College of the Atlantic
...are about to change. Your views on the world...
“ ”
How do we help most? How do we best serve this broken world?… The holistic leap we need is within our grasp. And know that there is no better preparation for that grand project than your deeply interdisciplinary education in human ecology. You were made for this moment.
—NAOMI KLEIN Author and environmental activist, in her COA commencement address
We’re unlike any college
We’re a college built around a unique idea: human ecology.
A human-ecological perspective explores the relationships between humans and our environments, and stems from the premise that our world’s most pressing problems require solutions that cross the boundaries of academic disciplines and seek fresh combinations of ideas. Students come to COA because they want to be part of creating a more sustainable and humane world.
Here, you will be inspired and challenged by a close-knit community of faculty and peers. You will dig into complex questions in the classroom and the laboratory, the woods and waters of Acadia National Park, the conference halls of United Nations climate negotiations, the Gulf of Maine, or the milpas of rural Mexico. We’re so glad you’ve found us.
you’ve ever known
Each term you’ll choose your courses based on the subjects that intrigue you and the skills you need to achieve your goals. If you’ve already got a solid plan, you can hit the ground running in your very first term; or if you want to explore multiple subjects and interests, you’ll have ample opportunity to cast a wide net.
Your academic advisor will help you navigate your unique path, and our degree requirements (including writing, quantitative reasoning, an internship, and a capstone senior project) will provide the scaffolding to ensure you’ll develop the right skills to move confidently into the world of work or advanced study.
With so few required courses and so many possibilities to choose from, you’ll find that your curiosity, passion, and sense of wonder will be guiding forces in your COA education.
Start digging in at coa.edu/courses.
(These are just a few examples!)
Four-Dimensional Studio
Indigenous America
Economics of Cooperation, Networks, and Trust
Climate Justice
Geology and Humanity
Conspiracy Theory and Political Discourse
Sustenance
Animation
Introduction to Chaos and Fractals
International Wildlife Policy and Protected Areas
Soundscape
Philosophies of Good and Evil
Dramatic Writing for Stage and Screen
Strangers and Performance
Marine Mammal Biology
Literature of Exile
Environmental Chemistry
Making Art: Effort, Resilience, Persistence
Hydro Politics in a Thirsty World
Bees and Society
Sheep to Shawl
Diaspora and Unbelonging
Plants and People: Economic Botany
Ornithology
Winter
Ecology
Studio Printmaking
Leaving Capitalism
Histories of Race
Physics and Math of Sustainable Energy
Contemporary Artist as Researcher and Activist
Globalization/ Anti-Globalization
Whitewater/Whitepaper:
River Conservation and Recreation
Activating Spaces:
Installation Art
Mapping the Ocean’s Stories
Ceramics
Constitutional Law: Civil Rights and Liberties
Political Communication
Genetics
Disability Rights in Education
Latin American Literature: Border Stories
Herpetology
Graphic Design
Theatre and Activism in the US
Animal Behavior
Chemistry and Biology of Food and Drink
On Questions of Rights, Responsibility, and Reparations
Sex, Gender, Identity and Power Agroecology
Polar Ecology and Exploration
At COA, your learning will be interdisciplinary and driven by your passions.
Demons from the Depths
Documentary Video
Curiosity and Wonder: Design and Interpretation in the Museum
Audio Production and Engineering
Microeconomics for Business and Policy
Utopia/ Dystopia
Creative Writing
Conservation Biology
Transforming Food Systems
Drawing Mineral and Botanical Matter in the Forests of Maine
Thermodynamics
The Poet’s Profession: An Introduction to Poetry
COA has 350 students and 35 faculty, and we come from more than 40 US states and 45 countries around the world.
We’ve chosen the college’s size intentionally, to break down stereotypes and social barriers, and so our students, staff, and faculty will know each other as individuals and work closely and collaboratively both inside and outside of the classroom.
By the end of your first term you’ll recognize most everyone on campus, and you’ll be on a first-name basis with peers and professors alike. With an average class size of 12 and a student-to-faculty ratio of 10:1, you won’t be just another face in the crowd.
At COA you’ll spend a lot of time learning in the field.
Sometimes this means wading waistdeep into a quaking bog on a quest for glacial mud, and other times talking with lobstermen at a statewide fisheries forum. You might go to meet a legendary artist in their studio, pound the pavement on Capitol Hill, or spend a full term in the American West, Mexico, Taiwan, or France.
