Environmental Policy

Calendar

Fall 2003
Aug. 9 Sat. Orientation for international students.
Aug. 10 Sun. Orientation for summer modules.
Aug. 11– Mon.– Training modules in technical skills.
Aug. 29 Fri. (Mon.–Fri. of each week).
Sept. 1 Mon. Labor Day. School closed.
Sept. 2 Tues. Meeting with dean and Course Expo.
Sept. 3 Wed. Fall-term classes begin, 8.30 a.m.
Sept. 10 Wed. Course registration forms due.
Oct. 1 Wed. Add/Drop period ends.
Nov. 21 Fri. Fall recess begins, 5.30 p.m.
Dec. 1 Mon. Classes resume, 8.30 a.m.
Dec. 5 Fri. Classes end, 5.30 p.m. Reading period begins.
Dec. 15 Mon. Final examinations begin, 9 a.m.
Dec. 20 Sat. Final examinations end, 5.30 p.m. Winter recess begins.
Spring 2004
Jan. 12 Mon. Spring-term classes begin, 8.30 a.m.
Jan. 19 Mon. Martin Luther King Day. No classes.
Jan. 20 Tues. Course registration forms due.
Feb. 9 Mon. Add/Drop period ends.
Mar. 5 Fri. Spring recess begins, 5.30 p.m.
Mar. 22 Mon. Classes resume, 8.30 a.m.
Apr. 23 Fri. Classes end, 5.30 p.m. Reading period begins.
Apr. 26 Mon. Make-up class for Martin Luther King Day.
May 4 Tues. Final examinations begin, 9 a.m.
May 11 Tues. Final examinations end, 5 p.m.
May 24 Mon. University Commencement.

 

The President and Fellows of Yale University

President
Richard Charles Levin, B.A., B.LITT., PH.D.

Fellows
His Excellency the Governor of Connecticut, ex officio.
Her Honor the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, ex officio.
George Leonard Baker, Jr., B.A., M.B.A., Palo Alto, California.
Edward Perry Bass, B.S., Fort Worth, Texas.
Roland Whitney Betts, B.A., J.D., New York, New York (June 2005).
Benjamin Solomon Carson, Sr., B.A., M.D., D.M.S., Upperco, Maryland (June 2003).
Gerhard Casper, LL.M., PH.D., LL.D., Atherton, California.
Susan Crown, B.A., M.A., Chicago, Illinois.
Charles Daniel Ellis, B.A., M.B.A., PH.D., New Haven, Connecticut.
Holcombe Tucker Green, Jr., B.A., LL.B., Atlanta, Georgia.
Maya Ying Lin, B.A., M.ARCH., D.F.A., New York, New York (June 2008).
Linda Anne Mason, B.A., M.B.A., Belmont, Massachusetts (June 2004).
The Rt. Rev. Victoria Matthews, B.A., M.DIV., TH.M., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Indra Nooyi, B.S., M.B.A., M.P.P.M., Greenwich, Connecticut.
Barrington Daniel Parker, Jr., B.A., LL.B., Stamford, Connecticut.
John Ennis Pepper, Jr., B.A., M.A., Cincinnati, Ohio.
Theodore Ping Shen, B.A., M.B.A., Brooklyn Heights, New York (June 2007).
Janet Louise Yellen, B.A., PH.D., Berkeley, California (June 2006).


The Officers of Yale University

President
Richard Charles Levin, B.A., B.LITT., PH.D.

Provost
Susan Hockeld, B.A., PH.D.

Vice President and Secretary
Linda Koch Lorimer, B.A., J.D.

Vice President and General Counsel
Dorothy Kathryn Robinson, B.A., J.D.

Vice President for Development
Charles James Pagnam, B.S.

Vice President and Director of New Haven and State Affairs
Bruce Donald Alexander, B.A., J.D.

Vice President for Finance and Administration
Robert Loren Culver, B.A., M.A., M.P.A.


