The Goodwin-Niering Center is a natural outgrowth of a series of traditions dating to the establishment of the Connecticut College Arboretum in 1931. Now encompassing over 750 acres of College property, the Arboretum's surrounding natural areas have nurtured generations of faculty and students in ecology, environmental teaching and field research.
Learn more about the College's environmental history in this timeline called ConnecticutCollegeEnvironmentalRoots (Reprinted from the Fall 2003 issue of CC: Connecticut College Magazine).
In 1968, the College established one of the nation's first environmental majors, Human Ecology, now called Environmental Studies. With the addition of many field-orientated majors in botany and biology, the corps of environmentally concerned students continued to grow. The Center was formed in 1993 to help coordinate and facilitate the College's many environmental endeavors.