1980-1981
An interdisciplinary forum between the Dept. of Philosophy and Religion and the Institute of Ecology evolves under the direction of Frederick Ferré and Eugene Odum. This becomes the Philosophy and Ecology Support Group led by Ferré that meets at the Georgia Center. Because the Support Group is so large (68 members) and diverse (26 different departments), a more manageable Planning/Teaching Team is selected (9 members from 6 different departments). The teaching portion of the team will develop a proposal for a master’s program integrating “philosophical with scientific approaches to the environment”; the planning portion of the team will conduct programs and seminars in Environmental Ethics.

The Philosophy and Ecology Teaching Team submits a proposal to support development of a “practical” master’s in Philosophy and Ecology to the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). The proposal is rejected.

The Philosophy and Ecology Planning Team holds a panel discussion on environmental ethics at the Law School. The discussion includes such topics as ecology and scarcity, and “shallow” vs. “deep” ecology.

The Philosophy and Ecology Teaching Team meets at the Georgia Center with the Dept. of Philosophy and Religion and the Institute of Ecology to discuss a proposal for a “practical” master’s degree in Philosophy and Ecology. The Institute of Ecology votes in favor of the proposal; the Dept. of Philosophy and Religion votes against the proposal, and the proposal is rejected.

1981-1982
Eugene Hargrove, environmental ethicist and editor of the journal Environmental Ethics, comes to the University of Georgia from the University of New Mexico. His job is threefold: 1) to continue as managing editor of the journal; 2) to develop environmental ethics programs at the Georgia Center; and 3) to teach environmental ethics in the Dept. of Philosophy and Religion. In addition to planning a Philosophy and Ecology Summer Workshop, Hargrove develops a non-credit Environmental Ethics Program at the Georgia Center.

Frederick Ferré learns of the University’s Certificate Programs in Gerontology and in Global Policy Studies. Shortly thereafter, Ferré and other interested faculty members from the Philosophy and Ecology Teaching Team begin a year’s work to write a proposal for an Environmental Ethics Certificate Program.

1982-1983
A conference on environmental ethics, Business and the Environment: Toward an Objective Discussion of the Business Point of View in Environmental Ethics and Environmental Affairs, is held at the Georgia Center.

Frederick Ferré goes on a leave of absence, and John Granrose assumes responsibility for
shepherding the Environmental Ethics Certificate Program proposal through to the Graduate Council.

The proposal for a Certificate Program in Environmental Ethics is approved by the Graduate Council on July 7, 1983. The Graduate School provides support for the program, overseen by the Graduate School dean or the dean’s representative.

An EECP Executive Committee is formed; John Granrose is the Chair and non-science
representative, Vernon Meentemeyer is the science representative, and Branch Howe is the representative of the Dean of the Graduate School. This establishes the precedent for an Executive Committee composed of a science, non-science, and Graduate School representative.

The core course requirements for the Graduate Certificate are PHY 618 (Environmental Ethics), PHY 651 (Technology and Values), and BIO 350 (Ecology). Because BIO 350 is an undergraduate course, it is taken under independent study that requires additional work for graduate credit. The Certificate also requires an approved research paper in Environmental Ethics, as well as field work, an internship, or other practical experience. Each graduate student is assigned one EECP Faculty advisor.

1983-1984
The EECP officially begins Fall Quarter 1983 as the first Environmental Ethics Certificate
Program in the United States. The 1982-83 Executive Committee continues for the academic year.

The first EECP graduate student, Margaret Merrill, is accepted into the Program.

1984-1985
Frederick Ferré becomes Chair of the EECP, and Bruce Ferguson replaces Vernon Meentemeyer as the science representative.

The first official EECP conference, Environmental Ethics: New Directions, is held at the Georgia Center.

Luncheon discussions on environmental ethics begin in Snelling Hall, with 15 to 20 persons attending regularly.

A contest is held for the official EECP emblem. Allen Rowell’s drawing of sea oats (see home page) is selected.

The first Graduate Certificate is awarded to Susan Bratton on February 28, 1985. Bratton goes on to publish two books on environmental ethics: Six Billion and More: Human Population Regulation & Christian Ethics (1992), and Christianity, Wilderness, and Wildlife: The Original Desert Solitaire (1993).

The second Graduate Certificate is awarded to Rev. Edgard Ebel.