Learning in the field will keep your education relevant and real. It will stretch your knowledge and skills, and push you to understand new perspectives. You’ll also spend plenty of time in classrooms; but we’re serious about wanting a big part of your COA education to take place outside of them.
What do the Smithsonian Archives, Iceland Conservation Volunteers, and the United Nations Development Programme have in common?
They’re among the myriad places where COA students have done internships. An internship is one of the requirements for graduation; that means you’ll spend hundreds of hours gaining valuable professional experience in an area that aligns with your academic interests and intended career path. Some students meet future employers through their internships; others may discover their dream job isn’t the right fit after all.
Learn about our other degree requirements, including the term-long, student-designed senior project, at: coa.edu/degree-requirements.
Making
We put this into practice by developing college policies together—students, staff, and faculty. Through participatory committees and our weekly All College Meeting we hire faculty, plan new buildings, and approve course offerings as a community.
Working together, we make real decisions with real impacts on our lives at the college. This work can be empowering, and sometimes frustrating, illuminating, or just plain messy—like it is in the real world.
Community governance gives us opportunities to learn about ourselves and about collaborative decision making, complex institutions, and patience.
#1 Green College in America in 2016, 2017, and 2018 (as ranked by the Princeton
As you might expect from a college of human ecology, sustainability is central to just about everything we do.
Together we wrestle with putting our humanecological values into action on campus and in the world, and in the process we often find ourselves changing not just light bulbs but also our conceptions of what it means to be green.
From the food we eat to the energy we consume, the courses we teach, and the community we build together, our commitment to environmental and social justice is an effort that engages faculty, staff, and students in the intellectual and practical life of the college.
The COA campus has a range of facilities and resources for students. The Davis Center for Human Ecology is home to science labs, art studios, a GIS lab, classrooms, and more. Our greenhouses have live plant species from more than 40 different families and are used for an array of academic projects. In the COA/Acadia National Park Herbarium you’ll find more than 15,000 preserved plant specimens documenting Maine’s coastal region and beyond.
The Gates Community Center hosts speakers, concerts, and theatrical performances. Thorndike Library provides access to academic resources both near and far, and its reading room and stacks are popular spots for quiet study. The Dorr Museum of Natural History investigates, interprets, and displays the natural world of Maine through exhibits designed and produced by COA students.
Deering Common Community Center includes health and counseling services, as well as a meditation room, student lounge, and meeting spaces with waterfront views. Academic services include our writing center, computer lab, and the office of internships and career development.
Our two organic farms provide experiential learning opportunities in sustainable agriculture and food systems, and also feature on our dining hall menus. On any given day, you may find students doing chores at Peggy Rockefeller Farm, hauling water to sheep, or feeding cows. A few miles away, others may be harvesting carrots and cabbage from Beech Hill Farm’s vegetable fields.
Classes in areas such as food systems, drawing, agroecology, and earth science make use of the farms and their facilities, and you’ll find food from both farms on your plate year round.
(Two of these, too.)
Great Duck Island and Mount Desert Rock extend our campus 17 and 25 miles out to sea, respectively. Each year, groups of intrepid students spend their summers at our island research stations monitoring nesting seabirds, conducting wildlife censuses, photo-identifying finback and humpback whales, and conducting other research with faculty and Allied Whale, our marine mammal research group.
At COA, you’ll have multiple opportunities to immerse yourself in new places, new cultures, and new learning experiences.
Every winter our Yucatán program brings students to Mexico for three months of language and cultural immersion. There they live with host families and delve into Yucatecan and Mayan history, culture, and daily life. Each year students also have the opportunity to spend a term in Vichy, France, learning French and exploring subjects ranging from European politics to film, food, and art.
During your time at COA there will be a range of other courses that include international travel, whether it’s trekking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route across Europe, traveling to the next United Nations Conference of the Parties to engage in international climate negotiations, studying tropical ecology in Costa Rica, or exploring the relationship between place and people in Japan.
You don’t have to study abroad at COA, but we encourage it! And we’ll provide you with an $1,800 expeditionary fund to help make it happen.
