Reimagining liberal arts education for an age of climate change
Gull Island is a new immersive liberal arts program located on remote islands in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Our mission is to prepare a new generation for democratic citizenship and care of the earth through place-based learning rooted in rigorous academics, physical labor, and student self-governance.
Our Approach
In an age of climate change and ecological transformation, we need new ways to grapple with questions at the heart of a liberal arts education: How should we live? What do we value? What do we owe to others as human beings and citizens?
​
In our programs, students grow as leaders and thinkers by assuming real responsibility for a remarkable coastal locale, through place-based academic inquiry, physical labor, and self-governance.
Our Programs
We run a multi-week, tuition-free program in May-June for advanced undergraduates on islands in Buzzards Bay. We also develop partnership programs that bring our model of three-pillared learning to a range of students at public, private, and community colleges.
For students:
For prospective institutional partners:
Gull Island Institute in the News:
The Boston Globe profiles the Gull Island Institute and its inaugural Buzzards Bay Term – the Junemester 2023.
"The Climate is Changing: How Should the Liberal Arts Respond?" Public Books. A transcript of the 2024 Yale Terry Forum, moderated by Institute Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors Ana Keilson and Justin Reynolds. In conversation with J.T. Roane (Rutgers), Stephanie Pfirman (Arizona State), Hi’ilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart (Kanaka Maoli) (Yale), Gregory Marks (Hostos, CUNY), and Bryan Garsten (Yale).
"For More Civil Campuses, Involve Students in Running Them" Times Higher Education. Gull Island alums Nathan Badger and Maya Rosen draw on their experience in the 2024 Buzzards Bay Term.
​Institute Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors Ana Keilson and Justin Reynolds moderate the 2024 Yale Terry Forum on "The Place of the Liberal Arts in a Changing Climate".
​​​​
Jacob Hundt, Founder and Executive Director of Thoreau College, interviews Gull Island Co-EDs on the Microcollege podcast. ​​
​
"Can Liberal Arts Education Meet the Climate Crisis? One Approach" Blog of American Philosophical Association. Katherine Cassese (BBT '23) talks with Ana Keilson and Justin Reynolds about the state of the liberal arts, thinking on islands, the climate crisis, the meaning of work, and much else.
Gull Island Institute does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), citizenship, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in the administration of any of its educational programs, admissions policies, financial aid, and other related policies and programs, as well as volunteer and employment-related policies and activities.