Training in the CONS program includes four components:

1. Core courses in each of:

  • ecology and conservation biology;
  • resource economics;
  • public policy; and
  • interdisciplinary problem-solving.

    Course requirements for the program total 39 credits. This is intended to be a two-year degree program.

2. Elective courses from a wide array of disciplines

The CONS program doesn't have many of its own courses; students in the program take their courses in a wide range of campus departments and programs. CONS courses include:

  • CONS 608 - a seminar offered every semester. Format varies, but has included invited speakers, reading and discussing a book, or focusing on a particular topic with a goal of writing a paper.
  • CONS 609 - a course that can be used for special projects. In 2007 we used this to teach a new course in Adaptive Management for Conservation Projects, in which students learned about project cycle management. Reports about the projects the class analyzed for three clients are available:
    • Bushmeat Crisis Task Force bushmeat intervention strategies in the Project for Ecosystem Management in the Nouabalé-Ndoki Perphery area (PROGEPP) in Central Africa
    • Lower Shore (Maryland) Land Trust organizational strategic plan for capacity building and creation of a conservation strategy on Maryland's lower eastern shore.
    • São João Watershed (Brazil) Conservation Plan - identified primary targets for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem function in the Watershed, identified critical threats to these targets and the factors that affect them, and proposed strategies and objectives to achieve conservation goals in the area
    • Lac Tele Lac Tumba Landscape in Central Africa, including parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo - a plan to develop ecotourism on a private ranch, involving local people in decision-making and benefit-sharing.
  • CONS 670 - a graduate course number for use (at least for now) with the course lectures of the BSCI 363 course in conservation biology
  • CONS 680 - the core course, Problem Solving in Conservation/Development
  • CONS 798 - for credits related to writing of the scholarly paper

One example of an elective is the CONS 608 seminar that is taught every semester (by Drs. Inouye or Dietz, or sometimes by our Adjunct Professors or visiting lecturers). In one semester students wrote the management plan for Golden Headed Lion Tamarins for all North American Zoos. Last year they ran a seminar focused on the topic of Leadership in Conservation Biology, and brought in leaders of many of Washington D.C.'s conservation organizations for first-person views on the topic.

Students can also take elective courses in education, anthropology, wildlife, economics, statistics, ecology, behavior, policy, evolution, etc.

The University of Maryland has excellent resources available for those interested in learning the applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing to conservation. CONS students often choose to take GIS courses through the Anthropology Department and its GIMS program, the Geography Department, and the McKeldin Library GIS Workshop Series.

3. An internship experience

Usually in a Washington-area agency, usually during the summer, and relevant to the student's career interests. Here is a list of internship sponsors for our students for the past six years.

4. A scholarly paper

The paper should use readily available data to analyze a conservation or development project from the perspective of biological conservation and economic benefits and lead to policy recommendations. You can see examples of scholarly paper topics in entries in our alumni directory.

5. Advising

As a non-thesis master's degree program, the CONS program does not require original research and therefore, does not assign individual thesis advisors. A group advising session is held at the beginning of the fall semester to advise students about enrollment in fall courses and at the end of the fall semester for advising about the spring semester. The Director, other faculty, and senior students in the program are available for advising.

6. Other training opportunities

The campus offers a Certificate in Ecological Economics.

We now offer a dual M.S. program for the CONS program and the School of Public Affairs' Masters of Public Policy with an emphasis in Environmental Policy. For a description of this program (new in 2003), see this link.