Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) has received a $250,000 grant from the Jessie Ball DuPont Fund to support the identification and acquisition of library resources for a new graduate program in Integrated Environmental Science (IES).
DuPont has given the university more than $3.5 million since 1948.
""The masters in Integrated Environmental Science will be the second master's degree planned by B-CU faculty since 2004, "said B-CU President Trudie Kibbe Reed. While the university has already purchased new library resources for the new program, this grant will ensure B-CU's vision for the program will become a signature degree offering."
B-CU has taken an innovative approach in the development and implementation of its new IES programs.
Recognizing the field of environmental studies/science is, by definition, interdisciplinary – encompassing elements from the sciences (biology, chemistry, ecology, geology), humanities (philosophy, ethics), and social sciences (economics, geography, sociology, law) as well as policy analysis and other fields of study – B-CU's bachelor's and master's degree programs in IES are designed to expose students to multiple disciplines and help them develop the skills to make important linkages and assessments across the sub-fields.
B-CU's programs seek to fill this need and stand as a model in the newly developing field of IES. The curriculum has been reviewed by upper-level employees of NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Estuarine Research Reserve system, the U.S. Geological Survey, and incorporates the proposals of the Environmental Systems and Sustainability Roundtable, a national effort to develop standards for interdisciplinary environmental programs in higher education.
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