Curriculum Overview

GDPE students Kirstin Holfelder and field assistants help GDPE student Kerry Byrne set up rainfall manipulation shelter on the Shortgrass Steppe LTER site

The GDPE curriculum is designed to provide a breadth and depth of training to MS and PhD students, who will emerge from the program as highly competent and skilled graduates. There are four courses required of all MS and PhD students: Foundations of Ecology (ECOL 505), Distinguished Ecologists Lecture Series (ECOL 571), Interdisciplinary Seminars in Ecology (ECOL 592), and Research Seminar (ECOL 693). These required courses provide a consistent ecological background for all GDPE students and ensure that all students engage in key intellectual opportunities within the program.

Other required credits are chosen from the three core areas of our flexible menu system: Organism/Population (Group A), Community/Ecosystem (Group B) and Quantitative Tools (Group C). A variety of courses are available within each of the three groups, and the student, in conjunction with his or her graduate committee, selects an individually-tailored curriculum which is subject to approval by the GDPE Director.

Courses with an ECOL prefix are administered by GDPE and staffed by GDPE faculty from various academic departments or research units. These are taught on variable schedules, but at least once every two years.

ECOL 592 seminar courses are intended as special topics and can be organized by students along with an interested GDPE faculty member(s). These seminars are flexibly organized to address cutting edge issues in ecology, and they are taught on a volunteer basis by GDPE faculty.