03/03/92

CONTACT: Stanford University News Service (650) 723-2558

Stanford to launch Washington, D.C., environmental program

STANFORD -- Continuing its leading role in environmental studies, Stanford University will launch a program next year in Washington, D.C., for undergraduates who wish to combine rigorous analysis of environmental problems with practical experience in public service.

Based at Stanford in Washington - the university's satellite campus in the nation's capital - the program aims to attract some of Stanford's best undergraduates into environmental studies and careers in environmental science and policy.

Donald Kennedy, who will step down at Stanford president in August, will be the program's initial faculty member in residence during winter quarter. He also will have a visiting appointment at the World Resources Institute.

The president will be on sabbatical leave in 1992-93 and will most likely spend fall quarter on campus, writing and preparing for the assignments.

"It will be a wonderful re-entry for me to be engaged in this kind of teaching again," said Kennedy, a professor of biological sciences and former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Prof. David Danelski, director of Stanford in Washington, said: "It is fitting that Don Kennedy will be the first Stanford faculty member to teach in the new environmental program.

"Health and environmental policy issues have always been among his major concerns, and the establishment of Stanford in Washington has been one of his major achievements as president."

The new program will have three components:

• Internships in which students do research on environmental problems and write papers for academic credit. Students will devote approximately 35 hours a week to internships with such organizations as the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Management and Budget, Office of Technology Assessment, Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, and the Environmental Defense Fund.
• Seminars taught by Stanford faculty members in residence in Washington. These seminars in environmental science and policy will meet weekly. After a two-hour seminar discussion, students will meet for an additional hour with Washington specialists on environmental topics discussed earlier.
• Tutorials conducted by Washington environmental experts. These tutorials, for groups of two to five students, will be taught in the British style and will meet for two to three hours each week. The focus of tutorial discussion will be student papers on specific environmental problems.

The new program will be open to all Stanford undergraduates, including students in the social sciences and humanities. It is expected to be especially appealing to students majoring in public policy, earth systems, engineering, biology and economics. About 15 students will be selected in May for the pilot program.

The program will be funded in its first two years by a grant from the Summit Foundation of Washington, D.C.

In announcing the grant, Summit Foundation President Vicki Sant expressed her pleasure that Kennedy would be personally involved in launching the initiative.

"We are proud to be a part of this very timely and worthwhile program," she said.

-tj-

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