Course Work

By design, no core curriculum is specified except the two required integrative seminars to be taken from the following courses:

• ENVR 700 - Current Topics in Environmental Studies
• ENVR 800 - Seminar in Environmental Studies
• ENVR 804 - Environmental Advocacy Seminar
• ENVR 835 - Seminar in Environmental Ethics
• GEOL 560 - Earth Resource Management
• GEOL 743 - Decision Making in Environmental Resource Management

Additional Information

Additional course offerings will be tailored to the individual’s interests and background of experience and education. Students will enroll in existing courses in the Environmental and Sustainability Program (formerly School of the Environment); geological, biological, or marine sciences; chemical, civil, or environmental engineering; environmental health; chemistry or biochemistry; geography; business administration; and other disciplines. The integrative seminars serve the purpose of relating science and nonscience subject matter. A program of study will be developed with the student’s interdisciplinary committee according to the guidelines established by the coordinating committee and will be approved by the student’s advisor and by the graduate director. Theses will be supervised by an appropriate advisor and interdisciplinary committee based on the student’s research topic.

The program requires a total of 36 credit hours, which includes 6 hours of thesis credit or, with director’s approval, 6 hours of approved electives in lieu of a thesis. There is no foreign language requirement.

All candidates for a degree in the MEERM graduate program must complete a comprehensive examination followed  by a comprehensive assessment that is distinct from program course requirements. A comprehensive assessment requires the student to sythesize and integrate knowledge acquired in coursework and other learning experiences and to apply theory and principles in a situation that approximates some aspect of professional practice or research in the discipline. It must be used as a means by which faculty judge whether the student has mastered the body of knowledge and can demonstrate proficiency in the required competencies. Since the MEERM degree has three paths to degree (traditional thesis, traditional non-thesis, and internship), each distinct path has a separate comprehensive assessment model. Students in the traditional thesis track need only successfully defend their thesis and provide a copy of the approved thesis as evidence of successful completion of the comprehensive assessment. Similarly, traditional non-thesis students should petition the Director of the MEERM program for non-thesis status and provide evidence of scholarly research, including, but not limited to, an applied research project, comprehensive manual or other major written work. Students admitted into the traditional non-thesis track will be required to present a detailed public seminar prior to graduation that integrates this scholarly work with knowledge acquired in MEERM coursework. This integrated seminar may be used as evidence of successful completion of the comprehensive assessment. Internship track students ordinarily present a detailed, public seminar that outlines the internship experience after the internship has been completed. As the internship advisor, faculty advisor, all other committee members and the Graduate Studies Director are required to attend and critically evaluate this seminar, the internship seminar will be used as a means to judge the student’s grasp of relevant knowledge and ability to synthesize coherently a swath of MEERM disciplines. Satisfactory completion of the internship seminar will be used as evidence for successful completion of the comprehensive assessment.

It is expected that students with demonstrated course work in earth or environmental resources and pertinent experience should be able to complete the program in two years.