University of New England

Small Classes

Most classes in the Environmental Studies Department are small.  First and second year classes are limited to 20-24 students.  In the first year Green Learning Community, most of your classes have only twelve students. Upper level courses in the department typically have 10-15 students.

Hands-on Learning

Field Trips

Many upper level courses in the Environmental Studies Department include a significant field component.  In recent years, students have participated in the following:

• Weekend visit at an ecovillage
• Conferences, such as the International Society of Tropical Foresters/Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Yearly Conference
• Overnight camping trips to UNE’s 350+ acre property and to the White Mountains
• Visits to the offices of land conservation nonprofit organizations
• Wetland surveying and monitoring at local bogs, freshwater marshes, salt marshes, riparian areas and red maple swamps
• Service Learning Trips with Cultivating Community, a nonprofit in Portland, Maine working in urban agriculture, youth leadership training, and sustainability.
• Field trips to local incinerators (Eco Maine in Portland and MERC in Biddeford)
• Field trips to local Community Supported Agriculture Farms
• Field trips to Biddeford Recycling Center
• Service Learning trip to York County Shelter, Inc. in Alfred, Maine
• Field Trips to Portland Trails, hiking Presumpscot River Trail in Portland, Maine
• Field Trip to Liberty Farms to see horse-logger operation, Saco Maine
• Field trip to Maine Forest Service office in Alfred, Maine