The prefix ETH (Environmental Ethics) is approved for environmental ethics courses.

1985-1986
Margaret Merrill receives the third Graduate Certificate in January 1986.

1986-1987
Snelling Hall stops its policy of room reservation for faculty groups, and EECP luncheon
discussions temporarily discontinue.

Frederick Ferré asks Eugene Hargrove to become Program Coordinator. Hargrove accepts; this establishes the precedent for EECP Coordinators.

1987-1988
The first EECP field trip is a bus tour led by Charles Aguar, who points out examples of good and bad development in Athens. A dinner discussion follows at Snelling Hall.
Kathryn Hatcher restarts the luncheon discussion group until the sessions are superseded by evening dinner-discussion programs in 1989-90.

The newsletter, EECPerspectives, begins in June 1988, with Frederick Ferré as editor. The newsletter appears occasionally.

1988-1989
An EECP student finds that the Certificate cannot be completed in one year because ETH/PHY 651 (Technology and Values) is only taught biennially. Therefore, PHY/ART 611 (Aesthetics) and PHY 605 (Ethical Theory) are added to the list of core courses to alternate with ETH/PHY 651.

The EECP continues to grow, which leads to a reorganization of the administration. Many of the responsibilities of the Chair are divided among five coordinators: Membership (Albert Ike), Curriculum (William Power), Graduate (Frank Golley), Publicity (Kathryn Hatcher), and Program (Eugene Hargrove). The Coordinators begin their work for the 1989-90 academic year.

There is some discussion to form a Center for Environmental Ethics, but the idea is rejected because this would require additional administrative support within the EECP.
The EECP Faculty approves a two-person Advisory Reading Committee for each student in the Certificate Program. One of the two committee members must be on the EECP Faculty. The two-person committee oversees the required paper for the Certificate and replaces the one-person faculty advisor.

An ad hoc committee is appointed to develop a Master’s in Environmental Ethics.

1989-1990
The EECP Faculty approves a Master’s in Environmental Ethics and forwards the proposal to the Graduate Council.

Eugene Hargrove leaves the University of Georgia to assume the chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of North Texas (Denton). This move has two consequences: (a) the journal, Environmental Ethics, moves with Hargrove to Texas; and (b) the absence of a full-time environmental ethicist at the University causes the proposal for a Master’s degree in Environmental Ethics to be dropped.

Even though a “new” committee is appointed to revise the proposal for a master’s degree, the proposal does not advance because of concern that the EECP does not have sufficient faculty to maintain the Program.

An Environmental Ethics Faculty study group is formed to discuss books on environmental ethics beginning with Andrew Brennan’s Thinking About Nature and Eugene Hargrove’s Foundations of Environmental Ethics. The study group is so well-attended that this spurs the formation of a 1-credit-hour graduate seminar, Readings in Environmental Ethics (ETH 600), under the direction of Frank Golley. (By 1992, the course is approved for every winter quarter.) Before the course’s alteration in 1994 (see 1993-94 history), the books discussed included William McKibben’s The End of Nature (1992), Holmes Rolston’s Environmental Ethics (1993), and Max Oelschlager’s The Idea of Wilderness (1994).

The EECP Faculty vote to have conferences on a regular basis. An ad hoc committee is appointed to develop a conference. Subsequently, Peter Hartel and Frederick Ferré obtain grants from the University’s State-of-the-Art Conference Initiative, the Fondazione Lanza (Padua, Italy), and the National Science Foundation’s Ethics and Values Studies Program for an international conference to be held in April 1992.

1990-1991
Branch Howe, who has served as the Dean’s Representative on the EECP Executive
Committee since 1984, retires from the University; Theresa Perenich is appointed to this position by the Graduate Dean and serves for five years.

With the 1988 bus trip as a precedent, Philosopher’s Walks begin as part of the EECP evening seminar series. Two walks are offered, one fall quarter and one spring quarter.

The Ad Hoc Committee on By-Law Revision, headed by Bruce Ferguson, submits revised By- Laws. The two principal changes are to elect the Chair from within the Executive Committee (rather than directly from the Faculty) and to expand the Executive Committee from one to two science and two non-science representatives each. The changes are approved and an election is held. The two additional representatives are Kathryn Hatcher (science) and Walter Cook (non-science).

BIO 350 (Ecology) is dropped as a core course because it is not on the graduate level. This leads to the formation of a new core course, ETH/ZOO 620 (Ecological Concepts).
An ad hoc committee, under the direction of Peter Dress, is appointed to consider an
Undergraduate Certificate Program as well as a minor in Environmental Ethics (through the School of Environmental Design). These undergraduate programs would closely parallel the EECP Graduate Program. Walter Cook assumes responsibility for writing much of the Undergraduate Certificate Program. It is approved by the EECP Faculty, but the University’s funds are cut and the proposal does not advance.

Although a search committee is formed for a full-time environmental ethicist position and the position is advertised, efforts to obtain adequate funding fail and the position must be withdrawn.

Frederick Ferré is appointed Research Professor of Philosophy; this requires his resignation as EECP Chair and ends a seven-year term.

1991-1992
Frank Golley is elected Chair for the 1991-92 academic year. Golley also takes over as editor of EECPerspectives and renames the newsletter Environmental Ethics.

The EECP and the Fondazione Lanza co-sponsor The Second International Conference on Ethics and Environmental Policies. More than 100 people attend. The proceedings of the conference are gathered into a book, Ethics and Environmental Policies: Theory Meets Practice (Frederick Ferré and Peter Hartel, co-editors) which is published in Summer 1994 by The University of Georgia Press.

1992-1993
Albert Ike is elected Chair, the first of two 1-year terms.

1993-1994
Peter Hartel rewrites the proposal for an Undergraduate Certificate Program under the
sponsorship of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the School of
Environmental Design. The Undergraduate Certificate Program proposal is supported by Dean William Flatt (College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences), Dean Kerry Dawson (School of Environmental Design), former Dean Darrel Morrison (School of Environmental Design), and Dean Wyatt Anderson (Franklin College of Arts and Sciences). The proposal is subsequently approved.

The ETH prefix (Environmental Ethics) and its accompanying courses move from the College of Arts and Sciences to the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
An Ad Hoc Curriculum Committee is appointed to review the Certificate Program. Two adopted changes in the Program are: (a) graduate students will be required to pass an oral exam in environmental ethics as part of their Certificate; (b) EECP evening seminars will qualify for the required ETH 600. A new course, ETH 400, will cover the undergraduate Certificate Program students.

An EECP Endowment Fund is established through The University of Georgia Foundation.

A journal based on selected papers from EECP speakers, tentatively entitled Lectures in
Environmental Ethics, is proposed and approved.

The EECP hires student assistant Wendy Higbee. Higbee, an EECP student and a journalism graduate student, edits the Environmental Ethics newsletter, manages the EECP membership, and publicizes EECP events.

1994-1995
Frank Golley is elected Chair for the 1994-95 year.

The new Undergraduate Certificate Program begins in September.

The third EECP conference, International Conference on Environmental Ethics and the Global Marketplace, is held April 27-29, 1995, at the Georgia Center. The conference focuses on the apparent divergence of interest and opinions concerning environmental and economic goals. The conference papers are gathered into a book, Environmental Ethics and the Global Marketplace (Dorinda Dallmeyer and Albert Ike, co-editors), which is published in 1998 by The University of Georgia Press.

The Program newsletter reverts back to its original name, EECPerspectives.

The first EECP Handbook is published.

1995-1996
The Undergraduate Program awards its first Certificate to Dana Roach, a political science major.

The new journal, renamed Ethics and the Environment, is published Spring 1996. Victoria Davion becomes the editor.

The Program launches its Web site.

A new core course, Environmental Dispute Resolution (ETH/JUR 786), is offered as an option to one of the elective core courses for graduate students.

The EECP By-Laws are revised. The major change is one of renaming: the non-science
representative is now called a humanities representative, and the science representative is now called a natural science representative.

Al Ike is elected Chair, the first of three 1-year terms.

1996-1997
The positions of Membership Coordinator and Publicity Coordinator are eliminated and their duties transferred to the EECP student assistant, Wendy Higbee. Marsha Grizzle, a senior secretary in the School of Environmental Design, helps with other administrative duties.

1997-1998
At the invitation of Robert Hodson, director of the School of Marine Programs, the EECP joins the School as an administrative unit.

The EECP office is established in Room 132 of the Marine Sciences building. This is the first time the EECP has a "physical" home.

Paulo Figueiredo, a professor at the Universidade Metodista de Piraciccaba in Brazil, comes to the University as EECP’s first visiting scholar. Paulo returns to Brazil in February 1998 to start a program similar to the EECP at his university.

