DURHAM, NC—51’s Nicholas School of the Environment is introducing a new certificate program in Community-Based Environmental Management (CBEM) this year.

The 12-credit program – which was developed in response to student interest – is open to all Master of Environmental Management (MEM) and Master of Forestry (MF) students.  It includes two required courses, two electives and an application of the skills learned in certificate course work in the student’s Master’s Project.

“The idea is (for students) to come out the other end steeped in the foundational theories and practices of community organizing and community-based environmental management,” says Liz Shapiro, assistant professor of the practice of environmental policy and management.

Shapiro serves as coordinator for the new certificate program and is teaching the two foundation classes: “Community-Based Environmental Management” in fall; and  “Practicum in Community-Based Environmental Management” in spring.

The practicum, which is new, will give students experience working one on one with a community-based organization. 

Receiving the CBEM certificate, Shapiro says, means students “will have completed what amounts to an in-depth internship with a community-based organization. They will have developed a client project for a community-based organization that they can show (prospective) employers, using the skills learned through the certificate program.”  

To augment the program, Shapiro is working to foster closer connections between the Nicholas School and organizations already working on environmental issues within communities in the greater Triangle area.   Such a network, she says, would provide a useful forum in which students and practitioners could share new ideas, technical skills and knowledge.

“Students are completing projects that are of use and interest to these organizations,” Shapiro says, “and it provides an avenue for the Nicholas School and our students to have a positive impact on the broad community beyond 51.”

Contacts made through the network could also help students gain footholds in the job market and provide them with a practical, on-the-ground perspective from local stakeholders of what works and what doesn’t. 

Nicholas School student Alison Huyett (MEM ’13) sees great benefit to this approach.

“We’ve seen this transition (in recent years) to realizing that engaging with the local people, the people who are immediately affected by things, is actually a better and more long-term solution to conservation issues than enforcing laws,” Huyett says.  “Stakeholder involvement is really huge now with the government, and you can’t have a process without having public input.” 

Susan Sandford (MEM ’13) is also excited about the new certificate program, and what it means for Nicholas School students.  

“I think you can apply it to any field of work, so even if people might not initially realize that they might be interested in community-based environmental management, they can apply it to whatever work they want to go into if they take the time to explore the path. It’s just a great thing to learn about,” Sandford said.

Although many of the students enrolling in the new CBEM program will likely be first-year MEM students, second-year students such as Huyett and Sandford may still be able to get the certificate if they have taken the two foundation courses and meet the program’s other academic requirements by the time they graduate.

For more information, contact Shapiro at (919) 681-7781 or
elizabeth.shapiro@duke.edu.