Studying painting, glass blowing, ceramics, and the intersection of psychology and art
Canada
Attending the United Nations Biodiversity Conference
Interning as a naturalist aboard tourism excursions
Telling stories and exploring humanness through the lens of dance
Creating a multimedia installation exploring the relationship between winter and rest for both farmers and the land
Creating an after-school program to help pre-teens develop a solution to a community issue
Constructing a 15-foot, wood-canvas canoe
Mexico
Interning in educational sexology; Leading a movement workshop at Gathering: Autonomies in Practice festival
Chile
Learning wilderness and leadership skills in Patagonia
Sailing, and snorkeling, from the Caribbean to Tahiti via Panama, Galapagos, and the Marquesas
Meeting community who have experienced the Mammalian Diving Reflex Theatre Company
Maine
Wood-firing pottery
Maryland
Studying economic impacts of battlefield preservation, historical tourism, Civil War marketing, and social capital
Costa rica
Examining ecology and biotic diversity in key habitats
Working at a national park
Researching deconstruction of the “Latin America” idea
Every COA student receives an $1,800 expeditionary fund to use towards journeys at home or abroad.
Here's what some students have done with their expeditionary funding.
France
Participating in French language immersion program
Germany
Merging food systems with textile art and visiting professional quilters
Egypt
Spain
Exploring the crossroads of wine/fermentation, agriculture, food, local culture, stories, and history
Studying comparative global politics
Kazakhstan
Developing bilingual educational software to present Kazakh culture and history to high school students
Creating a book about the granite of coastal Maine
Mozambique
Surveying coral, invertebrate, and fish species while completing a Divemaster diving internship
India
Working on a farm while conducting interviews for a documentary
Japan
Exploring the relationship between place and people of Osakikamijima island
Designing a nine-week farm immersion curriculum surrounding regenerative agriculture, climate justice, ecology, and experiential skills
Performing market research on teas from Niger and soda sweetened with honey
Monitoring insect infestations in greenhouses
As a COA student your backyard will open onto the trails and granite-domed mountains of Acadia National Park, while out your front door you’ll greet the island-studded waters of Frenchman Bay. You’ll hear frogs calling in spring, wake up to the smell of the ocean, learn the ebb and flow of the tides, and watch the constellations change with the seasons.
The town of Bar Harbor is a friendly, yearround community of 6,000 with a notable twist: each summer millions of visitors flock here for vacation. The bookstore, second-hand shop, coffee shops, cinemas, natural foods store, outdoor gear supplier, and public library, all within a mile of campus, will likely be regular destinations during your years at COA.
Living next to a national park means there are endless opportunities for outdoor recreation and experiential learning. Our Outdoor Program organizes regular hiking and paddling trips and provides outdoor gear to borrow for your own adventures. When you arrive on campus for your first term we’ll give you a trail map; we trust you’ll put it to good use.
Mount Desert Island is located within the traditional lands of the Wabanaki people.
On any given day you might build a bike, participate in a poetry slam, play a pickup game of soccer, sit in on a lecture, attend a rehearsal, or ski through Acadia National Park.
We’re not just learning in class, we’re also learning how to live together in community and how to become the best versions of ourselves. The close ties you’ll forge with friends, classmates, faculty, and staff will enrich and energize you long after graduation.
Our residences are a mix of former seaside estates and newer dwellings built by the college to encourage community living and meet high environmental standards. Each house has its own character and sense of community, as well as a resident advisor (RA)—an older student tasked with facilitating house responsibilities and cohesion. The RAs also serve as a support system for new students as they adjust to college life. All first-year students live on campus; many transfer and returning students rent houses and apartments in the village of Bar Harbor, a short walk or bike ride away from campus. With the opening of a new residence hall on campus, the COA Mount Desert Center apartments in Northeast Harbor, and recent housing purchases nearby, more than 80 percent of the student body are able to live in college-owned housing.
Blair Dining Hall, affectionately known as Take-A-Break (or TAB), is a busy hub at the center of campus Monday through Friday. We serve three meals a day and they’re all made from scratch, with more than 30% of ingredients sourced locally and sustainably, and with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options at every meal. If the day’s TAB menu doesn’t suit your fancy, you can grab a smoothie, salad, soup, sandwich, or made-to-order personal pizza at Sea Urchin Café.
There are so many ways to stay busy in and out of class, even at a college without any sports teams. Students are the drivers of most on-campus activities—if it’s not already happening, you can start it!
Every student receives a membership to the local YMCA, which provides access to a pool, fitness room, indoor track, and offerings like volleyball, basketball, and exercise classes.
