December 8, 2004
__
Proposal to Establish
Master of Marine Management
College of Marine Studies
History and Rationale
The College of Marine Studies (CMS) now offers traditional graduate degrees at both the master and doctoral level. At the master level students can matriculate in curricula leading to an M.S. in Marine Studies or in Ocean Engineering, and a Master of Marine Policy. At the doctoral level CMS offers Ph.D. degrees in Marine Studies, in Oceanography, and in Ocean Engineering. Students typically enroll in these degree programs within a few years of completing an appropriate undergraduate degree. The College is non-departmental, and curricula are administered through four academic programs: Marine Biology-Biochemistry; Marine Policy; Oceanography; and Physical Ocean Science and Engineering.
Here we propose a new degree program that targets a different type of student—mid-career professionals employed in management or policy positions relevant to marine environments. Typical students in this new program might come from state or federal agencies, or in environmental management positions in foreign countries. In order to attract students from this audience, we propose a rigorous multi-disciplinary program built around a highly time-constrained curriculum that can be completed in a single academic year. The student body will consist of a single cohort of students that matriculates each fall term. The flexible, non-thesis curriculum will be based primarily on existing CMS courses and will offer courses during winter session, as well as during the fall and spring terms.
The proposed degree, Master of
Marine Management (MMM), is the outgrowth of recommendations by the Marine
Studies Futures Committee, which in the spring of 2003 undertook the most
substantial planning exercise within the College since Project Vision more than
15 years ago. This committee, chaired by
the associate dean of the College, consisted of one full professor and one
assistant professor from each of the four academic programs. Among the main findings of the Futures
Committee was that the College could benefit in several ways by targeting the
non-traditional pool of students described above. In order to bring this recommendation to
fruition, a second committee was constituted in September 2003 and was charged
with investigating the feasibility of such a program. The Non-thesis Degree Committee, which
consisted of one full professor from each of the four academic programs, met
several times during the fall of 2003 and presented a report to the associate
dean in December. The report contained a
summary of a proposed new degree along with comments and caveats concerning
implementation of the degree. The
recommendations of the committee were considered at the spring meeting of the Marine
Studies faculty in February 2004. As a
consequence of that discussion, the faculty of the academic program most
directly affected by the proposed degree, Marine Policy, conducted a further
analysis and provided detailed commentary to the associate dean during the
summer of 2004. These comments were
considered at the fall meeting of the CMS faculty in September 2004. In the weeks following that meeting, the Non-thesis
Degree Committee was reconvened again to address the concerns of Marine Policy faculty. The committee submitted its final report to
the associate dean in October 2004, and at its October 2004 meeting
The report discussed several reasons for initiating a new master degree program and argued that the new program will:
· Provide an educational experience within a highly constrained time period that will be attractive to mid-career professionals;
·
Be convenient for a large pool of mid-career
professionals working at state and federal environmental agencies located in
· Provide an educational experience that has immediate application to important real-world problems, both within the United States and abroad;
· Result in the through-put of an additional 10-20 masters-level graduates per year—an important advantage in a small college like Marine Studies.
Relationship with
Existing Programs at the University
The proposed degree potentially overlaps the most with the Masters of Marine Policy (MMP) degree now offered in CMS. The MMP degree is different from the proposed MMM degree in a number of respects as outlined in the table below. As a one year, non-thesis degree, MMM is more practical and less research oriented. There are fewer courses taken in policy analysis and economics in MMM, but greater opportunity to blend science and policy into a practical degree of value to marine resource managers. It is purposefully more flexible to allow for different marine resource orientations, such as management of beach replenishment, marine transport, and wetlands management.
MMM students will take a “hands-on” case study course in the spring taught by policy and science faulty. This course is the centerpiece of the program and is preceded by a short tools workshop in the winter session. Two faulty mentors, one in science and one in policy, oversee all students through the program. MPP students take a more traditional path – courses are taken in methods and analysis, a thesis is written and defended before an advisory committee, and the student is guided by an advisor and advisory committee. Finally, MMM is shared by all four programs in the College, while MMP is housed and run by the Marine Policy Program.
