Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies

Au Sable is the Biological Sciences stewardship field station for more than 60 affiliated Christian Colleges and Universities within the United States and Canada (See www.ausable.org).  It has campuses located near Mancelona in the beautiful lake country of Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula (Great Lakes Campus) and on Whidbey Island located in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains northwest of Seattle, Washington (Pacific Rim Campus).  Additional Au Sable courses are offered through ECHO, Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (agricultural Missions) and at Au Sable-India through Bishop Heber College, a Christian College in Southern India. Because Messiah is an affiliated institution, Au Sable courses are treated as Messiah College courses and Au Sable faculty are included as adjunct Messiah faculty.  Students register through Messiah and pay Messiah's tuition rate.  Substantial scholarship help is available through Au Sable.  Since 1995, between 20 and 30 Messiah students have annually studied at one of the Au Sable campuses.

In addition to the regular course offerings, participating students may complete a certificate program through Au Sable and upon graduation from Messiah College receive one or more of the following Au Sable certificates: Naturalist, Stewardship Ecologist, Land Resources Analyst, Water Resources Analyst, or Environmental Analyst. 

Students interested in Environmental Education should be aware that Au Sable offers an Environmental Education Program for several thousand grade school children in Northern Michigan during the regular school year.  As part of this program, Messiah students may apply for an Environmental Education Internship.  These are available from September through May.  Interns are trained in the philosophy and principles of environmental education, current learning theory, methods of effectively communicating in the field and classroom settings, and preparation for teaching the Au Sable K-12 environmental studies curriculum.  Following the week-long training session, interns will log over 150 teaching hours within each internship session.  Special emphasis is placed on the role of environmental education in carrying out our mandate as stewards of God's creation.  Interns receive housing plus a modest weekly stipend.

Additional Au Sable Internships available to Messiah students include the Agricultural Missions Internship (Florida), Eden Project Internship (United Kingdom), Environmental Chemistry Internship (Au Sable Great Lakes), Environmental Education (Lebanon), Estuarine Ecology (Portugal), Royal Botanic Garden (United Kingdom), Sustainable Agriculture (Au Sable Great Lakes), and Urban Conservation and Environmental Education (United Kingdom).

Messiah Faculty members Drs. Joseph Sheldon and David Foster serve on the Au Sable summer teaching faculty at the Pacific Rim campus. Dr. Sheldon teaches the Field Biology of the Pacific Northwest while Dr. Foster offers the Forest Ecology course.

Messiah Students interested in the Au Sable Program should contact Dr. Joseph K. Sheldon of Messiah's Biological Sciences Department.