Beginnings

In 1991, the Regents of the University of California gave their approval to establish the School of Environmental Science and Management at UC Santa Barbara. Plans for a new building to house the School were begun a year later. The time was right. Growing world population and rising standards of living were placing ever-increasing demands on the earth’s limited resources and unprecedented strains on its natural systems. Environmental challenges were escalating in number and complexity. Meanwhile, extraordinary technological advances – from increasingly powerful computers to advanced communication networks and remote satellite sensing capabilities – had led to breakthroughs in mapping and monitoring the Earth’s resources.

Information resulting from these transformational technologies led to a deeper understanding of the environment as a series of interdependent systems and underscored the intricate links between the status of human systems and the state of the natural world. Further, scientists had begun to understand the prominent role that humans play in shaping the environment, whether in terms of ocean degradation, pollution, climate change, or loss of biodiversity. We had entered the era of "coupled" systems, when it would be meaningless to study the environment without also studying the human actions that impact it.

With this more integrated view of the environment came the need for a new kind of solution-oriented environmental professional, one who would be highly trained in the quantitative, multidisciplinary analysis of environmental problems and combine expertise in a range of methodologies with a solid understanding of the political, economic, and social dimensions of environmental decision-making.

The School was created as a center of related research and a crossroads where prominent leaders, thinkers, practitioners, and innovators could convene to present, discuss, and debate new findings and evolving knowledge in the critical disciplines related to environmental science and management.

Sense of Place

Backed by the Santa Ynez Mountains and overlooking the Pacific Ocean, UC Santa Barbara would seem the ideal setting for such a school, and it is. Often considered the birthplace of modern environmentalism, Santa Barbara itself extends the context of a school dedicated to responsible stewardship of Earth’s natural resources. In the end, however, it was neither the oceanside setting nor the high level of local environmental awareness that convinced the Regents to choose Santa Barbara as the site of the UC system's first and, to date, only school of environmental management.

Rather, the Regents based their decision on UCSB’s strong reputation as a center of interdisciplinary studies and the strength of its numerous other schools and departments. Nationally recognized programs in the natural and social sciences – geography, earth sciences, engineering, and economics, to name a few – would provide a solid foundation for the School’s integrated approach, providing facilities and, most importantly, faculty who could take on joint or temporary appointments with the new School, complementing and extending the reach of its own newly hired full-time faculty.

In 1994, Jeff Dozier, professor of earth systems science, became the School’s first dean, and a master's program was designed to offer courses in natural and social sciences, as well as ecology, management, and risk assessment. The School appointed its first faculty members in 1995, accepted its first master’s students in 1996, and graduated its inaugural class of 20 in 1998. The Ph.D. program was added two years later and graduated its first three students in 2002. There are now approximately 125 master’s students in the School, equally divided between first- and second-years, and 30 Ph.D. students.

In 1997, after receiving a major gift from the Donald Bren Foundation to provide funding for endowed faculty chairs, faculty scholars, visiting lecturers, conferences, and student support, the School was renamed the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. Construction of Bren Hall began a year later, and the building opened in April 2002 as a model of sustainable design and construction. It has since won numerous awards, including the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Platinum Award – the highest certification possible – and recognition as the greenest laboratory building in the United States. Home to classrooms, lecture halls, and a variety of other state-of-the-art facilities and labs, it has been featured in a range of publications and become a benchmark of sustainable design and construction.

In fall 2000, as construction moved forward and after six years as Dean, Dr. Dozier returned to full-time teaching at the Bren School, and Dennis Aigner, formerly Dean of the Graduate School of Management at UC Irvine, was appointed the School’s second Dean. Dr. Aigner brought an increased focus on the corporate and legal aspects of environmental problem solving and continued to expand the vision of the School as a leader in cutting-edge research and integrated environmental solutions. After completing his five-year term in summer 2005, Dr. Aigner was succeeded by Bren Professor John Melack, who served as Acting Dean for six months prior to the arrival of Ernst von Weizsäcker who became Dean in January 2006.

Arriving from the German Parliament, where he headed the environmental committee, Dr. von Weizsäcker has brought a commitment to maintaining the School’s elite national standing and a keen interest in the emerging field of resource productivity.