New Major -- Community, Environment, and Development

Are you interested in working with people in their own neighborhoods to create positive and sustainable change, building skills to tackle important environmental and development issues facing today's communities, enabling communities to make critically important decisions about people, resources and the environment, or learning methods to help developing countries and communities achieve sustainable growth?

If so, a new major in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences might be for you.

The new program, Community, Environment, and Development, is a dynamic field of study that strives to improve the social, economic and environmental qualities in our communities. It focuses on the design and implementation of programs aimed at making a community a better place to live and work.

"Working to enhance a sense of place and sense of community is central to this field, as are the principles of sustainable development," says Jim Dunn, professor of agricultural economics. "This major is about working with people in their own neighborhoods, creating positive and sustainable change - for the people, the community and the world."

Whether you want to work around the world in the Peace Corps or in a local nonprofit organization, Dunn says, the Community, Environment, and Development major can teach you the skills necessary for success. Other careers can include: city and regional planning, community preservation and design, sustainable development, neighborhood/community organization, environmental policy design, environmental advocacy, human/social service, and international development.

For more information on this new major, contact Megan Sinasky at 814-865-6220, or by e-mail at MeganS@psu.edu.