The Log | School News
DEL-MEM Students Experience Washington Leadership One-on-One
The 17 students in the Nicholas School’s Duke Environmental Leadership Master of Environmental Management (DELMEM) program described their first environmental leadership module in Washington, D.C., as “unequaled,” “rich and valuable,” and “unprecedented.”
The trip, one of several modules offered the students in the two-year online/on-campus master’s program, was held from Jan. 4-9, and involved meetings with prominent leaders from the private, public and not-forprofit sectors.
“Leadership is a driving theme of the DEL-MEM Program. Throughout the program, we provide opportunities for students to assess their leadership capabilities, leverage their strengths and develop an action plan for ongoing development,” says Sara Ashenburg, director of the Duke Environmental Leadership Program. “The module in D.C. offers students a one-of-a-kind immersion experience in which they can explore leadership on a personal level, an organizational level, and within the environmental field as a whole.”
Students had one-on-one talks with Steven McCormick, president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy; Thomas Lovejoy, president of the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment; Linda Fisher, vice president and chief sustainability officer for DuPont; James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality; and Fran Mainella, director of the National Park Service.
They also had an opportunity to meet with staff from the offices of Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
Student Kathleen Kutschenreuter, an environmental protection specialist at the Environmental Protection Agency (Washington, D.C.), says, “The opportunity to meet and work so intimately with such a diverse and distinguished group of leaders in the field must be unprecedented. I don't know of any other program or school in the country that offers such an important experience.”
Charles Yelton, environmental education specialist with Latta Plantation Nature Center, Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation (Charlotte, N.C.), says, “The DEL leadership session in D.C .offered me an unequaled experience in meeting with a diversity of environmental leaders. This has given me valuable insight into the way national environmental policy is shaped and managed. It has also helped me develop my own road map to becoming a successful leader.”
Kristin Barker, principal software engineer for NatureServe (Washington, D.C.), says, “The series of meetings and subsequent discussions in D.C. were enormously rich and valuable. I was captivated by the issues of individual leadership, organizational challenges, and environmental policy that were raised in these sessions. I’ve learned at least as much about D.C. in the past week as I have in living here for several years.”
At the end of the week, students were charged with a case study project in which they assumed the role of leadership coach or consultant and evaluated the leadership presented throughout the week.
The DEL-MEM, an innovative 30- credit program offering a rigorous blend of online and on-campus coursework, is designed to meet the needs of business executives and professionals in the environmental field.
The program was established with an $800,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. The first group of DEL-MEMs will graduate this May. For more information, go visit the DEL Web site, e-mail del@nicholas.duke.edu, or call 919-613-8082.