Capsule History of the NEES Gathering

The idea of a national gathering of representatives of Environmental Studies and environmental education programs developed during a conversation between David Orr (then director of the Meadowcreek Project in Stone County, Arkansas) and Harold Ward (director of the Center for Environmental Studies, Brown University) in January of 1984. The first Meadowcreek conference was held that fall, and was attended by a number of directors of New England programs.

During the two-hour van ride from Meadowcreek to the Little Rock airport after that first conference, some of the New England directors, reflecting on the value they had found in the discussions, decided to hold regional meetings, the first of which was held at Williams in the spring of 1985. At that time, only representatives of New England schools attended, and the group was called the New England Environmental Studies (NEES) group. The sequence of fall meetings at Meadowcreek and spring meetings at various New England schools continued until David Orr left Meadowcreek; the last meeting there was in the fall of 1989. NEES continued to meet in the spring for three more years, and then concluded that a fall meeting time was preferable (which explains meeting twice in 1993).

Somewhere during this period, schools outside of New England began to attend, and the NEES acronym was reinterpreted to mean the North East Environmental Studies group. Also at about this time, the NEES listserv was established, and soon replaced s-mail correspondence as the primary connective mechanism.

The group has steadfastly resisted adoption of membership procedures, debates over mission statements, election of officers, adoption of bylaws and payment of dues, which may explain its longevity and the enthusiasm of those who attend the gatherings. It has served as a kind of extended academic unit, with free sharing of ideas and information between programs and increasingly as an occasion for reunion of valued colleagues.

NEES Gathering Dates and Locations

1985 (spring) Williams
1986 (spring) Brown
1987 (spring) Dartmouth
1988 (spring) Vermont
1989 (spring) Bowdoin
1990 (spring) New Hampshire
1990 (fall) Brown
1991 (spring) Tufts
1992 (spring) Middlebury
1993 (spring) Colby
1993 (fall) College of the Atlantic
1994 Vermont Law School/Dartmouth
1995 Allegheny
1996 St. Lawrence
1997 Dickinson
1998 Keene State
1999 Bucknell
2000 Williams
2001 Skidmore
2002 Brown

This chronology was prepared by Harold Ward in November 2000, with the help of his friends.