Vol. II - June 2009

In This Issue

About MES

You’ll take courses across the University and collaborate with Penn’s world-class researchers and practitioners in the physical, biological, and social sciences, economics, and other arts and sciences disciplines, as well as professionals in planning, engineering, business, health care, and the law. Gain the breadth needed to address complex issues of the environment while you develop the depth required to provide specific expertise in environmental restoration and protection. More>

Meet Our Director

Yvette Bordeaux is Director of the Professional Master’s Programs in Earth and Environmental Science. A graduate of the University of Rochester, she received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2000.

A paleontologist, Dr. Bordeaux eschews dinosaurs and other large vertebrates for the fossils of much smaller creatures who can indicate how the environment has changed over time. Her early research focused on the burrows formed by invertebrate worms in Lower Devonian outcrops of eastern New York State. These days, she studies epibionts, specifically the fossils of organisms that lived on the shells of brachiopods dating from the Middle Devonian of New York State.

Two MES Lecturers win 2009 Distinguished Teaching Award

Each year the College of Liberal and Professional Studies honors distinguished teaching in their graduate and undergraduate programs. Candidates for the award receive a nomination from their home department, which includes letters from students, faculty, department chairs, and program directors. An LPS committee then chooses a winner form the many excellent candidates that are nominated. This year, both the Graduate and Undergraduate awards went to lecturers who are active in the Master of Environmental Studies (MES) program. For 2009 the LPS Distinguished Teaching Award for a lecturer in a Professional Masters program went to Stanley L. Laskowski and the Undergraduate Distinguished Teaching Award went to Dr. Barbara Riebling.

We Have a Dean's Scholar!

MES candidate Greg Kelder was named Dean's Scholar this year for his impressive achievements in the MES program. An insurance lawyer working in environmental litigation for the last two decades, his concentration is in environmental policy; he will receive his MES degree later this year.

"I'd been keeping my eye on the MES program and finally began it 20 years out of law school," he says. "It's been wonderful and I've been getting a different appreciation for environmental issues. The insurance industry has been at the forefront of pollution risk assessment for years, but I wanted to get on the other side of pollution and learn about ways of preventing it before it happens. MES is a remarkable program. I've enjoyed every single course I've taken, and it's really been an enlightening and fascinating experience."

MES Students Go to the Ends of the Earth

Wharton Antarctica Leadership Venture

Photo by Kate Atkins

"It was like being plopped into another world," MES candidate Greg Kelder recalls of his arrival in Antarctica in January 2009. "We experienced nearly 24 hours of daylight every day. The terrain was unlike most places I've ever been. There were lichens growing along the beach but for the most part not really much plant life or vegetation the way we think of it. It was cold, and amazingly quiet, and there was just the sense of it being incredibly remote."

Greg and Kate Atkins, another MES student, were chosen by the Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership to be one of only three non-MBA students to participate in the Wharton Antarctica Leadership Venture. The annual expedition, designed for Wharton students, involves a week-long exploration of King George Island, stressing decision-making, teamwork, and leadership in a challenging environment. "We're entering a new era of corporate responsibility socially and environmentally," Greg notes. The Wharton students on this trip are our future business leaders, and it was a great opportunity to raise their environmental awareness."

Who Is the Ideal MES Student?

ELP

"Because environmental studies is so interdisciplinary you can't really put your finger on any one potential student and say this is the perfect candidate," says Master of Environmental Studies program director Yvette Bordeaux. "But it's absolutely fascinating to look at the range of our students".

Some students enter the program right out of college while others are looking for a career change or have been working in the environmental field all along. There have been at least a couple of lawyers in the program, and this fall a pediatrician who is interested in environmental health for children is joining the program.

Graduate Student Research Forum 2009

Housing

What research paths do graduate students in environmental studies at Penn follow for their final projects? The quick and easy answer is to say that the final projects are as different as the individual students. But the best answer is to attend the annual Graduate Student Research Forum.

The forum offers an opportunity for students, faculty, and the larger environmental community of Philadelphia to come together to learn about the diversity of topics currently being researched by students in the Master of Environmental Studies (MES) and Master of Science in Applied Geosciences (MSAG) programs. Thirty-eight students in the MES and nine students in the MSAG completed or are currently completing Capstone and Project Design Research this year. One student from each program was selected to present their research orally at the forum on May 8.

Admission Tips

Applicants to the Master of Environmental Studies program are evaluated according to a number of criteria. A bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university and strong academic record are required. Completion of prerequisite courses relevant to the applicants proposed professional concentrations will also be evaluated. The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is required of all applicants except applicants with five or more years of professional experience. TOEFL scores are required for international students. Applicants must also request two letters of recommendation in support of their application from faculty and/or supervisors in their field. Finally, a written statement of career objectives and reasons for choosing the MES Program at Penn and a proposed course of study are required. MES Application
Send us your transcripts! Think ahead and request your transcripts early.
International applicants—apply NOW! If you're coming to Penn from outside the United States, it's important that you submit your complete application as soon as possible to allow for time to prepare student visas and make other necessary arrangements.

The next application date is July 15, 2009 for admission in Spring 2010.

If you’d like more information about admissions or would like to speak to one of our Recruitment Specialists, please email us at lps@sas.upenn.edu.

Housing

A range of housing options is available to students at the University of Pennsylvania. If you are enrolled as a full-time student, you may choose to live on campus, in the high-rise apartments at Sansom Place. Learn more and download applications at the Department of Housing and Conference Services website.

Or you can choose to live off-campus, as most of the graduate and professional students at Penn do. Although rents have steadily increased over the last several years, the cost of housing in Philadelphia continues to be much more affordable than in other East Coast cities, such as Boston and New York. With a well-developed and well-coordinated mass transit system (SEPTA), many areas of the city and the suburbs are within easy commute. The Office of Off-Campus Services website offers a searchable database of available housing in University City, Philadelphia’s Center City, and adjoining counties.

Getting to Know Philadelphia

New in town? You're not alone. Many of Penn’s MES students relocate to Philadelphia from other parts of the country. Philadelphia is one of the most historic cities in the United States. It was the capital of the United States from 1790 to 1800, and it is where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where the Constitution of the United States was written.

Penn's picturesque campus is situated in University City, near the heart of Philadelphia. The city’s historic, artistic, and commercial centers are located a short distance from the University of Pennsylvania. Click here to learn more about what you can do in and around Philadelphia in your spare time. For a virtual tour of the Penn campus, click here.