History courses currently using the Cowling Arboretum for an outdoor classroom are: HIST 100 American Farms and Food, HIST 205 American Environmental History, HIST 306 American Wilderness, and HIST 308 American Cities and Nature.
All of these courses are taught by Professor George Vrtis, who takes his students into the arb to nudge their imaginations into new places, to encourage them to think about entangled human and non-human life worlds, to see and touch and smell the pine trees and other biota native to Minnesota, and to reflect on the great environmental questions of our day. Professor Vrtis has found the arb to be a wonderful place to put students in touch with both the nature in their minds and the one that feeds and sustains them.