Unity Environmental University is starting two new degree programs focused on tackling long-term issues stemming from climate change.
The newly announced programs are an agroforestry undergraduate program and a master’s program in climate change adaptation and resilience.
The undergraduate degree is focused on agricultural land use and sustainable farming practices that protect crops from more volatile weather events and temperatures year-round. The master’s degree covers a more broad range of issues relating to long-term community preparation and adaptation to a changing climate.
“Climate change is not the future. Climate change is now. In every town, in every industry, we are dealing with the impacts of a changing climate,” said Kelly Boyer Ontl, dean of graduate studies. “Adaptation and resilience must become business as usual.”
The new degrees come following the college’s recent announcement of its highest enrollment numbers to date, primarily through online classes that became the main focus of the school’s programming since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Only a few dozen students still attend classes in person on the college’s main campus in Unity, and the college’s president Melik Peter Khoury has said the school is once again considering selling or leasing the Quaker Hill campus.
The college has been embroiled in recent debate over a proposal from Portland officials to potentially allow asylum seekers living in temporary shelters to use the college’s mostly empty facilities as transitional housing. But so far, no firm plan around that has been submitted.
