The One Health and the Environment graduate certificate is a highly interdisciplinary 12-credit program designed to be completed in two years. One Health is a relatively new science integrating medical, veterinary, and environmental sciences. Through the unique location of the University of Maine campuses and their proximity to rural northern and coastal communities where commercial activities are focused on the extraction (e.g., farming, forestry, and commercial fishing) or enjoyment (e.g., nature-based tourism, hunting and recreational fishing) of natural resources prospective students have the opportunity for hands-on training. The need to train a One Health workforce is important as most infectious diseases are transmitted from both domestic and wild animals to humans (e.g., Lyme, Zika, swine and avian flus, and apparently, COVID-19).
This program creates a deeply integrated learning environment in which trainees move from being disciplinarians to becoming convergent researchers. Knowledge integration of the biophysical and social sciences is particularly important to fully understand the roles that institutions, ecosystem health and humans play in "wicked" plant/animal/human health problems, how those problems affect society and how to design innovative solutions. Scientists who work across disciplines must also be able to communicate basic research findings to applied practitioners in the medical, veterinary, and public health communities, as well as to local-to-global policymakers, industry leaders, and citizens.
Curriculum
- INT 598 One Health Science and Policy (3cr)
- EES 598 Convergent Practice (3cr)
- 3 credit elective in biophysical science
- 3 credit elective in social science
Electives must be relevant to One Health and taken in any of the following units: School of Food and Agriculture, School of Biology and Ecology, School of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, Department of Mathematics, School of Nursing, School of Forest Resources, School of Marine Science. Department of Communication and Journalism, School of Economics, Department of Anthropology, School of Social Work, and Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Conservation Biology. Other electives are taught by the School of Public Health at the University of Southern Maine.
NOTE: If you are an international student who is interested in pursuing any of our graduate certificate programs, please contact Katy Blackmer BEFORE applying.