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Faculty Member: Blair Orr, PhD
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We prepare you for Peace Corps and the future
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The Master's International Program is a unique partnership
between Michigan Tech and the Peace Corps which affords students the opportunity to incorporate Peace
Corps service into a graduate program in forestry. The program involves nine months of intensive
forestry education at Michigan Tech, three months of Peace Corps training, and two years
of field work with Peace Corps. The first 12 weeks of fall semester (commonly known as Fall Camp)
are located at the Ford Center and Research Forest in Alberta, Michigan and focus on fundamental
field skills in forestry, overseas research and tropical forestry. The end of fall semester and spring
semester are spent at the Michigan Tech campus in Houghton, Michigan. Students then take part in
three months of Peace Corps technical, cross-cultural and language training in the country where they
will work, followed by two years of Peace Corps service working to improve the environment with people
who use and depend upon a healthy ecosystem for their livelihoods and that of their children. Students
will return to Michigan Tech to complete their degree, typically in one additional academic term.
"Fall Camp is a great experience to prepare us for training. The workload and training methods are similar. Integration with my homestay family was an easier transition because of my time spent with my housemates in Alberta.”
- Brian Satterlee, Peace Corps Cameroon
Forestry and the environment are the fastest growing
fields in Peace Corps and Peace Corps fields more people in environmental work than any other
group in the world. Seventeen percent of all volunteers are in environmental fields, and over
half of these are in forestry. Peace Corps would place more forestry and environmental volunteers
if enough skilled people were available.
The Michigan Tech/Peace Corps Master's
International program not only develops the skills and knowledge to help meet these needs,
but it gives participating students the confidence and credibility they need to make a difference
on a grass-roots, people-to-people level. In addition, students gain two years of professional
overseas field experience. Students gain through experiential learning.
Specific Interests:
Forestry in developing nations
Thimbleberries
Forest economics
Land use in the Upper Peninsula
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