Abstract:
Many natural resources, forestry, environmental and agricultural curricula at U.S. universities and colleges include a sequence of courses in economic, managerial and policy, foundations. These curricula share a commonality in the development of a microeconomic/managerial economic foundation for decision making, with a natural resources emphasis. Many of the courses in these curricula are presented in a linear or sequential format and are only partially integrated, while a few university programs have integrated much of the coursework, with economic, managerial and policy foundations being included throughout many courses. We investigated successful forest management curricula used in accredited programs in terms of courses used as the economic foundation, level and methods of integration of management/economics/policy into all course work in the major, specific non-integrated management/economics courses required in the junior/senior years and logistical tools used to accomplish the integration. A comparison to the curricula currently used by programs in forestry, environmental and natural resources, horticulture and other majors at Clemson University, a typical land-grant university, was conducted. Our goal was to develop a set of economics-based integrated courses, with the intention of increasing curricula efficiency by reducing credit hours in curriculum and duplication in courses. Clemson’s forestry program was specifically addressed. We describe integration opportunities within the forestry curriculum and a process to actually implement varying levels of integration until the faculty feels comfortable with the new curriculum.
 11 Simons NACTA Journal Mar14.pdf | [ ] | 436 kB |
