Welcome to Environmental Studies!
Our Mission
The mission of DeAnza’s Environmental Studies Department is two-fold:
- Educate a broad range of students on both environmental science and environmental issues via our 10 General Education (GE) course offerings.
- Train the next generation of environmental leaders and professionals via our certificate and degree offerings in three key areas.
With over 3500 students taking the nearly 200 class sections we offer each year, we are the largest environmental studies/science department in the California Community College system.
Our Offerings:
- General Education (GE) courses, including five courses in Environmental Studies (ES) and five in Environmental Science
(ESCI).
- Transfer opportunities to colleges and universities that offer bachelor's degree programs in Environmental
Studies and Environmental Science, including:
- CSUs (San José State, San Francisco State, Sonoma State, CSU East Bay and others)
- UCs (UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz and others)
- Private schools (Santa Clara University, University of San Francisco and others)
- Associate Degrees and Certificates of Achievement in three majors:
Come Visit Us
We are housed in the beautiful Kirsch Center for Environmental Studies, a building designed to be an active living teaching/demonstration space for students to learn about environmental stewardship, pollution prevention, and energy and natural resource management. It is a LEED Platinum-certified green building, the first of its kind in the California community college system.
Adjacent to the Kirsch Center is the Cheeseman Environmental Studies Area (known as the "ESA"). This unique 1.5-acre lush natural garden contains some 400 species of plants and trees representing the 12 major natural plant communities found in California (see the ESA Pictorial Story Map). Originally built by faculty members and students, the ESA is now visited by several thousand school children, college students, conservation group members and community residents each year.
Join us at the Kirsch Center to learn how we can forge an environmentally sustainable future for current and future generations!
Contact Us
Alicia De Toro
Department Chair
DeToroAlicia@fhda.edu
Cheeseman Environmental Studies Area (ESA)
Winter Hours
We are closed until further notice.
Rapidly changing circumstances due to the spread of COVID-19 require us to take new additional measures to slow the spread of the disease within our community and the communities beyond our campus.
Stewardship Resource Center (SRC)
Winter Hours
We are closed until further notice.
Rapidly changing circumstances due to the spread of COVID-19 require us to take new additional measures to slow the spread of the disease within our community and the communities beyond our campus.