Faculty and Administration

Faculty Emeriti
Frederick Herbert Bormann, M.A., PH.D., Oastler Professor Emeritus of Forest Ecology.
George Mason Furnival, M.F., D.F., J.P. Weyerhaeuser, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Forest Management.
Arthur W. Galston, PH.D., Eaton Professor Emeritus of Botany in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Professor Emeritus of Forestry, and Lecturer in Political Science.
John Charles Gordon, PH.D., Pinchot Professor Emeritus of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
William Edward Reifsnyder, M.F., PH.D., Professor Emeritus of Forest Meteorology and Professor Emeritus of Public Health (Biometeorology).
Charles Lee Remington, M.S., PH.D., Professor Emeritus of Biology and Professor Emeritus of Forest Entomology and Environmental Studies.
David Martyn Smith, M.F., PH.D., SC.D., Morris K. Jesup Professor Emeritus of Silviculture.
William Hulse Smith, M.F., PH.D., Clifton R. Musser Professor Emeritus of Forest Biology.

Board of Permanent Officers
Richard Charles Levin, B.LITT., PH.D., President of the University.
Susan Hockfield, PH.D., Provost of the University.
James Gustave Speth, M.LITT., J.D., Dean and Professor in the Practice of Environmental Policy and Sustainable Development.
Mark S. Ashton, M.F., PH.D., Professor of Silviculture and Forest Ecology and Director of School Forests.
*Gaboury Benoit, M.S., PH.D., Professor of Environmental Chemistry, Professor of Environmental Engineering, Co-Director of the Hixon Center for Urban Ecology, and Director of the Center for Coastal and Watershed Systems.
Graeme Pierce Berlyn, PH.D., E.H. Harriman Professor of Forest Management, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology of Trees, and Editor, Journal of Sustainable Forestry.
‡Garry D. Brewer, M.S., PH.D., Frederick K. Weyerhaeuser Professor of Resource Policy and Management and Professor of Political Science, jointly appointed with the Yale School of Management.
William Richard Burch, Jr., M.S., PH.D., Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Natural Resource Management and Professor at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies; Interim Co-Director, Hixon Center for Urban Ecology.
Michael Roger Dove, M.A., PH.D., Margaret K. Musser Professor of Social Ecology and Professor of Anthropology.
Daniel C. Esty, M.A., J.D., Professor of Environmental Law and Policy; Clinical Professor, Law School; Director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy; and Director of the Yale World Fellows Program.
Thomas Eldon Graedel, M.A., M.S., PH.D., Clifton R. Musser Professor of Industrial Ecology, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Professor of Geology and Geophysics, and Director of the Center for Industrial Ecology.
Timothy G. Gregoire, PH.D., J. P. Weyerhaeuser, Jr., Professor of Forest Management and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
†Stephen Robert Kellert, PH.D., Tweedy/Ordway Professor of Social Ecology and Co-Director of the Hixon Center for Urban Ecology.
†Xuhui Lee, M.SC., PH.D., Professor of Forest Meteorology and Micrometeorology.
Robert Mendelsohn, PH.D., Edwin Weyerhaeuser Davis Professor of Forest Policy, Professor of Economics, and Professor, School of Management.
Chadwick Dearing Oliver, M.F.S, PH.D., Pinchot Professor of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Director, Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry.
‡Oswald J. Schmitz, M.SC., PH.D., Professor of Population and Community Ecology, Director of Doctoral Studies, Director of the Center for Biodiversity Conservation and Science, and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
*David K. Skelly, PH.D., Professor of Ecology.
John Peter Wargo, PH.D., Professor of Risk Analysis, Environmental Policy, and Political Science, and Director, Environment and Health Initiative; Director of Undergraduate Studies, Environmental Studies Program, Yale College.

Ladder Faculty
Michelle L. Bell, M.S.E., PH.D., Assistant Professor of Environmental Health.
Benjamin Cashore, M.A., PH.D., Assistant Professor of Sustainable Forest Policy and Director, Program on Forest Certification.
Marian R. Chertow, M.P.P.M., PH.D., Assistant Professor of Industrial Environmental Management; Director, Program on Solid Waste Policy; and Director of the Industrial Environmental Management Program.
Lisa M. Curran, M.A., PH.D., Associate Professor of Tropical Resources and Director, Tropical Resources Institute.
Erin T. Mansur, PH.D., Assistant Professor of Environmental Economics, jointly appointed with the Yale School of Management.
Kathleen McAfee, M.A., PH.D., Assistant Professor of Geography and Sustainable Development.
Sheila Olmstead, M.P.AFF., PH.D., Assistant Professor of Environmental Economics.
Peter A. Raymond, PH.D., Assistant Professor of Ecosystem Ecology.
James E. Saiers, M.S., PH.D., Associate Professor of Hydrology.