Allison Bruce replaces Wendy Higbee as EECP student assistant.

Philosophy professor Scott Kleiner, Women's Studies Associate Director Heather Kleiner (Scott's wife), and Gene Kleiner (Scott's brother) establish the Margaret Shippen Kleiner Graduate Environmental Ethics Fund in memory of their mother. Mrs. Kleiner was an avid naturalist, conservationist, horticulturalist, and gardener, and was honored by the Garden Club of America for lifetime achievement.

Dorinda Dallmeyer and several co-investigators are awarded a 2-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to develop the project "Values at Sea: Environmental Ethics for Marine Ecosystems." The grant will sponsor a marine environmental ethics course, an international conference on marine environmental ethics, a book of conference papers, and a workshop for college-level instructors on incorporating marine environmental ethics into course offerings. The grant also supports the EECP Seminar Series for 1998-99, which is themed "Marine Environmental Ethics." In conjunction with the NSF grant, Peter Hartel is awarded a grant from the University of Georgia Vice President for Academic Affairs to develop a State of the Art (SOTA) Conference on Marine Environmental Ethics in June 1999.

Frank Golley is elected Chair for the 1998-99 year.

1998-1999
The EECP establishes a part-time position for a Program Assistant to manage the EECP office, assist students and faculty, and edit EECPerspectives. Lisa Vogel is hired for the position in July 1998 and replaces student assistant Allison Bruce, who completes her studies at the University.

Like the rest of the University system, the EECP converts to the semester system. EECP faculty establish a number of new EECP courses: EETH 4000/6000 (Environmental Ethics Seminar); EETH 4010/8010 (Undergraduate and Graduate Research); EETH 4020/6020 (Directed Readings in Environmental Ethics); EETH/ECOL 4200 (Ecological Concepts, an undergraduate version of EETH/ECOL 6200); and a course in Marine Environmental Ethics, which is tested in Spring Semester 1999.

In June 1999, the State of the Art Conference in Marine Environmental Ethics is held at UGA, funded in part by a State of the Art grant from the UGA Vice President for Academic Affairs. Participants include environmental ethicists Bryan Norton and Baird Callicott, as well as other well-known scholars, activists and scientists.

EECP graduate student Chelsea Snelgrove is the first recipient of the Kleiner Award, which enables hm to travel to the 1999 Mid-South Philosophy Conference, in Memphis, Tennessee, to present a paper.

The EECP By-Laws are revised to remove two requirements that are no longer applicable: that a faculty member be on the University of Georgia Graduate Faculty and that changes to the Graduate Certificate requirements be approved by the University's Graduate Council. Other revisions delete the positions of Graduate School liaison and Undergraduate Program liaison from the Executive Committee and change the required approval for by-laws amendment from two-thirds of all current mmbers to two-thirds of members present at a called meeting.

Kathryn Hatcher is elected Chair for the 1999-2000 year.

1999-2000
The course Ecological Concepts (EETH/ECOL 4200/6200) is renamed Ecological Values and is modified to fulfill the ecology and environmental ethics requirements of the Certificate, as well as the EECP paper.

The EECP Faculty unanimously vote to move to the proposed College of the Environment should it come into existence.

In April 2000, the EECP and the Dean Rusk Center co-sponsor a conference, Governing the Global Ocean. The conference brings three eminent experts on the law of the sea and coastal zone management to UGA for a roundtable discussion.

EECP graduate student Sandra Crismon is hired as Program Assistant in May 2000.

EECP graduate student Cecilia Herles is the second recipient of the Kleiner Award, which allows her to present a paper at the International Interdisciplinary Conference on the Ethics of Gender at the University of Leeds (UK) in June 2000.

The theme for the 1999-2000 Seminar Series is environmental ethics and the media.

Dorinda Dallmeyer is elected Chair for the 2000-2001 year.

2000-2001
In Spring 2001, the EECP receives funds from the Office of Academic Affairs to offer a new course for EECP undergraduates, Introduction to Environmental Values and Policy (EETH 3230). The course will be taught for the first time in Spring 2002 by EECP Faculty member Clark Wolf. EETH 4200/6200 keeps the title Ecological Values, but now satisfies only the ecology requirement for the Certificate.

The theme of the 2000-2001 Seminar Series is environmental justice.