Curriculum

Environment and the American Nation:

An Introduction to U.S. Environmental History

Students participating in the program will enroll in the following two courses. Each course is equal to 1.0 Trinity credit.

Nature and Nationalism

This course will explore how the American mind has visualized and interacted with its natural surroundings since the War for Independence. Almost immediately after the Revolution, Americans took pride in the successful “conquest” of the wilderness, and spun this relationship to the environment into a cornerstone of American nationalism and the new American identity. Readings will explore how American society has deemed what is the appropriate way to treat and live within the land as Americans, and how those cultural expectations have shaped the experience of women, ethnic and racial minorities, and the poor. If our relationship to nature in part defines us as Americans, this course also forces the question: “Who is excluded?”

Topics in U.S. Environmental History: California and the West

In recent years, environmental history has become increasingly recognized as an essential piece of American history, where “the smallpox virus or the common barnyard pig, may be no less important than the story of a presidential administration or a war.” Using the American West as a case study, this course will examine how the natural environment has indeed shaped the course of American history, and how this knowledge is essential for a complete understanding of the American past. Readings and lectures will explore water wars in the West, the agricultural industry in California and linked issues of migrant labor, urbanization and urban renewal, environmental disasters including the 1906 Earthquake and the Dust Bowl, and the modern-day environmentalist and environmental justice movements.

Location and Accommodations

The program is housed in Trinity's Bransten House. Built in 1904 and designated as an historic landmark by the City of San Francisco, the House is situated in a residential neighborhood and centrally located in the city on Franklin Street (between California and Sacramento), one block from the famous California Street cable car line.

Serving both as the academic facility for lectures and seminars and as the student residence, the Bransten House features bedrooms (mostly doubles), a living room and a lounge area, a study/computer lab, a kitchen and a dining room. Each bedroom is wired for phone and computer networking.

In addition to the cable car, several other public transportation lines are nearby; the vibrant neighborhoods of Nob Hill, Union Square, Chinatown, North Beach, Japan Town, the Castro District and the University of San Francisco can be reached in fifteen minutes or less by cable car or bus from the Bransten House.

Students will reside either at the Bransten House or in an apartment leased by the College on an adjacent block. Those residing in the apartment will have full use of all academic and social space at the Bransten. All students will share lunches and weeknight dinners together in the Bransten House (included in the comprehensive fee.) A food storage pantry will be reserved for students. A natural foods supermarket is located across the street from the House, and numerous restaurants are within short walking distance from the facility.

The residences are staffed by two residential proctors.

Faculty Information

Linda Ivey, who is a Ph.D. candidate in American history at Georgetown University, specializes in U.S. Environmental and Ethnic history. She has spent the last three years teaching at the Trinity-in-San Francisco program, and also holds positions on the faculty of the University of California in Santa Cruz and Hartnell College.

Additional Information
Students arrive Saturday, June 8. Orientation takes place on June 9-10. Classes begin on Tuesday, June 11 and continue through Friday, July 26. Students depart on July 27. Time will be scheduled for field trips throughout the course of the program.

Fee and Application Procedure:
The comprehensive fee (tuition, housing, meals) for the program is $5,195.00. The cost of transportation is not included. Students are expected to make their own arrangements to and from the program.
The program is open to Trinity College students and to those in good standing at other colleges and universities. Applications will be processed on a rolling admissions basis. The program requires that students be intellectually curious and behave responsibly at all times. The following should be submitted to: Director, Trinity in S.F., 1735 Franklin Street, San Francisco, CA 94109. All forms are available from the Trinity in S.F. website: www.trincoll.edu/prog/trinitysf.

Summer 2002 - Application
Code of Conduct