Non-Ladder Faculty
Shimon C. Anisfeld, PH.D, Lecturer and Research Scientist in Water Resources and Environmental Chemistry.
Ann E. Camp, M.F.S., PH.D., Lecturer and Associate Research Scientist in Stand Dynamics and Forest Health.
Carol Carpenter, M.A., PH.D., Lecturer and Associate Research Scholar in Natural Resource Social Science and Lecturer in Anthropology.
Timothy W. Clark, M.S., PH.D., Professor (Adjunct) of Wildlife Ecology and Policy.
Paul Alexander Draghi, M.A., M.A., PH.D., Director of Information Technology and Lecturer in Forest History.
Gordon T. Geballe, M.S., PH.D., Associate Dean for Student and Alumni Affairs and Lecturer in Urban Ecology.
Bradford S. Gentry, J.D., Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Investments and Research Scholar; Interim Co-Director, Hixon Center for Urban Ecology; Co-Director of the Yale–UNDP Collaborative Program on the Urban Environment.
Arnulf Grübler, PH.D., Professor in the Field of Energy and Technology.
Reid J. Lifset, M.S., M.P.P.M., Associate Research Scholar, Associate Director of the Industrial Environmental Management Program, and Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Industrial Ecology.
Florencia Montagnini, M.S., PH.D., Professor in the Practice of Tropical Forestry.
Robert Repetto, M.SC., PH.D., Professor in the Practice of Economics and Sustainable Development.
Thomas G. Siccama, M.S., PH.D., Professor in the Practice of Forest Ecology and Director of Field Studies.


Courtesy Joint Appointments
James W. Axley, M.ARCH., M.S., PH.D., Professor of Architecture.
Ruth Elaine Blake, M.S., PH.D., Assistant Professor of Geology and Geophysics.
Adalgisa (Gisella) Caccone, M.S., PH.D., Senior Scientist in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Michael Donoghue, PH.D., Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Menachem Elimelech, PH.D., Professor of Environmental Engineering.
Roger Ely, PH.D., Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering.
Robert Eugene Evenson, PH.D., Professor of Economics.
Jonathan Feinstein, PH.D., Professor of Economics, School of Management.
Mary Helen Goldsmith, PH.D., Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology.
Nathaniel Keohane, PH.D., Assistant Professor of Economics, School of Management.
Brian P. Leaderer, PH.D., Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, School of Medicine.
William Nordhaus, PH.D., Sterling Professor of Economics.
Jeffrey Powell, PH.D., Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
James C. Scott, PH.D., Eugene Mayer Professor of Political Science; Professor of Anthropology; and Director of the Program in Agrarian Studies, Yale Center for International and Area Studies.
Ronald B. Smith, PH.D., Professor of Geology and Geophysics and Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Yale Center for Earth Observation.
Stephen C. Stearns, M.S., PH.D., Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Christopher Timmins, PH.D., Assistant Professor of Economics.
Karl Turekian, PH.D., Benjamin Silliman Professor of Geology and Geophysics and Director of the Institute for Biospheric Studies.
Eric Worby, PH.D., Assistant Professor of Anthropology.

