FAU may offer master’s degree in environmental education

By Dale M. King
CITY EDITOR

A committee of the Florida Atlantic University Board of Trustees has endorsed the creation of a master’s degree program in environmental education.

The proposal recently got the backing of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee, and will be recommended to the full BOT for approval at its meeting later this month or in early June.

“The proposed program is a conversion from a track in the approved master’s degree in curriculum and instruction to a stand-alone degree in environmental education,” Gregory Aloia, dean of the College of Education, explained at the committee meeting.

“Students currently in the program would be given the option of completing the track or transferring to the new degree program,” he said.

The proposed 36 credit hour master’s degree program, he said, will be offered through the Department of Teaching and Leaning in collaboration with the College of Education’s Pine Job Environmental Education Center, as well as environmental centers and related departments throughout Florida Atlantic University.

Certified instructors who teach at levels from kindergarten through grade 12 would be eligible to take the course.  Those planning to seek the degree would take a variety of required and elective courses, all available at FAU, Aloia said.

Planning for the proposed master’s degree program in environmental education has been gong on since June of 2005, said the dean.  Last spring, he said, Pine Jog sponsored an associate professor from the University of Wisconsin to teach a course in “Leadership and Organization Techniques in Environmental Education.”

Last fall, a course was offered in “Trends and Issues in Environmental Education.”

“No additional state funding will be required for the commencement of the program,” Aloia said.  “An existing College of Education faculty member who focuses on environmental education will be assigned responsibilities for this new degree program.”

He noted that for the past six years, Pine Jog has funded master’s degree instructors for environmental education, and “the Pine Jog Board of Directors has agreed to continue with this model.” 

Funding will also come from the Pine Jog endowment and a continuing contract with the Palm Beach County School Board for professional development.