Natural History Field Quarter
ABOUT FIELD QUARTER
Started by Ken Norris in 1973, Natural History Field Quarter is a 15-unit Environmental Studies class taught each spring quarter. While camping at UC’s Natural Reserves, the class focuses on California natural history and land management. Graduates gain career skills relevant to field ecology, education, science illustration, writing, and environmental policy & management. Applications are required and scholarships are available. The class is open to ALL majors.
SPRING 2025 CLASS
Applications for this year’s course will be due in the Fall Quarter by Sunday November 3th at midnight. Students accepted into the course may then apply for a scholarship. For more information, peruse this site, contact Chris Lay at (831) 459-4763 or email at cml@ucsc.edu. Also, please attend our NHFQ info night on Thursday October 17 from 7-8:30pm at the Norris Center in Natural Sciences 2 Room 233. We encourage everyone to attend in-person if you can. If you can’t attend in-person, here is a zoom link for the meeting.
ALUMNI QUOTES
“Before Field Quarter, I had no idea what I wanted to do, cared deeply for the environment but lacked expertise and skill to feel competent to make any real impact in a professional manner. Now that I have completed the Field Quarter, I work as a Naturalist full-time. In my eyes it’s all because of Field Quarter, which filled me with equal parts passion, wonder, dedication, and a practical skill set to transform my passion into environmental change.”
Support NHFQ
Your support of Natural History Field Quarter helps us make this transformational course available to more of our future environmental stewards.
Visit our Support Us page to make donations to the NHFQ Scholarship Fund, Current Use Fund and more!
Alumni Resources
There is a large active network of Natural History Field Quarter alumni. The endowments that support both the Ken Norris Center for Natural History and the current NHFQ class were spearheaded by a dedicated group of NHFQ alumni. An even larger group of alumni contributed to Field Quarter’s endowed student scholarship fund. The alumni group has stayed in contact through past reunion gatherings, including a 20 year reunion in the early 1990s, a 40 year reunion in 2012, and a 45 year reunion in 2017. They also stay in contact through quarterly newsletters and an active Facebook page. If you’re an alumni and want to be added to our alumni newsletter list or to our Facebook page, please contact Norris Center director Chris Lay at cml@ucsc.edu.
NHFQ History
In 1973, the late professor Ken Norris started a field-based environmental studies class called Natural History Field Quarter (NHFQ). “We’re off on the greatest adventure of our lives!” he would exclaim as they piled into a big blue bus headed toward the Mojave Desert.