Visiting Faculty, Fellows, Adjunct Faculty, and Faculty with Primary Appointments Elsewhere
Michael Jeffrey Balick, PH.D., Professor (Adjunct) of Tropical Studies.
Diana Balmori, PH.D., Lecturer in Landscape and Urban History.
Helge Brattebo, PH.D., Visiting Professor of Industrial Ecology.
Ellen Brennan-Galvin, PH.D., Lecturer and Senior Research Scholar.
Dale S. Bryk, M.A., J.D., Lecturer in Environmental Law.
Richard Burroughs, PH.D., Professor (Adjunct) of Coastal Science and Policy.
James Carolan, A.B., M.A., J.D., Lecturer.
Michael Conroy, PH.D., Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Scholar.
Douglas C. Daly, PH.D., Associate Professor (Adjunct).
Claire Doutrelant, PH.D., Visiting Fellow.
William Ellis, PH.D., Senior Visiting Fellow.
Michael Ferrucci, M.F., Lecturer in Forest Operations.
John Forgach, B.A., McCluskey Fellow.
Andrew J. Henderson, PH.D., Associate Professor (Adjunct).
Lloyd Irland, PH.D., Lecturer and Senior Research Scientist.
Richard Jones, PH.D., Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Scholar.
Lu Zhi, PH.D., Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Wildlife Biology.
Lye Lin Heng, LL.M. Visiting Associate Professor.
James R. Lyons, M.F., Lecturer.
James G. MacBroom, P.E., Lecturer in River Processes and Restoration.
Pamela McElwee, PH.D., Lecturer.
David McGrath, PH.D., Lecturer.
Arvid Nelson, PH.D., Assistant Professor (Adjunct).
Daniel Nepstad, PH.D., Lecturer in Tropical Ecology.
John R. Nolon, J.D., Visiting Professor of Environmental Law.
Michael Northrop, M.P.A., Lecturer in Environmental Advocacy.
Ofer Ovadia, PH.D., Lecturer.
Christine Padoch, PH.D., Associate Professor (Adjunct).
Charles M. Peters, M.F.S., PH.D., Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Tropical Ecology.
Jonathan D. Reuning-Scherer, PH.D., Lecturer in Statistics.
James Salzman, PH.D., Visiting Professor.
Dennis W. Stevenson, PH.D., Professor (Adjunct) of Tropical Studies.
Fred Strebeigh, B.A., Lecturer in Environmental Writing.
Andrew Willard, PH.D., Lecturer in Natural Resource Policy.

Research Appointments
Ruth Allen, PH.D., Research Affiliate.
Donald E. Aylor, M.E.S., PH.D., Research Affiliate in Biometeorology.
Mary K. Berlyn, PH.D., Senior Research Scientist.
Frederick Herbert Bormann, M.A., PH.D., Senior Research Scientist.
Dominika Anna Dziegielewska, PH.D., Postdoctoral Fellow.
Bin Gao, PH.D., Postdoctoral Associate.
James Grogan, PH.D., Postdoctoral Associate.
A.L. Hammett III, PH.D., Research Affiliate.
John Lenhart, PH.D., Postdoctoral Associate.
Rachel Lombardi, PH.D., Associate Research Scientist.
Mark McClure, PH.D., Research Affiliate.
Daniel Muller, PH.D., Postdoctoral Associate.
Kazuyoshi Okazawa, M.A., Research Affiliate.
Linda Puth, PH.D., Postdoctoral Associate.
Michael A. Rechlin, PH.D., Research Affiliate.
V. Alaric Sample, PH.D., Research Affiliate.
R. Neil Sampson, M.P.A., Research Scientist.
Oliver Schabenberger, PH.D., Research Affiliate.
Yajie Song, PH.D., Associate Research Scientist.
Robert Stanton, B.S., Research Affiliate.
Anitra Thorhaug, PH.D., Research Affiliate.
Harry T. Valentine, PH.D., Research Affiliate.
Philip M. Wargo, PH.D., Research Affiliate.