Comparison of the proposed Master of Marine Management with the Master
of Marine Policy currently offered by CMS
|
|
MMM |
MMP |
|
Thesis |
No |
Yes |
|
Years |
1 |
2 |
|
Advisement |
2 Mentors |
1 Advisor and Committee |
|
Home |
Shared by 4 Programs |
Marine Policy |
|
Coursework |
-- More practical,
“hands-on” -- Greater blend
of policy and science -- Tools course in
the winter session --“Hands-on” case
study in the spring |
-- More research
and analysis -- More on
governance and policy institutions |
Admission and Program
Governance
The MMM degree will be administered by a three member committee (MMM Advisory Committee) composed of the Program Director for Marine Policy and two faculty mentors. One of the mentors will be from the Marine Policy program and the other from one of the science programs in CMS. This committee will oversee admissions and guide students through the program. The committee will report to the Associate Dean who in turn will consult with Academic Council when necessary.
Admission
Requirements
The
minimum requirements for admission to this program include: a Bachelors degree
in an appropriate natural or social science program (along with official
transcripts of all undergraduate work), an undergraduate grade point average of
at least 3.0 (out of a possible 4.0), GRE scores (verbal and quantitative
combined) of at least 1050, and a TOEFL score (for international students) of
at least 550 (paper-based test) or 213 (computer-based test). Professional experience will be
encouraged. The application also
requires at least three letters of recommendation and a statement of intent,
stating specific interests and objectives for pursing this degree.
Admission to the graduate program is
competitive. Those who meet stated requirements are not guaranteed admission,
nor are those who fail to meet all of those requirements necessarily precluded
from admission if they offer other appropriate strengths.
Degree Requirements
The overall requirement of the MMM degree is to complete the
course work indicated in the table given below and to maintain an overall GPA
of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) or better.
As
indicated above, no thesis is required for this degree.
Summary of Academic Program
Course Work
|
Credits |
|
Fall Term |
|
|
Decision Tools for Policy
Analysis (MAST663) |
3 |
|
|
3 |
|
Science Elective |
3 |
|
Policy Elective |
3 |
|
Science Seminar (MAST 821, 853,
882) |
1 |
|
|
|
|
Winter Term |
|
|
Environmental Measurement
Tools* |
4 |
|
|
|
|
Spring Term |
|
|
Case
Study in Coastal and Ocean Management (MAST 802)* |
3 |
|
Policy or Science Electives |
9 |
|
Policy Seminar (MAST 873) |
1 |
Total
Credit Hours
|
30 |
*These new courses are discussed below.
Science and Policy Course Electives Several electives are available in the proposed MMM program in order to appeal to a broad audience and to accommodate students with diverse backgrounds. The electives will be 600-level courses currently offered by CMS and elsewhere in the University. The suitability of an elective for a particular student will be decided by the MMM Advisory Committee.
Development of New Courses
The proposed MMM program is
based on courses already being offered in CMS, with two exceptions which are
discussed below. These two new courses
will build on similar courses offered in the past by CMS faculty. (The two new courses will soon be submitted for
review and approval.)
Environmental
Measurement Tools.
This will be a team-taught course offered during the five-week winter
term. Each week of the course will
concentrate on a different ecological tool (e.g., salt marsh restoration, beach
replenishment, microbial remediation, water quality analysis, fisheries
management, etc.) and will be taught by a different faculty member. Topics will be covered at the conceptual
level, but will offer experience in rigorous quantitative exercises relevant to
each topic. Mathematical competence at
the pre-calculus college level will be assumed. Student performance will be
assessed via a short paper written on each topic. Although this is a new course per se, the
material it covers will likely be taken from existing courses. We anticipate that the faculty involved with
this new course will build on lectures and exercises already developed for
other courses.
Case Study in Coastal
and Ocean Management. This will
be the capstone course for the new-degree program. This course will be in the format of
problem-based learning and will require each annual cohort to address a
specific problem in coastal and ocean management. The culmination of the course will be a mock
hearing presented to the College community at large. Instructors for this course will be the cohort
mentors with help from relevant faculty as appropriate. Student performance will be assessed via the
quality of the mock hearing and via an in-depth position paper written
independently by each student.
Financial Aid
It is expected that student matriculating in this program will not receive financial aid from university sources. Students will be either self-supporting or will be supported by outside funding sources.
Master of
MARINE MANAGEMENT
Resolution
Whereas the College of
Marine Studies currently offers degrees at the Master and Ph.D. level designed
for traditional graduate students, and
Whereas the College of
Marine Studies has recognized the great need for a new master program to reach
potential students not being served by current degrees, and
Whereas the proposed
master program will provide an enhanced educational opportunity that is not
currently offered at the University of Delaware, and
Whereas the delivery of
such a program does not require resources beyond those already approved for the
M.S. and Masters of Marine Policy degrees, be it therefore
Resolved
that a Master of Marine Management be established in the