In 1994, a group of faculty from various departments identified environmental studies and science as gaps in Wake Forest’s curriculum. At that time, students could only minor in these disciplines. Over the past five years, however, the university has expanded its Environment and Sustainability Studies (ENV) Program, adding two new majors: environment and sustainability studies and environmental science.
The program’s rapid growth is due to the increased demand of students wanting to pursue these disciplines beyond hard science. ENV, which used to be under the scope of the biology program, has blossomed into a separate department and has taken off since its establishment.
The Sapling
Since Dr. Stephen Smith joined the ENV department in 2020, the program has expanded significantly. From a single postdoctoral fellow teaching courses, it now has a team of six dedicated faculty members who teach and conduct innovative research.
Smith, an assistant teaching professor within ENV specializing in geology, teaches core courses like Climate Change and Earth Science. He believes the program’s mission is to help build just and sustainable futures.
“Our stated mission is intentionally short and broad because part of the vision moving forward is integrating a justice focus in environmental studies, specifically regarding the work we do in our program,” Smith said. “An example of this would be implementing community engagement into our courses.”
Planting Roots
Dr. Julie Velásquez Runk was appointed department head in 2020, becoming the first woman to hold the position. She has conducted research on native species reforestation in the Monteverde area of Costa Rica. Velàsquez Runk is one of several ENV professors who blend research with teaching, often inviting students to join her as research assistants during the summer.
Velàsquez Runk acknowledged a gap in the relationship between students and the environment, saying, “There’s often been this idea that people are separate from nature, which has created some of our problems.”
By broadening the scope of the curriculum, the program will break from the traditional mold of ENV and focus on the interconnectedness of people and the environment.
While many interdisciplinary courses, such as Environmental Destruction, incorporate classic naturalist texts like “Walden,” modern environmental works are pushed to the forefront to create what Velàsquez Runk calls “a more 21st-century or inclusive version of ENV.”
Newer courses like Environmental Issues incorporate concepts and texts such as Leah Thomas’s “The Intersectional Environmentalist,” which challenges the traditional boundaries of programs focused primarily on the natural world.

A Forest of Knowledge
One of the program’s most ambitious ongoing initiatives is the Environmental and Epistemic Justice Initiative (EEJI). This Mellon Foundation-funded project brings together students, scholars, activists and journalists to critically examine how race shapes both scholarly practices and public policies.
These initiatives encourage students to step outside the classroom and into non-traditional learning environments. Smith commented on this approach, saying that professors often ask themselves, “How do we help [students] become more community-minded?”
Smith referenced Wake Forest as a bubble to illustrate that while the university is located in Winston-Salem, it represents a much bigger place with an identity that extends well beyond its gates.
“Understandably, you’re in a little bubble,” Smith said. “It’s a combination of these significant initiatives, like EEJI, and smaller initiatives – such as classroom objectives or incorporating a community component into our research – that help students connect with the larger world.”
Current faculty emphasize this approach when interviewing new candidates, ensuring that prospective hires can teach topics that are both personally relevant to their research and aligned with the program’s goals of experiential learning.
Visiting professors also contribute to expanding the program’s scope by teaching courses based on their expertise. In the spring of 2023, Assistant Professor Amanda Sames taught a food justice class that ran for one semester. The class combined hands-on learning, with students growing vegetable plots and working in local community gardens, while also examining how the modern food system works. Their final project was a community cookbook featuring the vegetables grown throughout the semester.
Assistant Professor Ovidiu Csillik, a specialist in remote sensing, joined Wake Forest in 2024 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at NASA. Csillik currently focuses on remote sensing and machine learning to monitor tropical forests.
Velásquez Runk highlighted the importance of creating spaces to think critically about analyzing remotely sensed data. “Our next hire will be a tenured faculty member who can approach space from a theoretical perspective.”
Students and faculty are excited to see what the future of ENV has to offer in terms of research, courses and career opportunities.
“[The faculty] ultimately want to ensure you all are successful and can secure jobs,” Velásquez Runk said. “Our program aims to connect students to a robust, global version of environmental ethics — preparing you for careers while also helping you engage meaningfully with the world.”