Center and Program Staff
Monica Araya, M.E.M., Project Director, Sustainable Americas, Yale Center for Environmental Law.
Graeme Auld, Research Associate, Program on Forest Certification.
Kimberly Awbrey, B.A., M.E.M., Co-Program Director, Tropical Resources Institute.
Barbara Bamberger, B.S., M.A., M.E.M., Program Associate, Program on Forest Certification.
Page Bertelsen, B.A., Coordinator, Yale Forest Forum.
Marlen Bertram, DIPL.ENG., Research Associate, Center for Industrial Ecology.
Beverly Chevalier, Coordinator, International Society for Industrial Ecology.
Heather Crawford, B.A., M.S., Connecticut Sea Grant College Program.
Amity Doolittle, B.A., M.E.S., PH.D., Co-Program Director, Tropical Resources Institute, and Lecturer in Resource Access and Development.
Gary Dunning, B.S., M.F., Executive Director, Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry and Director, The Forests Dialogue.
David Ellum, B.S., M.F., Research Coordinator, School Forests.
Eden Enclona, M.ENG., M.E.M., Research Associate, CERA Project, Tropical Resources Institute.
Alexander Evans, B.S., M.F., Mapping and GIS Coordinator, School Forests.
Alex Finkral, B.S., M.F., Manager, School Forests.
Edward Gordon, M.S., PH.D., Assistant Editor, Journal of Industrial Ecology.
Julie Jirikowic, B.S., Coordinator, Center for Industrial Ecology.
Megan Mattox, B.S., Program Director, Program on Landscape Management.
John McKenna, B.A., M.F.S., Research Associate, School Forests.
Colleen Murphy-Dunning, B.S., M.S., Center Director, Hixon Center for Urban Ecology; Program Director, Urban Resources Initiative.
Emily Noah, M.E.SC., Research Associate, Program on Forest Certification.
P. Christopher Ozyck, B.S., Greenspace Coordinator, Urban Resources Initiative.
Michelle Portlock, B.A., Program Coordinator, Center for Industrial Ecology.
Barbara Reck, M.S.ENG., Research Associate, Center for Industrial Ecology.
Irene Ping Ren, M.B.A., Coordinator, Luce/Asia Project.
Barbara Ruth, M.PHIL., Center Administrator, Center for Environmental Law and Policy.
Martha McCormick Smith, A.B., M.E.M., Program Director, Center for Coastal and Watershed Systems.
Robert Speed, Web Site Coordinator, Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry.
Mary Tyrrell, M.B.A., M.F.S., Associate Director, Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry, and Program Director, Program on Private Forests.
Mark Wishnie, B.S., M.F.S., Program Director ProRena, Tropical Resources Institute.

Administrative Staff
Mariann Adams, Administrative Assistant, Student Services.
Elisabeth Barsa, B.A., Senior Administrative Assistant, Doctoral Program.
Jane Beamon, Senior Administrative Assistant.
Susan Rae Bolden, M.S., Research Assistant.
J. Alan Brewster, B.A., M.P.A., Associate Dean for Management and Resources Resources and Associate Research Scholar.
Jane Coppock, M.E.M., PH.D., Assistant Dean and Editor, F&ES Publication Series.
Irene Courtmanche, Senior Administrative Assistant.
Sarah Crowley, B.S., Financial Assistant.
David DeFusco, B.S., Director of Communications.
Ellen Denny, M.F.S., Research Assistant.
Maureen A. Devlin, A.S., Registrar and Director of Student Affairs.
Nancy DiLella, A.S., Office Assistant, Facilities.
Carolyn T. Falls, B.A., Director of Financial Aid.
Cynthia Figueroa, Office Assistant, Business Office.
Nicole Freidenfelds, B.S., Laboratory Assistant.
Eugénie I. Gentry, B.A., Development Officer.
Jack A. Gold, M.A., Corporate and Foundation Relations Officer, Development Office.
Florence Grandelli, Assistant Business Manager.
Teena Marie Griggs, Mail Assistant.
Amanda Krug, B.A., Assistant Director of Career Development.
Lisbet Kugler, B.SC., M.E.SC., Research Associate.
Angela Kuhne, M.A., Senior Administrative Assistant.
Tomas Lanner, B.S., Senior Administrative Assistant.
Jennith Liner, Administrative Assistant.
Carmela Lubenow, Financial Assistant.
Catherine J. Marshall, B.M.ED., M.P.A., Senior Administrative Assistant.
Emly McDiarmid, B.A., M.F.S., Director of Admissions.
Jacqueline McNeil, Financial Assistant.
Eleanor Migliore, M.S., M.L.S., Senior Administrative Assistant.
Kelly Molloy, Senior Administrative Assistant.
Pilar M. Montalvo, M.A., Executive Assistant to the Dean.
William Moroz, Computer & Information Systems Support Specialist.
Roberta Mouheb, M.A., Administrative Assistant.
Steven Mylon, Lecturer and Research Associate.
Arvid Nelson, Jr., Web Site Technician.
Stanton C. Otis, Jr., M.ED., Director of Career Development.
Julio Patron, Maintenance Assistant.
Shiva Prasad, B.S., Computer & Information Systems Support Specialist.
Ann Prokop, M.A., Administrative Assistant.
Frederick E. Regan, B.A., Chief Development Officer.
Quetcy Rivas Maldonado, Senior Administrative Assistant.
Constance L. Royster, B.A., J.D., Associate Director of Development.
Elnora Russell-Bell, B.S., Administrative Associate.
Dominic Scalia, Facilities Manager.
Kathleen Schomaker, M.E.S., M.PHIL., Director of Alumni Affairs.
Margaret M. Seca, Administrative Assistant.
Rosanne Stoddard, Senior Administrative Assistant.
Frances Thornton, B.S., Computer & Information Systems Support Specialist.
Thomas Tuscano, M.B.A., Director of Finance and Administration.
Charles R. Waskiewicz, M.P.I.A., Assistant Business Manager.
Michèle Whitney, B.A., Coordinator, Development Office.

