Whitman College's Semester in the West is an interdisciplinary field program focusing on public lands conservation and rural life in the interior American West.  Our objective is to know the West in its many dimensions, including its diverse ecosystems, its social and political communities, and the many ways these ecosystems and communities find expression in regional environmental writing and public policy.  The program first ran in 2002, and is scheduled for the fall semester every other year in even years.