Short Courses

open-enrollment courses


Focused on climate and environmental leadership, Tidelines Institute short courses invite participants from around Alaska and around the world to grow as communicators, activists, and champions of the natural world. Courses vary in purpose and content, but all share a similar model: an intensive, classroom-based component focused on the course theme, homesteading activities around the campus (tending the garden, splitting firewood, filleting fish, etc), and wilderness expeditions by foot and kayak. Interested in joining us? Read about our current offerings below:


***Now Enrolling for 2023!***

Climate Action Leadership

For young climate leaders ages 18-30
Program dates: July 15-23, 2023
As of mid-April, we have a couple spots left! Apply asap!
All information available here!

Environmental Rhetoric

For adults ages 18+
Program dates: July 6-15, 2023
As of mid-April, we have a couple spots left! Apply asap!
All information available here!


partnership courses


Are you a teacher or professor seeking an extraordinary living-learning opportunity for your students? Tidelines Institute regularly partners with schools, colleges, universities, and nonprofits to craft unique short courses that meet their students’ backgrounds and needs. Each course is custom-designed, but environmental sciences, climate change, wilderness exploration, homesteading skills, and service opportunities are natural fits that feature in just about every course. We prioritize the opportunity to partner with institutions based in the state of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, but we have worked with partners from across North America.

A single course may spend time at either or both of our twin campuses; each provides access to one-of-a-kind place-based learning opportunities.

For further information, please contact Co-Executive Director Zach Brown (zach@tidelinesinstitute.org).


featured short courses


Environmental Rhetoric: Accredited through the University of Alaska and recruiting primarily Alaskan students, this week-long intensive helps students harness the power of their own voice to make positive environmental change.

Alaska Teacher Expedition: In summer 2016, we partnered with Discovery Southeast to welcome 16 teachers from Southeast Alaska – to hike, paddle, and consider how best to connect their own students to nature.

Stanford University Sophomore College: Our biannual 3-week Stanford “SoCo” begins in Sitka, AK and takes a social-ecological journey through other Southeast Alaska communities, culminating at the Inian Islands.  Watch the video 

Dartmouth College Engineering: Some of our short courses focus on a particular service project, as when we invited Dartmouth College engineering students to help install the Inian Islands micro-hydroelectric system.  We thank them for their hard work to make this off-grid island campus fossil-fuel free!  Watch the video

Nueva School: What happens when you take a group of students from the Bay Area, have them leave behind their cell phones and their schedules, and give them a deeply immersive experience in the Alaskan wilderness?  Watch the video