st
Bjørn Wolter 1 & Kelly Millenbah 2
1 Higher Adult Learning and Education Program
2 Department of Fisheries and Wildlife
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

 What are the issues facing F&W programs (and all higher ed.
Programs today)?
 Agency and student needs
 How did F&W at MSU revamp their curriculum to meet the issues of a
21st century F&W program?

• Demand for well rounded students by agencies and employers is rising (more than before)
• Traditionally trained students in the sciences do not meet many of reframed requirements of employers

• Students in college today are fundamentally different in many ways from students of the past
• Increasingly focused nature of professorial research has left many departments with gaps in their abilities to teach fundamental courses

How can fish and wildlife departments modify their curricula to be responsive to the evolving demands of employers, students, and professors?

• Call for graduates who can:
• Write well
• Speak effectively in public
• Work autonomously
• Problem-solve
• Aging workforce (1) -
• Individuals capable of filling upper-echelon positions
1 Renewable Natural Resources Foundation. 2004.

• History of introverts and/or loners in the natural resources
• Many had poor public speaking and writing aptitude

Students of the 21st Century
• Students born after 1992 who now number more than 80 million (1)
• Characterized by (2) :
• Sheltered
• Special
• Confident
• Lax ethics
• High expectations of rewards
• Social
1 McGlynn 2005
2 DeBard 2004

(1)
• More focused on personal achievement than esoteric “learning”
• Preference for those subjects that are applicable in the real world
• “What will get me a job that makes lots of money?”
• Consumer attitude towards higher education
• As a general rule they are more conformist and less rebellious towards authority
1 Howe and Strauss 2000, Newton 2000, Zemke 2001, Raines 2002, Broido 2004, Wilson
2004, McGlynn 2005, Nathan 2005, Taylor 2005

• Changing the role of the university as in loco parentis (1)
• Frequently hyper-aggressive in advocating for their children
• Capitalize on the disorganized structure of institutions of higher education to contact a series of administrators until they achieve a desired result (2)
1 Lum 2006
2 Daniel et al. 2001

1.
Adapting to student needs
2.
Meeting agency needs
3.
Dealing with a specialized professoriat

• F&W at Michigan State University -
 External help from HALE Program
• What drove us?
 CSREES Review
 NCA University-wide review
 Declining enrollment
 Budgets & justification of existence

MSU / College
23 cr.
Math and Science
34 -35 cr.
FW
34-37 cr.
“One Size Fits All”
Underwater basket weaving
Free Electives
25-29 cr., possibly as high as 30-34cr.

 Multi-year plan
 Part A
 Environmental scan
 Historical scan
 Part B
 Values discussion
 Written intended learning outcomes
 Part C
 Identifying strengths and weaknesses
 Develop a plan

 Part A
 Environmental and historical scan examples

 Part B
 Focus groups
 Intended learning outcomes
 Stakeholders and students; Agency needs

Guiding Principles
 Apply knowledge of complex socio-ecological systems
 Communicate with a diversity of audiences
 Understand the range of social values and philosophies that can be applied to natural resource management (relevance to policy)

Value science as a basis for problem solving
 Think quantitatively and apply quantitative tools

Understand a suite of field, laboratory, and computer-based techniques

 Part C
 Identifying strengths and weaknesses
 Develop a plan

(120 cr)
MSU / College Requirements
23 cr
Core
55 – 61 cr
Breadth and Depth
Flexible yet provides structure
Concentrations
~24 – 31 cr
Free Electives
~12 – 15 cr

MSU / College
23 cr.
MSU / College
23 cr
Math and Science
34 -35 cr.
FW Core
34-37 cr.
Math, Science, Communications
Philosophy, Experiential, FW
55 – 61 cr
Concentrations
~24 – 31 cr
∆
Free Electives
25-29 cr., possibly as high as 30-34cr.
OLD
Free Electives
~12 – 15 cr
NEW

A typical Curriculum meeting!

 University
 Writing
 2 Humanities
 2 Social Science
 College
 Economics
120 – 23=
cr to work with

(55 - 61 cr)
 General Biology
 General Chemistry
 Physical Sciences
 Math and Statistics
 Communications
 Writing and Speech
 Philosophy
 Experiential Learning
 FW Core

 Complete ALL of the following (18 cr.)
 Fundamentals of FW
 Fundamentals of FW Lab
 Ecological Problem Solving
 Population Analysis & Management
 Human Dimensions
 Ecology

 Conservation Biology
 Fisheries Biology and Management
 Wildlife Biology and Management
 Water Sciences
 Fish and Wildlife Disease Ecology and
Management
 Preveterinary
 Analytical Foundations in Fisheries and
Wildlife Biology

• There has been a fundamental shift in the demands agencies and students are placing on F&W programs
• Adapting departmental and program structures to meet these needs is a time consuming process, but worth it to guarantee graduate quality and program durability