The Department revised the Environmental Studies major to include both an Environmental Management Track (similar to the original Environmental Studies major) and the new Environmental Sustainability Track, open to the class of 2024 and beyond. The Environmental Sustainability track draws upon the interdisciplinary faculty strengths within the Department to help students better understand the interaction between humans and their environment and likewise draws upon the Department’s strength in Geographic Information Systems to provide technical skills that will increase the marketability of our graduates. We have added a two-course sequence in Sustainability Studies in which students explore practical applications of the field through classroom and experiential learning. We are very excited that Villanova University’s Sustainability Manager, Liesel Schwarz, will be teaching the GEV 4001 Advanced Sustainability Studies course in Spring 2021. The Environmental Sustainability concentration imparts graduates with an interdisciplinary skillset integral to fields such as Corporate Sustainability, Environmental Planning and Environmental Communications. Understanding both the human and social dimensions of our collective global challenge empowers our students to embark on a professional path to promote sustainable development.

The Enhancing Diversity in Geography and the Environment (EDGE) Fellowship is designed to provide undergraduate student majors in the Department from groups underrepresented in the disciplines of Geography, Environmental Science and Environmental Studies with financial support to conduct research or pursue otherwise unpaid internship opportunities. Research and internship experiences provide students with professional development and lifelong learning skills that are critical for future career success. Through the EDGE Fellowship, the Department strives to provide these opportunities to students from underrepresented groups in an effort to promote equity and diversify the disciplines of geography and environmental science. This program will be funded by donations from alumni and friends of the Department wishing to support the fellowship. We invite alumni and friends of the Department to consider making a contribution to the EDGE Fellowship Fund (after entering your donation amount, simply specify ‘EDGE Fellowship’ in the gift designation section).

Environmental Sciences major Hannah Darensbourg ’22 CLAS was awarded a Villanova Undergraduate Research Fellowship for summer 2020 and planned to conduct her research in the on-campus research garden. The COVID-19 pandemic altered her plans, but Hannah adjusted and conducted her experiment on the rooftop of her New York City home. Read more.

Nicole Marks ’20 MS was one of nine students nationwide to be awarded a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Management Fellowship. Marks will work with the Delaware Coastal Management Program to develop an outreach and education program for Delaware that details the actions communities, homeowners, business owners and land stewards can undertake to address encroaching coastal waters. Marks completed her master’s thesis, "The Impact of Point and Non-Point Sources of Contamination on the Biogeochemistry of a Rural to Urban Watershed" under the guidance of Steven Goldsmith, PhD.

Associate Professor Steven Goldsmith, PhD, Kaila Hanley ’16 CLAS and Eric Wagner ’12 CLAS, along with colleagues in Villanova’s Department of Chemistry, including Garrett Waligroski '17 MS, published an article in the top-tier journal Environmental Science and Technology on the emerging contaminant Triclosan, an anti-microbial agent. The article, “Triclosan export from low-volume sources in an urban to rural watershed," examines Triclosan content along a rural to suburban gradient in the Brandywine River watershed. Read the article.

Paul Fennelly, PhD '67 CLAS is an alumnus of the Chemistry Department and friend of the Department of Geography and the Environment, having visited the Department in 2017 to give a colloquium presentation. Dr. Fennelly recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2020 meeting of the Environmental Business Industry Summit, a well-deserved achievement. This year marks a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the environmental industry, in which Dr. Fennelly became a leader, that developed in response to the burgeoning environmental movement following the first Earth Day in 1970 and several landmark pieces of legislation in the ensuing years. After graduating from Villanova in 1967 and earning his PhD in Chemistry at Brandeis University, Dr. Fennelly went on to gain more than 30 years of executive and technical management experience in environmental consulting, engineering and management, air pollution control, atmospheric chemistry, environmental measurement, auditing, sustainability, due diligence and impact assessment and permitting. Dr. Fennelly spent more than 25 years with AECOM, a major infrastructure consulting firm, where he served in a variety of leadership roles including President of the International Environmental Division, General Manager of the Air Quality Science and Engineering Division, and Senior Vice President and Global Director of Sales and Marketing for AECOM’s Global Environment Business Line, which at the time had more than 4,500 staff operating from 150 offices across North and South America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia. Dr. Fennelly retired from AECOM in 2015 and is now consulting on business strategy for companies in the environmental industry, including serving on the Board of Directors of NanoVapor, an emerging technology company.

Current students and recent graduates with interests in the environmental consulting field are encouraged to contact Dr. Fennelly.