This program will focus on the political, economic and geographic realities of American public lands and natural resources. The program will offer students the opportunity to become familiar with the historical policies, places and programs that have come to define a major sector of American economy, politics, spatial patterns, and landscapes. The program will begin with an overview of the role that natural resources have played in the development of the United States, the geographic setting of the country and its geopolitical interests, energy regimes (fossil fuels, hydropower, and alternatives), and a review of major tribal, federal, and state natural resource agencies. The program will then turn to specific case studies that have come to define the policies of resource extraction, land use, environmental controls, potential developments, and socially constructed landscapes. These case studies will include both federal, state and local issues. Students are expected to participate in class, seminar, and research. Micro-economics (including an introduction to environmental economics) and research writing are skill areas the program will emphasize.

Students will read the following texts: Keiter, Robert. B, Keeping Faith with Nature: Ecosystems, Democracy, and America's Public Lands , Yale Press, 2003, ISBN: 09273-3; Power, Thomas Michael, Lost Landscapes and Failed Economies: The Search for a Value of Place, Island Press, 1996, ISBN: 1-55963-368-9; Barth, Cunther ed., The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Selections from the Journals Arranged by Topic, Bedford/St. Martins, 1998, ISBN: 0-312-11118-5; Heal, Geoffrey, Nature and the Market Place, Island Press, ISBN: 1-55963-796-x; Roberts, Paul, The End of Oil, Houghton Mifflin, ISBN: 0-618-23977-4; Wilkerson, Charles, Crossing the Next Meridian, Island Press, ISBN: 1-55963-143-x; Worster, Donald, Under Western Skies: Nature and History in the American West, Oxford University Press, 1992, ISBN: 0-19-508671-6; Zaslousky and Watkins, These American Lands, Island Press, 1994, ISBN: 1-55963-240-2.

This program explores the origins and complexities of contemporary issues associated with raising and educating children, reaching adulthood and the changing role of youth in a global society. Fall quarter, we will develop a theoretical background for understanding these issues by starting with some historical and cross-cultural studies of the transition to adulthood, then trace the American experience from the 19th century through the end of the 20th century.

Winter quarter, we will explore the current status of children, parents and youth on a global level. As part of this work, we'll look at how economic globalization is affecting the process of growing up and what types of social movements youth are creating in specific nation-states and cultures from around the world. We will also discuss contemporary issues and policy debates about education, welfare reform and family policy.

Program activities will include seminars, lectures, a variety of writing assignments and weekly field research in local schools or after-school centers.