An Interdisciplinary Online Certificate and Master s Degree Program in Agroforestry. If You Build It, Will They Come?

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1 An Interdisciplinary Online Certificate and Master s Degree Program in Agroforestry If You Build It, Will They Come? Shibu Jose H.E. Garrett Endowed Professor and Director Michael Gold Professor and Associate Director

2 Why An Online Graduate Program? Institutions challenged to provide cost-effective educational opportunities with limited campus resources Professionals - U.S. and overseas - looking for graduate degree or certificate programs in agroforestry. E.g., 1,500 Peace Corps volunteers work abroad every year on agroforestry related projects Traditional graduate programs offer limited options for working professionals who are both geographically limited and time limited A web-based M.S. degree and a graduate Certificate will help address this void Unaware of any similar program in agroforestry elsewhere US or overseas

3 Curriculum MS and Certificate Options M.S. Thesis option (Agroforestry Emphasis): 30 credit hours of course work with no more than 12 credits for thesis research Write a thesis based on their research and participate in a public oral defense of their thesis announced at least two weeks prior to the defense date. M.S. Non-Thesis option (Agroforestry Emphasis): 30 credit hours of course work with no more than 6 credits for a project Write a technical report based on their project and participate in a public oral defense of their report to be announced at least two weeks prior to the defense Graduate Certificate Agroforestry: 12 Credit hours of core courses

4 Developing Agroforestry Curriculum Intentional integration of trees and crops/livestock where interactions are intensively managed

5 Curriculum Course Work Course # and Title *Core Course Credit Hours Instructor A. Agroforestry Fundamentals FOREST 4385/7385 Agroforestry Theory, Practice and Adoption B. Biophysical Foundation (Choose two) FOREST 8385 Ecological Principles of Agroforestry ENVSC 4396/7396 Agroforestry for Watershed Restoration NATR 7325 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems SOIL 4000/7000 level Soil Resources and Their Management FOREST 4390/7390 Watershed Management and Water Quality 3 Michael Gold 3 Shibu Jose 3 Ranjith Udawatta 3 Hong He 3 Randy Miles 3 Jason Hubbart SOIL 4113/7113 Soil Fertility and Nutrition 3 Peter Motavalli ENVSC 7320 Hydrologic and Water Quality Modeling 3 Steve Anderson FOREST 8401 Advanced Forest Biometrics 3 David Larsen BIOCHEM 8120 Medicinal Plant Science 3 Leszek Vincent C. Socio-economic Foundation (Choose one) FOREST 4301/7301 Agroforestry Economics and Policy NATR 4353/7353 Natural Resource Policy and Administration 3 Larry Godsey 3 Francisco Aguilar

6 Number of Prospective Students Interest in the Program Program Launch Jan 2011 Jan 2012 Jan 2013 Jan 2014 Jan 2015

7 Number of Students Admitted Students - MS Fall 2011 Fall 2012 Fall 2013 Fall 2014 Fall 2015 Graduate Certificate Launched in Fall Students Enrolled

8 Thad (BS) Sample Student Profiles District Forester, Kansas Mike (PhD) High School Mathematics Teacher, Private Boarding School, NC Catherine (BS) Director, Global Development Program, ICRAF, Kenya Brad (BS) Program Development Specialist, NGO, Kashmir, India Gregory (MPH) Executive Director, Forestopia, MA, USA and Chiapas, Mexico Simon (BS) Utility Forester, Bluebonnet Electric, Texas

9 Joe (BS) Sample Student Profiles Agroforestry Specialist, USDA Project, Afghanistan Garien (BS) Middle School Teacher, Denver, CO Don (JD) Wall Street Lawyer, New York Stephen (BS) Presenting paper at this conference Matt (MA) Park Ranger, Baltimore County, Maryland Melissa (BA) National Park Service, Washington DC

10 Four Graduates So Far Jacob (BS) Arborist, Ames, Iowa Joe (BS) Agroforestry Specialist, USDA Project, Afghanistan Garien (BS) Middle School Teacher, Denver, CO Mike (PhD) High School Mathematics Teacher, Private Boarding School, NC

11 Examples of Student Projects Thad Rhodes (Research Survey Barriers to Adoption of Riparian Buffers in Kansas) Behling (58-Page Extension/Outreach Publication)

12 Student Feedback

13 Student Feedback

14 Final Thoughts Professionals across the U.S. and overseas have found our program to be of great value Even traditional, non-professional students like the flexibility of the online format The program has enjoyed GREAT institutional support and growing rapidly! A revenue sharing model makes it attractive to Schools at MU A revenue sharing makes it attractive to faculty In-state tuition rate makes it attractive to students irrespective of in-state, out-of-state or international Visit us Online at