Henry S. Graves Memorial Library
Judith Cummings, Library Services Assistant.
Carla Heister, M.A., M.S., Librarian.


A Message to Prospective Students from Dean James Gustave Speth

Over the one hundred years since its founding, the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies has evolved from a professional school of forestry of ten students and two faculty to perhaps the world’s finest training ground for tomorrow’s environmental leaders and managers. Research and teaching efforts have expanded to include not only forestry but also a wide set of concerns involving the interactions of human societies and natural systems.

As Yale’s environment school enters its second century, students and faculty alike are reflecting on its history, with a critical eye to the future. The School’s goal is to provide broad-gauged professional education that equips its graduates to assume influential roles in government, business, nongovernmental organizations, public and international affairs, journalism, research, and education. The faculty and I will continue to direct our teaching and research efforts to solving local, national, and global problems. Drawing on such considerations as those listed below, we will continue to evaluate and expand our existing programs.

  • Human alterations of the biosphere have reached critical levels. As a result, nations face a new generation of global-scale environmental challenges, including climate change, ozone depletion, deforestation, loss of biological diversity, and the deterioration of agricultural resources. Meanwhile, challenges such as sustainable forest management and pollution abatement persist.
  • Many solutions to today’s environmental challenges lie outside the established “environmental sector” and require approaches different from those previously adopted. Progress now requires a fusion of environmental and economic thinking and a willingness on the part of business, government, and environmental leaders to work together to integrate goals. Environmental objectives need to be incorporated into corporate planning, energy strategy, technology policy, R&D funding, tax policy, international trade and finance, development assistance, and other matters that once seemed far removed.
  • Cooperation between developing and industrial countries is critical, with current progress hampered by a desperate shortage of trained personnel and human capacity.
  • The increased awareness that environmental concerns are moving into the international arena will require that U.S. environmental policy be more in concert with other nations, thus giving birth to a new field of environmental diplomacy.

I hope and expect that those of you entering the School at this time as students will join me in shaping its future and exerting a positive influence on the prospects for environmental progress. I encourage you to use this bulletin as a means to explore how F&ES can help facilitate your goals. Please visit our Web site (http://www.yale.edu/environment/) to get an inside view of the dynamics and energy that will make F&ES an ideal place to continue your education.

Mission of the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

The Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies prepares new leadership and creates new knowledge to sustain and restore the long-term health of the biosphere and the well-being of its people.

We recognize that environmental challenges are increasingly international and seek to build a truly global school of the environment.

We believe that the human enterprise can and must be conducted in harmony with the environment, using natural resources in ways that sustain both resources and ourselves.

We believe that solving environmental problems must incorporate human values and motivations and a deep respect for both human and natural communities.

We seek to integrate concern for Earth’s ecosystems with equal concern for social equity.

We believe that a school of the environment must also be a school of sustainable development.

We find strength in our collegiality, diversity, independence, and commitment to excellence.

