birdofparadise14

Biology With Environmental Studies

A-/B+

The professors are GREAT. So excited about what they teach, and completely there to help the students. They love having students come in to just chat and get to know them. In biology, as with all the hard science here, there are many opportunities to help professors with their research or do your own independent research. In both cases they REALLY value creative input from you, the student. This summer I got to do research under my regular academic advisor, working on a project that was related to his work but was definitely my own project. You can also get lab credit for independent reseach throughout the year. The major's curriculum encourages you to take courses in each subdiscipline, culminating in a senior exercise analyzing primary literature, but simultaneously you can choose to take most of your courses in a particular discpline (e.g. I've specialized in Environmental Biology/Ecology but still take Mol Bio and Physiology classes). Classes are rigorous, some with a greater workload than others, but my favorite aspect is that professors really emphasize primary literature and critical thinking. The facilities are great! Much more available than I expected, since Kenyon is most well known for its English department. Don't let that deter you! The sciences are very strong, and I feel just as prepared for a future career in biology, if not more, than if I was at a larger research institution. It's a small department but has tons of resources and great connections with other schools. Overall, the best aspects of this department are the enthusiastic professors, the opportunities to work alongside them, and how accessible the department's resources are because of small class sizes.

Unfortunately the Environmental Studies department only has a concentration (and interdisciplinary minor), but it is a great program that is rapidly expanding. The introductory course has an independent project component where groups of students pick a local environmental issue to work with for the last month of the class. The program is truly interdisciplinary in that most of the courses are from other deparments, and it culminates into a senior seminar that is taught by professors with environmental interests from different departments. This includes economics, political science, sociology, anthropology, biology and chemistry. There are also two great field courses: Sustainable Agriculture where you work on an organic farm nearby for several hours a week, and another course where you lead field trips for elementary kids at the college's environmental center. The Brown Family Environmental Center is an invaluable resource for both biology and environmental studies students.