During the months of March through May 2003, GW’s Environmental and Energy Management Program Lead Professor Jonathan Deason participated in an accreditation review of the Environmental Management program of the University of Maryland, University College.
The review effort involved the review of documents, an all-day review session at the University of Maryland on April 14, 2003, and preparation of a report of findings that went through several iterations before it became final.
In general, the Academic Review Committee found that the UMUC Environmental Management program is well organized, professionally managed and responsive to the needs of the graduate students that it serves. The UMUC program is unusual in that it offers all of its coursework is provided in on-line formats, as compared to the GW program, which utilizes the conventional classroom educational environment for all of its courses.
The Committee made a number of recommendations designed to help improve what it considered to be an already sound program. These recommendations were set forth under five topical areas: (1) Curriculum Recommendations, (2) Program Management Recommendations, (3) Organizational Structure Recommendations, (4) Program Review Report Recommendations, and (5) Program Exposure and Publicity.
Because the University of Maryland is a member of the Washington University Consortium along with GW, the review program gave the two universities an excellent opportunity to coordinate activities, share resources, and learn from each other.