The Center for Culture, History, and Environment (CHE) is at the forefront of some of the most exciting environmental humanities and social science scholarship focusing on the entangled histories of nature and culture. CHE Associates seek to understand how knowledge, beliefs, political economy, and culture have shaped, and been shaped by, the environment.
Get to Know CHE
What We Do
The Center for Culture, History, and Environment facilitates interdisciplinary (humanistic and scientific) environmental research, learning, and service aimed at advancing understanding of environmental change within historical, social, and/or cultural contexts.
Our Academic Programs
CHE offers a graduate certificate and PhD minor. The goal of these programs is to provide graduate students with knowledge and skills to solve a myriad of puzzles regarding how and why people relate to, use, change, and value the natural environment.
Our Associates
The Center for Culture, History, and Environment is home to graduate, faculty, and community Associates spanning numerous disciplines. Together, our varied perspectives, approaches, and interests create a rich environment for learning and collective action.
Become a CHE Associate
The Center for Culture, History, and Environment welcomes scholars, scientists, and community members across disciplinary traditions to join us in pursuit of better understanding human dimensions of environmental issues across time and space.
Edge Effects
The Center for Culture, History, and Environment is a proud supporter of Edge Effects, a digital magazine and podcast produced by CHE graduate students at UW-Madison. Edge Effects offers a wide array of content relating to environmental and cultural change across the full sweep of human history. It seeks to invite and cultivate a broad readership and authorship that spans a range of political and cultural perspectives.