Emory University
AC-4: Graduate Program

The Master's in Development Practice (MDP) program at Emory University is designed to meet the challenge of achieving sustainable development in the face of global poverty, political and ethnic conflict, a degrading natural resource base, and irreversible climate change by combining hands-on learning and field experience with rigorous training in a broad range of academic disciplines. Emory's MDP program capitalizes on its partnership with established international development and research organizations like CARE, the Carter Center and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These partners' global reach, and the grassroots experience of collaborating organizations in the global South, provides students with invaluable exposure to the way development practitioners operate in the real world and with a perspective on the different institutional contexts in which they will serve after completion of their degrees. There are five main components of the MDP program: 1) Introductory seminar: In the month before their first semester, students take an intensive introductory course that addresses MDP core concepts, history of development efforts, practical and ethical issues in development work. This course includes field visits to local community-based organizations and development projects; 2) The "Global Classroom: Foundations of Sustainable Development Practice," is an information technology-based interactive course that fosters cross-border and cross-disciplinary dialogue. The course allows students and teachers to participate in collective assignments and co-learning processes; 3) Core courses: Students take core courses in the health sciences, natural sciences, social sciences, and management. In each semester, at least one core course provides opportunities for integration among academic disciplines and across academic learning and practical training; 4) Concentration electives: After their first semester, students select a concentration that combines courses on specific sectors or themes of interest. The concentration that a student pursues depends on the individual's past training, experience and career goals and is decided in consultation with MDP faculty; 5) Field training: Students participate in intensive, "hands-on" field practicum abroad for two successive summers (10 weeks each) after their first and their second academic year. The field practicum provides students the opportunity to gain experience with innovative sustainable development approaches and practice in real-world settings. In addition to the international field practicum, students engage in service learning with community-based organizations that work with underserved populations in the Atlanta area during their first academic year at Emory.

The Master's of Public Health in Environmental Health (EH) program seeks to train students in a trans disciplinary way so that they can better tackle the environmental health threats of the future. Environmental Health courses rigorously examine health issues, scientific understanding of causes, and possible future strategies to control major environmental health problems in both industrialized and developing countries. Environmental, social, and economic topics are addressed in EH courses, ranging from the molecular to the global, and tackle such issues as pesticides (and their link with neurological disease), air pollution (and its link with cardiopulmonary disease), water pollution, heavy metals, solvents, persistent organic pollutants, urban sprawl, global climate change, and emerging global environmental health problems. Ciannat Howett, Director of Sustainability at Emory University, is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Environmental Health.

The Masters of Public Health in Global Environmental Health (GEH) program reflects the inherently international and interdisciplinary scope of the field of Environmental Health. Graduates of the MPH program in Global Environmental Health will be trained in the broad contextual issues that frame global environmental health problems, while developing skills in the statistical, epidemiological and laboratory methods necessary to understand the sources, pathways, exposures and health effects of microbial and chemical pollutants, as well as policies and interventions to reduce risk at the household, community and global levels. Students in the GEH program focus on issues that impact health in the poorest societies, acting to simultaneously alleviate poverty and enhance environmental protection, while promoting sustainable development. Students will develop skills to address complex Global Environmental Health problems, drawing examples and experiences from: the interactions between population, demographics and environment; principles of ecology and environmental processes; natural resource use and sustainability science; agricultural, industrial, and economic development; globalization, global commerce and health; international environmental health policy; and, a household and community dynamics from a social science, historical, and economic perspective.

Emory's Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program provides students a comprehensive educational experience in which to study a wide array of environmental law issues. http://www.law.emory.edu/academics/academic-programs/environmental-and-natural-resources-law.html Anthropology (PhD): http://anthropology.emory.edu/home/graduate/index.html Graduate students studying anthropology have the option of taking classes on the anthropology of food and nutrition. The curriculum, where it focuses on food, focuses on sustainability in terms of seasonality and locality, and the anthropology department features several professors who are very knowledgeable about sustainable food practices. Environmental Health Sciences (PhD): http://www.sph.emory.edu/departments_centers/eh/phd/ This graduate program focuses on the relationship between the environment and human disease. In studying that relationship, students learn to experiment ethically; after all, there will be no streams to study if there are no healthy streams. Population Biology, Ecology, and Evolution (PhD): http://www.biomed.emory.edu/PROGRAM_SITES/PBEE/ PBBE students often take environmental science courses as they pursue the study of ecosystems and the populations that live within them. A healthy environment is central to PBBE because without one, there would be no populations to study. Master in Development Practice / Master of Divinity (Dual Degree): MDP is on the above list of graduate programs with a focus in sustainability, but this dual-degree program is technically a different degree program. http://www.candler.emory.edu/academics/dual-degrees/development-practices/index.html