The University of Utah Environmental Humanities Graduate Program

Andrea Nelson, EH Graduate
Though born in Utah, I grew up in Austin, Texas, with a South Austinite mindset and a special love for longhorns. My childhood was filled with bugs, birds, exploration and scratched up knees. I found wildness nearby, in the gently rolling landscape of Hill Country. It seems like we were out every weekend, either flying kites at Zilker Park, splashing in the Pedernales, climbing Enchanted Rock, or fishing Onion Creek.

During the Summer of 2003 I found myself doing an insect survey on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. I hiked endless miles through sand and slickrock, sage and cottonwood, catching tarantula hawks and velvet ants, golden delicious scarabs and green-eyed monster robberflies. That summer began an obsession with the Utah desert. I get down there as often as I can.

After living in the Highlands of Guatemala near Lake Atitlan, I earned a BA in Anthropology from Brigham Young University. My research focused on a midwife named Nicolasa, and her work with the women of Santa Clara La Laguna, Solola, Guatemala.

I worked for a year and a half teaching a range of subjects to at-risk youth. Once a student asked me if a beaver could chew through a human leg. I told him a beaver probably wouldn't go for a human. He asked, "What if the beaver has bloodlust?" It was a good time.

Those are some of the experiences that led me to the Environmental Humanities Program. I am interested in our sense of place, sense of wonder, and environmental education. The program's interdisciplinary approach appeals to me, and my interest in it can be summed up by E.O. Wilson's quote, "Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction."

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How do I apply for the Ecology of Residency course?
"The Ecology of Residency" 2007 offered a select group of students a week in June to explore the beautiful Tetons with author and Annie Clark Tanner Fellow Terry Tempest Williams. Last year's...
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News and Announcements

A Day to Remember by Robert DeBirk | Guest blog post for the DC-based peace and security organization, the Ploughshares Fund.
http://www.ploughshares.org/blog/2012-01-26/day-remember#.TyK9NUQ8A2k

[read more] Jan 30, 2012

Congratulations to our 2011 Environmental Humanities Graduates! | Desiree Beaudry, Erin Bragg, Andrea Nelson, William Stadwiser, Jessamyn Tinquist, Meaghan McKasy, Ross Chambless, Ben Cromwell, Lindsy Floyd, Jack Lasley, Katharine Plumb, Alexandra Porpora, Andrew Ross, Catherine Ashton, Diane Fouts

[read more] Dec 27, 2011

Utah: Climate Ground-Zero by EH students Emerson Andrews, Frank Carter, Robin Rothfeder & Nick Schou | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XjYneH2x2E&feature=youtu.be

[read more] Dec 13, 2011

Katy Savage, EH Graduate | Waiting for Eviction article published in Counter Punch
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/11/16/waiting-for-eviction/

City Creek article published in the Provo Orem World
http://www.provooremword.org/index.html?edition=2011_3

[read more] Nov 21, 2011

Meaghan McKasy & Ross Chambless- | Community Challenge aims for Avenues neighborhood-wide energy efficiency upgrades.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/neighborhood/52841622-85/energy-project-neighborhood-avenues.html.csp?page=1

[read more] Nov 10, 2011

The Hazards of E-Waste by Nick Schou | See the video at http://www.youtube.com/greenuofu

[read more] Nov 3, 2011

Hydrotopia by Nick Schou | http://youtu.be/n9M1wS1JCbo

U of U Sustainability- Fall 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYNha0BBgzQ&feature=related

[read more] Oct 26, 2011

Poems by Cheng-yu Jung | Check out Poems at

[read more] More information at Jun 24, 2011

Ross Chambless EH Master's project airing on KUER next week | Over the past several months I embarked on a journey to find the sources of my electricity. Along the way I recorded interviews and sounds of the places I went which culminated in a 45-minute radio documentary. Now KUER, the local U of U NPR station, has helped me edit and produce the work for airing next week.

[read more] Jun 24, 2011