We educate women and men to guide human activity at the local, national, and global levels with a comprehensive understanding of the environmental, economic, and social effects of their choices.

We create new knowledge in the science of sustainability and new methods of applying that knowledge to the challenge of environmental management, the restoration of degraded environments, and the pursuit of sustainable development.

We collaborate with all sectors of society to achieve fair and effective solutions to environmental problems.

For over one hundred years, first as a pioneering school of forestry, Yale has marshaled the expertise of diverse disciplines in the service of responsible stewardship of the environment. As the world’s population grows and development accelerates, conserving the beauty, diversity, and integrity of the natural world becomes at once more important and more challenging.

We reaffirm our belief that such conservation is a practical and moral imperative.

History of the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

Yale University has played a leading role in the development of American conservation and natural resource management since the 1800s, when such Yale graduates as William Henry Brewer, Othniel C. Marsh, Clarence King, and George Bird Grinnell were deeply involved with the exploration of the West and with the proper use of Western resources. In 1900 that tradition was strengthened further when the University established the Yale Forest School. The men responsible for establishing the School were Gifford Pinchot, B.A. 1889, LL.D. 1925, and Henry S. Graves, B.A. 1892, LL.D. 1940. Pinchot was the first American to receive professional forestry training in Europe, and Graves the second. As consulting foresters and later from within the government’s Division of Forestry, they carried out on private lands the first examples of forest management in the United States. The School was founded with a gift from the Pinchot family to ensure a continuing supply of professionals to carry out the work that lay ahead.

Pinchot, who became one of the leading figures in the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt, created the USDA Forest Service and served as its first chief. Credited with coining the phrase “conservation of natural resources,” he defined conservation as the wise use of the earth for the good of present and future generations.

Since its founding, it has been the School’s mission to turn Pinchot’s vision of conservation into educational and professional reality. Leading that quest until 1940 was the School’s first head (and later, dean) and intellectual leader, Henry S. Graves. To Graves, graduate education, like that in law and medicine, would define the new profession. Over the years, objectives have broadened, the mission has been interpreted differently, and methods of instruction have changed. Each decade has presented its singular challenges, and the School has responded vigorously to the leading problems of the day. In 1972 its name was changed to the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, in formal recognition of the School’s belief that it is concerned, in its broadest sense, with the scientific understanding and long-term management of ecosystems for human benefit.

During the academic year 2000–2001, the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies celebrated the achievements of its graduates and faculty and its first one hundred years of teaching and research with a series of centennial events. The School convened alumni/ae and friends from around the world for three days of celebration and discussion of the environmental challenges facing the world in coming decades. In addition, the School hosted eight major figures as centennial lecturers on critical global environmental issues, and cosponsored a panel discussion featuring four preeminent environmental journalists with Yale’s Poynter Fellows in Journalism program, the first such panel of Poynter Fellows to focus on environmental issues.

As Yale’s Environment School heads into its second century, research and teaching are focused on the following broad areas: ecology, ecosystems, and biodiversity; environmental management and social ecology in developing societies; forest science and management; global change science and policy; health and environment; industrial environmental management; policy, economics, and the law; urban ecology, environmental planning, design, and values; and coastal and watershed systems. Under the leadership of Dean James Gustave Speth, the School is determined to extend its scope to the greatest extent possible to meet the profound global environmental challenges the world faces in the twenty-first century.

Statement of Environmental Policy

As faculty, staff, and students of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, we affirm our commitment to responsible stewardship of the environment of our School, our University, the city of New Haven, and the other sites of our teaching, research, professional, and social activities.

In the course of these activities, we shall strive to:

  • reduce our use of natural resources;
  • support the sustainable production of the resources we must use by purchasing renewable, reusable, recyclable, and recycled materials;
  • minimize our use of toxic substances and ensure that unavoidable use is in full compliance with federal, state, and local environmental regulations;
  • reduce the amount of waste we generate and promote strategies to reuse and recycle those wastes that cannot be avoided; and
  • restore the environment where possible.

Each member of the School community is encouraged to set an example for others by serving as an active steward of our environment.

Next: Faculty Profiles