Recent student clubs and activities include:
Aurora Ballealis
Annual midwinter formal
Badminton
Bar Island Swim
Annual fall event
Bateau
Letterpress publisher
Black Fly
Trail Runners
Circus Club
Dance Club
[Earth]
Environmental justice
Fiber Arts Club
Foraging Club
Fútbol/Soccer
Games Club
Improv Club
Mending Matters
Musical
Collaboration Club
Open Mic
Ornithological
Society
Outing Program
Photography Club
Share the Harvest Food access group
Spanish Breakfast Club
Water Polo
Woodworking
Yoga
Zero Waste Club
Your COA education will give you the tools, experience, and confidence to create an intentional career that combines your passions, talents, and desire to make a difference.
Our job is to give you everything you need to discover and prepare for your future path. The career development office is here to support you as you pursue internships, explore job opportunities, and consider graduate school. You’ll leave COA with a portfolio of work and skills, as well as a team of mentors and advisors who are invested in your success.
College of the Atlantic alumni build careers across a vast array of fields, from medical doctors to farmers, artisans to entrepreneurs, scientists to lawyers, policy makers, designers, and educators. One of the things they share is the desire to lead purposeful, meaningful lives.
COA is a place that truly encourages you to find your own path and make a meaningful impact. It’s not just about getting a degree; it’s about discovering who you are and what you’re passionate about, surrounded by a community that supports and challenges you every step of the way.
The interdisciplinary and impactfocused approach encouraged me to combine my interests in marine science and education with a strong emphasis on finding innovative solutions to environmental challenges—exactly what I do now with ocean exploration.
ALLISON FUNDIS ‘03 Chief operating officer, Ocean Exploration Trust
My education at COA was exactly what I needed to help prepare me for my career. I was not just one of many students who had gone through a cookie cutter program. I came out more focused on my passions. COA made me more ME. Unique classes, extra time with professors, and the push to think more individually with the help of engaged and invested mentors blended together to give me the skills and desire to follow my dreams of being a cartoonist.
RYAN T. HIGGINS ‘06
The New York Times bestselling children’s book author
COA is a place where you will feel seen and appreciated. It’s a place where you will discover some of your greatest strengths as a student and as a person. My COA education gave me the freedom to explore and develop my interests in multiple disciplines. Today, I am doing research on climateresilient agriculture and food security, and teaching courses focused on international development and political ecology. My education at COA prepared me for that.
HELENA SHILOMBOLENI ‘09 Assistant
professor in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo
My ability to think critically, compassionately, and creatively flourished thanks to the incredible professors and courses offered at COA. My education has helped me tremendously as a nonprofit leader, life long learner, and new dad. I constantly draw upon the lessons and skills I learned from the faculty. I feel fortunate to say that they were all not only incredible teachers but role models.
NOAH
ROSENBERG ‘18
Director
of marketing and communications, Improve Your Tomorrow, Inc.
COA alumni work in a range of fields encompassing science, art, education, media, business, law, government, health, and more.
Ivy Enoch ’18
Food security advocacy manager
HUNGER FREE VERMONT
Hannah Semler ’06
CEO/co-founder of FarmDrop, podcaster
“WHAT IS AMERICAN FOOD?”
