The U of A is offering a new online master’s degree this spring in environmental resiliency built upon graduate microcertificates and certificates developed in response to a broad demand for these skills in the workforce. 

The Master of Science degree and the certificates were created through an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Graduate School and International Education’s Environmental Dynamics graduate program, Global Campus and Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. 

Classes will begin this month, and financial aid is available. Students enrolled in fully online programs pay in-state tuition. 

“This degree and these certificates mark an exciting progression in our interdisciplinary approach to graduate education,” said Ed Pohl, dean of the Graduate School and International Education. “These completely online, workforce-driven programs meet our students where they are and provide timely education and skills for an emerging field that will only grow in demand in the years to come.” 

“Sustainability and resiliency education are essential elements of the contemporary Fay Jones School ethos,” said Peter MacKeith, dean of the school, “as are the consonant emphases on collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches to addressing the current and coming global challenges. We’re extremely pleased to work together with professor Peter Ungar in environmental dynamics, and our colleagues in GSIE and Global Campus, to bring these graduate online offerings forward at this time.”

Ungar, Distinguished Professor of anthropology and director of the Environmental Dynamics Ph.D. program at the U of A, said that this graduate program provides funding for assistantships for doctoral students in the Environmental Dynamics program, but the same assistantships will be used in the Fay Jones School to help with sustainability and resiliency courses. This new program also will add a new direction to online offerings by the U of A. 

“That makes it a true partnership where everybody benefits,” Ungar said. “It’s a win-win-win.”

The program, which presents an advanced study of resiliency in the context of sustainability, climate and environmental change, consists of four core areas:

• Sustainability
• Leadership
• Resiliency
• Certifications, accounting and metrics

Students will learn theories and methods of resiliency and sustainability as part of a broader understanding of climate change and solutions as they apply to the four core areas. A common core of classes in sustainability and resiliency will serve as the foundation for the master’s degree. 

“There is a need to provide leaders, analysts and communicators across job sectors, including government agencies, private business and NGOs, who can address, evaluate and tackle some of the most pressing climate issues,” said Ken McCown, professor and head of the Department of Landscape Architecture in the Fay Jones School, who will coordinate and advise students in the environmental resiliency program. 

“The question is, how do you get them working together in the best way?” he said. “And we know that leadership in sustainability and resilience needs collaborators. It’s bigger than one discipline; it’s bigger than one profession.” 

The program, which is intended to be accessible to people in the workforce, is entirely online and built as a ladder program; a series of microcertificates are offered, each of which requires three courses to complete. Students can add two courses to the microcertificate to get a graduate certificate. 

Students can also build out to the master’s degree with further electives and gain more microcertificates on the path to the degree. Completion of the master’s degree in environmental resiliency requires 10 courses, or 30 hours, and no thesis.

The new online environmental resiliency program is designed to be accessible to workforce employees who want to “skill up,” McCown said. The program is set up so that each course can be done in eight weeks. Within 24 weeks, a student can earn a microcertificate; within a year, they could have a graduate certificate, and within a year and a half, they could have a master’s degree.

An integral component to these programs is the teaching faculty. All of them hold doctoral degrees, and all of them are in the workforce — in government agencies, multinational corporations and the private sector, along with nonprofits. 

“The quality of our faculty is exceptional in terms of being able to understand how to leverage theory and methods into actual practice. And I think it distinguishes our program,” McCown said. “We’re very fortunate to have our instructors, and they are diverse.” 

Sarah Lewis, founder and CEO of Edgewater Coaching and Consulting, is also a faculty instructor in the program.  

“The U of A environmental resiliency graduate program is an exciting opportunity, as well as an important one,” she said. “It harnesses the expertise of thought leaders who actively research and work in the fields of resiliency, sustainability, conversation, supply chain, geosciences, business and more to create an interdisciplinary approach to learning how to create a more resilient and sustainable world. The classes are relevant to the challenges that one encounters when leading change, as well as to the technical skills needed to bring about innovation. It is an honor to get to be part of it, and I commend the founders for their vision in creating the program.” 

Faculty include John Kester III, consultant; Sarah Lewis, Edgewater Coaching and Consulting; David Lyon, Environmental Protection Agency; Christopher Craig, associate professor, Murray State University; Joanna Person-Michener, mental health therapist; Victor Roland, U.S. Corps of Engineers Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory; Seth Price, Jacob Engineering; Diana Chen, U of A; and Marty Matlock, U of A. 

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas’ flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas’ economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.