With climate change, pollution, and other issues mounting pressure on Earth’s natural systems, you want to learn how to best understand, protect and repair them. From science to policy to ethics, you want to examine the role humans play in these systems as both dependents and influencers. And you want to work alongside other informed and active citizens to offer sustainable solutions and lasting relationships between people and nature. You are independent and collaborative, and like hands-on experiences.
What can you do with this degree?
Through field-based application of knowledge, students develop the skills to be part of the solutions in a variety of fields ranging from field ecology to resource management to community-based conservation and science communication. With a strong foundation in the natural sciences, natural history, ecology and conservation, graduates are well-prepared for any career focused on working towards a more sustainable future. From public and government agencies to private businesses, our graduates are equipped to make an impact wherever they go. Here are just a few examples:
Campaign Organizer/Green Policy Advocate
Community Development
Conservation Biologist
Project Ecologist
High School Teacher
Environmental Analyst
Marine Conservation Program Coordinator
Marine Science Educator
What will this program look like?
The program advances and integrates understanding across many disciplines, including the biological, physical, and social sciences, and the humanities. Students use these insights to illuminate the interrelationships between human and non-human realms, meanwhile learning specific skills in community development, application to real-world situations, critical thinking, field and laboratory methods, and oral and written communication.
Students pursuing a BA in Field Ecology & Conservation will be able to address the values, processes, inquiry- and solution-generating abilities, and applications required to develop a philosophical understanding of, and ethical stance regarding, human-nature interactions and relationships.
Available Concentrations
Adventure Education Climate Justice Education for Social Justice Environmental Studies Equity Studies in Outdoor Leadership Natural History Interpretation Marine Studies Outdoor Leadership
Values: Learners can explain the historical and cultural foundations of how humans value and conserve nature and natural resources.
Processes: Learners can describe ecological and evolutionary processes across temporal and spatial scales.
Application: Learners can articulate effective solutions to ecological challenges based on analysis of complex natural and human systems.
Research and Inquiry: Evaluate validity of current field research and scientific data around environmental topics and issues.
The Field Ecology and Conservation BA is accredited by Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association. The Higher Learning Commission has approved Prescott College to offer all of its degree titles via distance education.
Over the past year, Mariana Altrichter continued her scholarly work and research in Argentina. Dr. Altrichter and colleagues studied the effectiveness of conservation inside Indigenous lands versus private or state-owned land. They conclude that land-tenure security is key for Indigenous territories to reduce forest loss, adding evidence to the importance of securing land-tenure rights of Indigenous communities for conservation purposes. At a regional scale, a large proportion of the remaining forests are Indigenous, and conservation initiatives should be co-developed with locals, respecting their rights, needs, and cosmovisions.
This research was published in the Journal of Global Environmental Change in July 2023. “Indigenous Lands with secure land tenure can reduce forest loss in deforestation hotspots.” Read more here.
Olivia Milner ’23
For Olivia’s senior project – “Fostering Ecological Identity: Tiny Ecosystems, Enormous Discoveries,” she worked on growing the educational Terrarium business that she and her partner and fellow Prescott graduate, Alyssa Culpepper, started in November 2022, inspired by their studies here at Prescott! She created the Instagram account @woodlandrootstrade to journal and share educational content with the public–documenting their discoveries from their adventures as students, naturalists, and entrepreneurs.
Careers & Opportunities
Career Pathways
The jobs listed below show how versatile our Field Ecology and Conservation BA degree is, and how valuable our graduates are:
Audubon Alaska’s Director of Conservation Science
Campaign Organizer/Green Policy Advocate
Community Development
Environmental Director
Conservation Biologist
Conservation Director of the Sky Island Alliance
Director of Prescott Creeks
Director of Western Watersheds
Project Ecologist, Author, and Lead Scientist at Earthwatch Institute
Career Planning
Our student success team works with you to map out a plan that works, for your goals and your life. There are many ways to get where you’re going, and we’ve seen it all!
Are you interested in being part of our community?
One thing we all have in common is our passion – passion for helping others, passion for the environment, passion for social justice and a passion for a different kind of learning experience.
