The Josef Korbel School of International Studies now has a degree that prepares students to go out in the world and make it a better place.
The degree, a master’s in development practice, will start this fall and is designed to integrate international studies with a variety of other disciplines including policymaking, environmental science, law and many more. While the Korbel School coordinates the degree, it calls upon the faculty and research expertise of other graduate programs — biology, geography, law, business and psychology.
“It’s a degree for [students] with a clear vocational interest in sustainable development,” says Daniel Wessner, director of the degree program. “It is for those who have already tasted something of the development world but now seek broader and deeper knowledge.”
Students will spend 20 months taking on-campus and online courses, and six months in the field for applied studies and research.
Field research can be done close to home — such as in a women’s cooperative in Denver — or across the globe. A rice paddy and fish farm in Vietnam, an ashram in India, a clean water project in Nicaragua, or a mining site in Ghana are some of the places students can conduct research.
“They will spend considerable time off campus for mud-on-the-boots learning,” Wessner says. “It extends the benefit of advanced education to many who might otherwise never step foot on a university campus.”
For more information about the new degree program, visit www.du.edu/korbel.