Forestry and Environmental Management

The College offers a cooperative program with Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, which leads to a Bachelor of Science degree from Elizabethtown College and a Master of Forestry or Master of Environmental Management from Duke University. Students undertaking this major gain a wide exposure to the liberal arts by fulfilling the College’s Core Program in addition to courses in the student’s major. The student also gains professional training at Duke in such areas as forest resource management, resource ecology, water and air resources, resource economics and policy, coastal environmental management, or environmental toxicology, chemistry, and risk assessment.

In this program, the student spends three years at Elizabethtown College, earning at least 101 credits before transferring to Duke. A grade of B- or better is required in all prerequisite courses. The student spends at least two years at Duke’s School of the Environment. In the first year at Duke, the student completes the undergraduate degree requirements (24 credits) and is awarded the Bachelor of Science degree from Elizabethtown. After an additional two or three semesters, Duke awards the degree of Master of Forestry or Master of Environmental Management. The program leading to a Master of Forestry degree from Duke University is accredited by the Society of American Foresters.

In order to prepare students for the professional program at Duke, the College offers a Preforestry and Environmental Management program with major and minor concentrations in Biology, Business, or Political Science. While any undergraduate major can be considered for admission to Duke, the student should take at least one year of biology, mathematics, and economics.

Admission to Duke is by application and is based on an evaluation of a student’s undergraduate record, Graduate Record Examination scores, letters of recommendation and interviews. To effectively compete for acceptance, the applicant’s grade point average should be at least 3.50.

Student Learning Outcomes for Forestry and Environmental Management:

Students will be able to:

• Recall, synthesize, and apply material from multiple disciplines including biology, mathematics, chemistry business, political science, and/or physics.

• Effectively research, synthesize, and communicate scientific information.

• Design and carry out experiments to address biological questions.

• Critically analyze and formulate logical conclusions from data.

• Effectively demonstrate common laboratory techniques, doing so in accordance with accepted safety standards.

There are variations of the schedule described below. For further information, contact the Forestry and Environmental Management Major Advisor, Dr. Thomas Murray, Department of Biology.

Each student completes a major concentration in Biology, Business, or Political Science, and two minor concentrations totaling 18 credits in the other two areas with at least six credits in each area. Majors must complete all Elizabethtown College Core Program requirements. The following courses should be taken: