Nash takes on climate change in Ivy League master’s program
Jillian Drury Nash graduated from Cornell in 2019, and now she’s enrolled in a fast-paced Climate and Society master’s program at an Ivy League school–Columbia University’s newly formed Climate School.
And you know what she uses to help her during class?
Her notebooks from her environmental studies courses at Cornell College.
“I have my notebook from my Climate Change class that I took with Rhawn Denniston and I bring it to my Paleoclimate class every week because I reference my old notes,” Nash said. “Something will ring a bell, and I will flip back through the pages. The curriculum at Cornell really did prepare me for this program, which I’m incredibly grateful for.”
Nash graduated with a degree in environmental studies from Cornell, which is a major that has developed further over the last couple of years. Instead of one option, students can now choose one of two, more tailored, majors revolving around climate studies, including environmental science and sustainability–which includes more STEM and research-based classes–or environmental justice and sustainability–which includes more social science and humanities classes.
Nash minored in biology at Cornell and enjoys the science side of studying climate change, but she enjoys the field of climate change because it’s something that can be explored from just about any angle. At Cornell, she studied climate change through a lens of economics, philosophy, sociology, and geology.
“I think that’s the beauty of a liberal arts education,” Nash said. “You are given so much freedom to study whatever you want and tailor your education to what you think is best for you.”
One Course At A Time
She says she often notices her classmates struggling with the fast pace of her current program, but the block plan prepared her well. Nash learned a lot in her 18-day courses on the One Course At A Time schedule, and taking on a one-year master’s course hasn’t been a problem for her.
“We have so much to learn in such a small amount of time,” Nash said. “I do kind of think I have a competitive edge over my classmates who are used to this nice long semester schedule and all this time.”
Nash is exploring her career options but is interested in climate modeling and paleoclimate research. She wants to play her part in finding solutions to the issues.
“Climate change touches every single thing in our life,” Nash said. “Even if we manage to get our act together and start to make some serious changes, we are going to have to make informed policy decisions, stick with it, and follow through with continual research to see if what we are doing is doing enough.”
Looking Back
Nash transferred to Cornell from a big university and completed two years on the Hilltop. She says she struggled at her first school but found her place at Cornell. Even with working long hours at an off-campus job and also at Cole Library, she brought up her GPA dramatically and found support.
“Cornell was the perfect place for me, and I still kick myself over and over again for not realizing it was as an option immediately out of high school. I always think about how different my life could have been if I hadn’t spent those three years at a university being miserable and struggling personally and academically. The curriculum suited me, the schedule suited me, and the professors were all incredible–everyone was nothing but supportively kind. And I genuinely think if I hadn’t transferred, I probably would never have graduated. I would have just dropped out and given up on college altogether, which is a really sad thought now as I’m sitting here as someone in a master’s program at an ivy league school.”
This Tennessee native who is now living in New York City says if she could move anywhere and never leave, she’d move back to Mount Vernon in a heartbeat. She’s proud of her time on the Hilltop, and we’re proud of the things she is accomplishing.
Nash will finish her master’s program in October 2023.
