KAMLOOPS – With the final hurdle in the approval process for Thompson Rivers University’s Master of Science in Environmental Science degreenow crossed, ten students to be selected over the summer are expectedto begin the thesis-based program this September.
The new graduate degree was developed with a three-fold intent: to beunique, flexible and relevant; to fill local, regional, provincial,national and international needs for environmental professionals; andto produce graduates who are innovative and have multi-disciplinary skills and broad knowledge.
The result will be the next generation of scientists and policy-makerswho understand the complexities of environmental systems from a wide range of contexts, can provide effective, feasible, and creativ esolutions critical in maintaining a strong, sustainable resource-basedeconomy, and will be able to respond to a regional need to addressspecific environmental concerns such as post-fire logging management practices, restoration of grasslands and wetlands, the integrity ofsouthern interior BC environments, and environmental tourism.
One of the drivers behind the new program, TRU Canada Research Chair in Grassland Ecology Dr. Lauchlan Fraser, said, “TRU is ideally suited tostudy environmental issues because of its proximity to a wide varietyof diverse regional ecosystems, the excellent laboratory facilities oncampus and because TRU has been able to bring faculty together from across disciplines to ensure that our graduates are able to consider environmental issues within a political, social, economic and multi-disciplinary scientific perspective.”
“This program provides a much-needed resource for the BC Interior andthe world by developing the next generation of scientists with thecombination of critical and creative thinking skills and in-depth intellectual and technical understanding to develop solutions to th ecomplex issues faced by societies, businesses and industry,” said TRU Associate Vice-President of Research and Graduate Studies, Dr. NancyVan Wagoner, who went on to say that “Through this initiative we arehelping to meet the need for highly skilled professionals that will enhance the resource sector of the Interior, other industries,government agencies, and major research and industrial clusters of BC’ssouthern Interior.
“Employers in industry, government, and other non-academic environmental professions increasingly ask that universities provide graduate-level students with an expanded base of knowledge and skills,and the ability to apply these to new and emerging challenges. Theability to think creatively and to work with researchers andprofessionals outside of one’s own sub-discipline are traits that will serve our graduates well as they face the realities of future basic andapplied environmental sciences and management,” she added.
Employer needs were also the focus of comments by TRU Provost andVice-President Academic Dr. Mark Evered, who said, “100 per cent of local companies and government organizations surveyed were interestedin TRU offering a Master of Science in Environmental Science degree program, with 83 per cent agreeing or strongly agreeing that they wouldconsider employing graduates of a master degree in environmentalstudies.”
Those currently employed in the environmental and resource sectors willalso benefit, emphasized TRU President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Roger Barnsley. “At the local level one of the program’s missions will be to provide educational opportunities to employees of local business and government, including large industries, and environmental consulting firms,” he said. “With the increasing predominance of environmentally-related products and services, such industries will be well served by having a local supply of broadly trained environmentalscientists and professionals capable of capitalizing on this emerging interdisciplinary market.”
For more information, please contact Dr. Lauchlan Fraser at 250-377-6135 or 250-374-1116
