Robert Redford creates ecology program with Calif college

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A California college is teaming up with Robert Redford to create a program where students can combine environmental studies with media and liberal arts.

The Los Angeles Times reports Tuesday (http://lat.ms/Uctatp ) that Pitzer College, one of the seven Claremont Colleges, is creating the Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability with a $10 million gift from Nicholas and Susan Pritzker, parents of a Pitzer graduate who support environmental causes.

Redford is a trustee of the college and serves as its special adviser on the environment.

The program's aim is to create environmental communicators and advocates. Its centerpiece will be a 12-acre coastal sage scrub ecosystem, an endangered habitat where students can study problems and come up with solutions.