25 Green Colleges and 10 Hot Green Careers

Ken on August 6th, 2008

Today’s students are going green and the move towards a sustainable future is impacting many of their decisions, including college and career choices. In recognition of this movement, Kaplan, a premier provider of education services for more than 70 years, has focused its new Kaplan College Guide 2009 for the first time on environmentally responsible schools and green careers.

Released August 5, 2008, the Guide, produced by Kaplan Publishing, features 25 green private and public colleges in the United States. The section provides students with a look inside the classroom, around campus, and at student life, while shining a spotlight on what’s good for the globe at each college. The Guide also profiles 10 hot green careers — from environmental engineering to geothermal development — and includes interviews with professionals from each. The green schools and careers profiles are not rankings. Instead, they give students interested in sustainability and conservation well-researched ideas and a cross-section of options.

“Our guide is designed to help students get into schools and prepare for careers that will enable them to make a meaningful and positive impact on our planet,” said Jason Palmer, contributing editor to the Kaplan College Guide 2009. “We’re offering objective information to students who want to be better global citizens — not just today, but throughout their lives.”

To develop the Guide, editors gleaned insights on green schools and professions from a wide array of constituents, including admissions directors, parents, students, and professionals. Kaplan reviewed a range of criteria to formulate its list of 25 green schools. Specific areas examined include: environmentally responsible campus projects; initiatives and courses offered; organizations and student groups on campus; and achievements noted in the Sustainable Endowments Institute’s College Sustainability Report Card 2008. The list highlights schools whose efforts reflect a commitment to long-term sustainability and to encouraging students to make better choices.

When compiling the 10 hottest green careers list, Kaplan surveyed the course of study of hundreds of undergraduate students, then compared selections against the fastest-growing, most competitive global industries tracked by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The 25 green schools (alphabetical order) are:

Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Bates College, Lewiston, ME
Berea College, Berea, KY
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
Carleton College, Northfield, MN
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, ME
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA
Duke University, Durham, NC
Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Penn State University, University Park, PA
Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA
Tufts University, Medford, MA
University of California, UC system
University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Yale University, New Haven, CT

The 10 hot green careers are:

Environmental conservation
Environmental design
Environmental engineering
Environmental science
Geothermal development
Green interior design
Hydrology
Organic agriculture
Solar energy engineering
Transportation systems planning

In addition to in-depth profiles of green colleges and careers, the 792-page guide also has:

Profiles of 25 additional careers. Socially conscious teens interested in a wide variety of fields, from politics and public service to medicine, will find sound advice for finding their career path in this guide
Coverage of green organizations for students interested in volunteering or learning more
A glossary of terms to help students think and speak like sustainability experts
Profiles of 390 of the most interesting colleges across the country

Kaplan College Guide 2009, (Kaplan Publishing; August, 2008; $21; Paperback) will be available in August at neighborhood and online booksellers, or by calling 800-245-BOOK. [Kaplan]