History

A growing concern

The 1960s and 1970s marked an era of heightened concern for the environment. For the first time, members of the general public started paying attention to environmental and sustainability issues. This shifting public concern is what inspired our founder, biologist F. Ronald Hayes, to form the Institute for Environmental Studies in 1973.  

Under the leadership of Arthur Hanson, the unit’s name was expanded to Institute for Resource and Environmental Studies in 1978, and in 1986 the institute became the School for Resource and Environmental Studies. In 1989, the School joined the Faculty of Management. This change has given us stronger opportunities to collaborate in areas as diverse as international business and information management.

Meeting the demand

As environmental concern has grown, so has the school. In 1978, we created a thesis-based graduate-level program, the Master of Environmental Studies (MES) program. In 2004, we expanded our offerings again, by adding the course-based Master of Resource and Environmental Management (MREM) program.