Founded in 1969, College of the Atlantic was the first college in the U.S. to focus exclusively on the relationship between humans and the environment.COA is premised on the belief that education should go beyond understanding the world as it is to enabling students to actively shape the future. COA is a leader in experiential learning and environmental stewardship. Every COA student designs their own major in human ecology—which integrates knowledge from across academic disciplines and seeks to understand and improve the relationships between humans and their natural, built, and social environments—and sets their own path toward a degree. COA joined the NAC CESU in 2007.

The College of the Atlantic offers the following areas of expertise.

• Biomedical Studies and Molecular Biology
• Climate Change and Energy
• Farming and Food Systems
• Field Ecology and Natural History
• Marine Science