Our Department of Earth and Environmental Science in the School of Arts and Sciences – along with its allied Institute for Environmental Studies – give our students and faculty a wide range of intellectual resources in this increasingly significant curricular area. The School of Design’s Department of Architecture and Penn Praxis help set the agenda for sustainable building and urban planning practices around the world, including an innovative graduate degree in Environmental Building Design.  The Law School’s Program on Law, Environment, and Economy explores key historical, theoretical, and public policy issues around natural resources.  A new minor in Sustainability and Environmental Management, organized by the Institute for Global Environmental Leadership in The Wharton School, helps students bring together perspectives from such varied fields as Legal Studies, Biology, and Information Management;  and the Energy and Sustainability minor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, focused on science and engineering, integrates those subjects with public policy, energy regulation, and social impact.

As we develop these curricular programs, we will also dedicate the 2010-2011 academic year to the theme of Water.  This will be our fourth academic theme year, and we expect it to focus attention on global issues of water and environmental sustainability.  Look for the upcoming announcement of the 2010 Penn Reading Project, in which all entering freshmen will read and discuss a water-related text as part of New Student Orientation in late August.

I look forward to continuing to work closely together, as a campus community, on these topics so vital to our shared future.

Vincent Price
Provost