Welcome Prospective Students

If you have come to this site, you are probably contemplating a career in environmental science, management, policy or design. Let me tell you why you should pursue such a career – and why the School of Natural Resources and Environment is an ideal place to earn your undergraduate, graduate or Ph.D. degree.

The need for thoughtful, well-trained leaders to address environmental sustainability has never been greater. Climate change, biodiversity loss, habitat fragmentation, urbanization, water scarcity, desertification, poverty: these are the global problems the next generation of environmental leaders will tackle. They are complex, multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary.

The School of Natural Resources and Environment is the hub for interdisciplinary environmental studies at the University of Michigan. We have natural science faculty working side-by-side with environmental policy and landscape design experts. We are the only major school in the United States to successfully combine these three broad areas into one shared experience. Our graduates understand the scientific underpinnings of environmental problems and can formulate solutions that are technically, economically and socially feasible. That’s environmental sustainability for the long term.

We will teach you to speak the language of ecologists, economists, political scientists, engineers, social scientists, planners and business people. You will be equipped to walk between the worlds of academia, business and government.

Our graduates head up environmental groups and work for the Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense and the Natural Resource Defense Council, to name a few. They are land and water managers working at the local, state, national and international policy levels. Our graduates also work within corporations large and small to transform not only how businesses think about environmental sustainability but also how they practice it.

Michigan wants students who will change the world. Learn more about the University, spend time on our site, visit and explore our degree programs. I hope you decide this fine Great Lakes’ state is right for you.

Rosina M. Bierbaum

Dean and Professor, School of Natural Resources and Environment.