CURRICULUM
Our program prepares students to directly enter an environmental professional field. We stress environmental problem-solving, working with teams, communication, and other aspects of the professional world that our 35 + years of experience have shown us that entering professionals need. Our graduates quickly are recognized as the best trained entering professionals by consulting firms, governmental agencies, and non-profit agencies. Graduates from our program have outstanding opportunities and careers.
We remain at the forefront of professional programs by meeting the needs of the environmental profession using a three-tiered program
1. CORE COURSES (22 credit hours - first year) provide knowledge and methodology for tackling a broad spectrum of environmental
issues. These courses practice teamwork, problem-solving, writing, and the techniques that we think every environmental professional will likely need . All students take all courses at the same time. This builds teamwork and allows the integration of material that is necessary in the environmental field. The core course sequence includes a year-long team public service project that integrates environmental information in a practical, useable, and needed way. Public service projects become part of legislation and regulations and feasibility decisions. Specific courses are listed on a separate page.
2. AREA OF CONCENTRATION: (16+ credit hours) Each person leaves the IES with the technical and academic skills of a particular focus or area of concentration, and this part of our program develops these skills unique to each person. The selection of courses might build on existing strengths from undergraduate and previous experiences or the courses can develop new strengths that will meet future professional needs. The suite of courses is selected in consultation with the advising staff of IES and faculty members at Miami University. We help you match the strengths at Miami with your goals for the future. Courses used to complete the area of concentration mostly are taken following completion of the core courses. Visit a separate page for a more complete description of areas of concentration.
3. INTERNSHIP, PRACTICUM or THESIS (individual professional experience): This requirement of the program provides a professional-level experience that serves to integrate the formal course work and helps to develop expertise in applied environmental science. Individual skills are challenged and honed by an individual professional experience in one of three ways;
1) an internship experience (6 months that is often a person's first job),
2) a practicum (guided research - usually with a faculty member) or
3) a thesis (testing an environmentally significant hypotheses - with a faculty member).
Most students elect the internship option (about 70%). We help students find internships that fit their professional goals and their lifestyle choices. Go to the page on "Research Requirement" for more information.
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