Congratulations to Professor Tanhum Yoreh who begins his appointment as the Graduate Associate Director, School of the Environment on July 1, 2021. “I look forward to supporting a vibrant graduate community, where students feel they have an intellectual home, community, and room to grow and learn while upholding the highest standards of graduate scholarship,” says Yoreh.
Over the past few months, the School has seen a shift to an EDU-A, the final approval of a standalone graduate MES program, and the launch of the undergraduate Certificate in Sustainability. “The School’s new EDU-A status reflects the urgency of environmental issues and the need for environmental engagement and scholarship,” he says. “I look forward to continuing to build the strength of our graduate programs and to support the transition to an EDU-A.”
The new Master of Environment & Sustainability (MES) means that that the School, for the first time, will be the home department for many students. “The new MES provides a valuable/unique avenue for graduate students to focus on the environment and to centralize it within their studies. The transdisciplinary nature brings together students to work together on our environmental challenges which can only be addressed with transdisciplinary thinking,” says Yoreh.
The graduate collaborative specializations will remain a cornerstone of the School, along with the partnerships with other departments across the university that allow students from an increasingly broad range of programs to push the boundaries of their own disciplines.
Professor Yoreh joined the School of the Environment in 2017. His research intersects religion and environmentalism; and looks to create a language for welcoming engagement with communities that have often been outside the environmental movement. “Environmental issues are too often seen as relevant to only some parts of the political discourse or some groups of people,” he says. “The School provides a home for a big tent approach to the environment. Challenges of how to live in better harmony with each other and the natural world are/will be the defining issues of my lifetime.”