PODCAST
MSc in international food business and consumer studies, University of Kassel
Jessica Arseneau ’18
Museum educator, interpreter/animator
NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA
MA in museology/museum studies, Université du Québec en Outaouais
Danielle Rose Byrd ’05
Woodcarver and sculptor
Aaron Jonah Lewis ’05
Recording artist, teacher, banjo and fiddle virtuoso
Eamonn Hutton ’05
Founder + Principal
TANDEM LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS, LLC
MLA, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Jolie Lau ‘19
Facade engineer and certified passive house consultant
ARUP GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
MSc in architectural engineering: environmental design, University of Bath
Sarah Heller ‘09
Founder of Fiddleheads Forest School at University of Washington Botanic Gardens
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
MEd in science education, University of Washington
Hazel Stark ’11
Co-founder, co-chief executive officer, naturalist educator, Registered Maine Guide
MAINE OUTDOOR SCHOOL
PSM in resource management and conservation, Antioch University New England
Chloe Chen-Kraus ‘14
Freshwater programs associate
THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
PhD in anthropology, Yale University
Aneesa Khan ’18
Senior communications officer
OIL CHANGE INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH, COMMUNICATIONS, AND ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION
MS in environmental policy and regulation, London School of Economics and Political Science
Khadeeja Naseem ‘10
Senior advisor on loss and damage and climate negotiations, former Maldives minister of state for environment, climate change, and technology
INTERNATIONAL PEACE INSTITUTE
MC-ENV in climate policy, University of Melbourne
Left: Hannah Semler ‘06
Facing page, clockwise from top left: Nishad Jayasundara ’05, Danielle Rose Byrd ‘05, Aaron Jonah Lewis ‘05, Chellie Pingree ‘79, Jolie Lau ‘19, Abe Noe-Hays ’00
Agim Mazreku ’20
Environmental policy analyst and senior advisor to The Republic of Kosovo Ministry of Environment
UNITED NATIONS
DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
MS in climate and policy, Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability
Chellie Pingree ’79
Congresswoman
US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Cecily Swinburne ’09
Emergency physician
NORTHERN LIGHT EASTERN
MAINE MEDICAL CENTER
MD, Tufts University School of Medicine
Weronika Grabowska ‘17
Associate epidemiologist
CHARITÉ - UNIVERSITY
MEDICINE BERLIN
MPH in epidemiology/biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health
Melissa Carroll ’00
Veterinarian
MAINE COAST VETERINARY HOSPITAL
DVM, Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine
Leland Moore ’10
Assistant attorney general
CONNECTICUT OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
JD, Quinnipiac University School of Law
Rachel Briggs ’13
Staff attorney
CONSERVATION LAW
FOUNDATION
JD, Lewis & Clark Law School
Chris Tremblay ’03
Marine mammal research biologist
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE
MSc in marine biology and biologial oceanography, University of Maine School of Marine Sciences
Nicole Cabana ’99
Deputy director
NOAA NORTHEAST FISHERIES
SCIENCE CENTER
MS in engineering, University of Colorado
Marc Fawcett-Atkinson ’17
Investigative reporter covering food, climate, plastics, and the environment
CANADA’S NATIONAL OBSERVER
MA in journalism, University of British Columbia
Amy Toensing ’93
National Geographic Explorer, visual journalist, and contributing photographer
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
MA in photojournalism, Ohio University
Kaija Klauder ’11
Lead technician
DENALI NATIONAL PARK WOLF & CARIBOU RESEARCH PROJECTS
MS, University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
Nishad Jayasundara ’05
Assistant professor, global environmental health
DUKE UNIVERSITY’S NICHOLAS SCHOOL OF THE ENVIRONMENT
PhD in biological science, Stanford University
Abe Noe-Hays ’00
Co-founder/research director
RICH EARTH INSTITUTE
83% receive need-based financial aid
10:1 student:faculty 100% complete internships
Of our 350 students, approximately 25% are international, representing more than 45 countries. The rest come from 40 states including 11% from here in Maine. More than 50% of students will have an international experience while at COA.
83% of COA students receive need-based financial aid, primarily in the form of institutional scholarships. Our students graduate with an average debt of $27,000, well below the national average.
All students will complete an INTERNSHIP at a workplace in their field. They’ll also undertake a capstone SENIOR PROJECT. These are two of many ways students apply their learning to the real world.
most economically diverse college in northern
New England
The Princeton Review has named us AMERICA’S GREENEST COLLEGE for eight years in a row. Students are involved in all aspects of the college’s sustainability initiatives.
Within one year of graduation, 97% OF COA ALUMNI go on to graduate school or are employed. Within five years of graduation, 60% OF GRADUATES pursue MASTER’S OR DOCTORAL degrees.
THE PRINCETON REVIEW
ranks us Top 25 for
LGBTQ-Friendly Green Matters:
Everyone Cares About Conservation
Best Campus Food
Best Quality of Life
Friendliest Students
Great Financial Aid
Most Active Student Government
Most Engaged in Community Service
Professors Get High Marks
Students Study the Most
Their Students Love These Colleges
Town-Gown Relations are Great
The academic year operates on a TRIMESTER SCHEDULE with fall, winter, and spring terms, each 10 WEEKS long. Students take 3 CLASSES per term.
COA approaches the admission process much as we approach learning: with a focus on the individual strengths of each student.
Your application will be read by several members of our admission committee, which includes students, faculty, and admission staff.
COA does not have an application fee and standardized test scores are optional. You can apply using either the Common Application or the COA application. A complete application includes:
Application form with essays
Two teacher recommendations
School report and counselor recommendation (first-year students only)
Official transcripts of all academic work