education
The River Basin Center provides educational programs
and resources at the university, K-12, and continuing adult education
levels.
Service Learning
Many of our Masters of Conservation Ecology students have adopted service
projects as their thesis focus. Some examples include developing scientific
and policy guidelines for riparian buffers, confined animal feeding operations,
and hillside protection. The Altamaha, Etowah, Satilla, and Upper Altamaha Environmental
Practicum courses provide graduate students in ecology, environmental
design, forestry, and law with the opportunity to work with stakeholders
in these river basins to develop policies to protect the river system
and associated natural resources. Environmental Law for Scientists and
the Land Use Law Clinic offer students the opportunity to learn while
helping stakeholders solve real legal problems.
Continuing Education
The Center organizes conferences and workshops, and provides continuing education services for a variety of institutions
and organizations. Some examples include:
- Organizing the biennial three-day Georgia Water Resources Conference
which attracts more than 500 environmental professionals, faculty, students
and environmentalists.
- Supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in developing
a training program for water quality engineers.
- Assisting in the planning of the University’s annual Red
Clay (environmental law) Conference.
More than 200 participants, including attorneys, faculty, students and
environmentalists, attend this conference– which also provides
legal education credits.
- Technical training via distance learning.
- Serving as faculty on numerous continuing education programs of various
professional organizations (attorneys, appraisers, local government
officials, etc.)
K-12 Educational Support
Educational support is accomplished through a number of collaborative
efforts with public school systems. Examples include the partner-in-education
program, Eco-Reach programs in local schools (six-county area), partnerships
to improve science education, and collaboration with the State Botanical
Garden of Georgia for special programs and teacher training. Summit to the Sea, in partnership with the Marine Sciences program, and Watershed Connections, which grew out of a service learning project by students in the Environmental Practicum, also provide K-12 educational materials for students and teachers. Working with Watersheds, a Georgia Performance Standards-based science curriculum for 7th grade middle schoolers, was created by graduate students in the Upper Altamaha Practicum. EcoReach is an organization at the Odum School of Ecology
that connects graduate, undergraduate, and professional ecologists at the University of Georgia with school-age children in order to heighten awareness of the science of ecology and environmental issues.
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