Program Overview
The Marine Studies Consortium teaches evening undergraduate courses in marine/aquatic sciences and environmental management. The Consortium is an association of Massachusetts higher education and research institutions whose mission is to increase understanding of coastal and marine ecosystems, and to promote policies that protect aquatic resources.
Academic Program
Our undergraduate academic program offers unique learning opportunities in marine and aquatic sciences, environmental policy, and environmental management. Our Biology of Fishes course, offered at the New England Aquarium, may be the only ichthyology course in the world where students use the resources of a major aquarium at every class meeting. Other courses, such as Cetacean Biology and Conservation, Water Resources Management, and Maritime History of New England, are offered nowhere else in New England at the undergraduate level. Courses are held during the evenings on the campuses of our member institutions. Undergraduate academic credit is also available to students from the general public through arrangements with Consortium member schools.
Decentralized Wastewater Management Program
The Consortium also provides planning tools that can help solve small-community wastewater management problems. In areas where population is not dense enough to make sewers economical, managed networks of on-site wastewater treatment systems (septic systems or clustered on-site technologies) can be an effective, affordable alternative. The Task Force for Decentralized Wastewater Management (directed by the Marine Studies Consortium) has produced four municipal guidance documents that can help solve the management, planning, siting & design, and accountability challenges of decentralized systems.We also help produce forums and workshops on various acpects of decentralized wastewater management.
Marine Studies Consortium Member Institutions
Assumption College, Bentley College, Brandeis University, Framingham State College, Lesley University, Merrimack College, New England Aquarium, Northeastern University, Pine Manor College, Salem State College, Stonehill College, Suffolk University, Tufts University, University of Massachusetts/ Boston, Wheaton College, Wellesley College, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Sherborn, MA 01770
781-444-3643
rstern at jhu.edu