Graduate Education in Ecological Economics

Interest in graduate education in ecological economics is increasing. However, no formal plan of study for a Ph.D. in ecological economics has been disseminated. The lack of a formal plan is problematic as the field of ecological economics matures, interest grows, and new programs are being developed. This paper attempts to fill a void by creating a program of study addressing the proficiencies a graduate student in ecological economics should have upon completion of his/her Ph.D. based on the US educational system. The plan of study presented in this paper has been developed to make the graduate of an ecological economics program as competitive on the labor market as students awarded traditional economics degrees. The plan I describe is created to meet the requirements necessary for a Ph.D. in ecological economics. Further, fields of specialization are suggested to complement the core of an ecological economics program, to enhance the education process and to give the student with an ecological economics degree a higher level of marketability.

A Smart Choice

Graduate Education: Curriculum & Instructio

Can grey ravens fly? Beyond Frayling's categories

This paper analyses the effect of Christopher Frayling's (1993) categorisation of artistic research ‘research into art and design, research through art and design and research for art and design’ on the debate surrounding the efficacy of studio-based artistic research as being valid within the university. James Elkins (2009:128) describes this as ‘the incommensurability of studio art production and university life’. Through an exploration of the positive and negative responses to Frayling this paper seeks to explore the influence that these initial definitions have come to have on framing the scope of the debate. The paper presents a range of responses and analyses them and focuses especially on the alternative frameworks that have been suggested and examines why they have so far not created a coherent and uncontested frame-work for practice-led research in the art and design field especially in relation to fine art

Enhancing Departments and Graduate Education in Geography

This paper describes the development, implementation, and preliminary outcomes of Enhancing Departments and Graduate Education (EDGE) in Geography, a multi-year project begun in 2005 to study the process of professional development in graduate geography in the U.S and sponsored by the National Science Foundation. As a research and action project responding to the needs of graduate geography programs, EDGE seeks to provide academic geographers with an empirical perspective of disciplinary as well as interdisciplinary and generic skills that M.A./M.S. and Ph.D. students develop as a result of graduate education. Related objectives are to understand how disciplinary skills are applied by geography graduates once they enter the professional workforce in both academic and non-academic professional settings, and to gauge the extent graduate programs are sufficiently preparing geography graduates for those careers. We begin by summarizing the research goals and design of EDGE, highlighting the roles and contributions of geographers and educational researchers, and noting the interplay and synergy between disciplinary and interdisciplinary methodologies and practices. To date, research has focused on: 1) assessing contemporary workforce competencies in professional geography and 2) examining the role of department climate and culture on student experience and faculty development within masters and doctoral programs. Although the EDGE research efforts are still underway, we present some preliminary research findings and discuss the implications of those outcomes for professional development in geography and related social and environmental sciences. Also discussed is the complementary nature of discipline-based and interdisciplinary professional development efforts

DESIGNING GRADUATE EDUCATION FOR AGRIBUSINESS STUDENTS

For several years, universities in the U.S. have been struggling with defining and refining undergraduate and graduate agribusiness education programs. With the release of the recommendations of the National Agribusiness Education Commission, the search for the key ingredients of a Masters-level program has intensified. Mississippi State University has been among those universities attempting to define the parameters of a "cutting edge" agribusiness program. Faculty interest within the College of Business and Industry and the Agricultural Economics Department to develop a joint program has precipitated intensive efforts to achieve this goal. A nationally recognized agribusiness group of six academic leaders served as a Cooperative State Research Service team to assess the University's potential, using the concept of an agribusiness institute as an integrating and management vehicle. Efforts in this direction have been aided by a USDA planning grant now moving into its second year. A survey of Mid-South agribusiness leaders indicates the interest of the industry in development of the program. The final step is to address the logistical details required to convert the current Master of Agribusiness Management in the Department of Agricultural Economics to a jointly administered program of study.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Graduate Education and the Practice of Human Rights

Latin American Studie

The Graduate Education Initiative: Description and Preliminary Findings

[Excerpt] In1991 the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation launched the Graduate Education Initiative (hereafter GEI) to improve the structure and organization of PhD programs in the humanities and social sciences. Such changes were seen as necessary to combat high rates of student attrition and long times-to-degree in these programs. While attrition and time-to-degree were deemed to be important in and of themselves, and of great significance to degree seekers, they were also seen more broadly as indicators of the effectiveness of graduate programs. Several characteristics of doctoral programs were earmarked as contributing to high attrition and long degree time, including: unclear expectations, a proliferation of courses, elaborate and sometimes conflicting requirements, intermittent supervision, epistemological disagreements on fundamentals and not least, inadequate funding. Projections that faculty shortages would occur in the late 1990s in the humanities made the goals of reducing student attrition and time-to-degree particularly timely if an adequate number of PhDs were to be available. This was far from the first such effort to reduce times-to degree-and rates of attrition. Earlier programs, which provided grants in aid to individual students or to graduate schools to distribute as they saw fit, had failed conspicuously. Based on data which showed that there were marked differences among departments and on a great deal of experience on the ground, the architects of the GEI determined that to improve graduate education would require departments to make changes in their PhD programs. As such, the Foundation shifted much of its support for doctoral education, which had previously gone directly to students, to block grants that would be awarded to departments within major universities