Graduate School receives major grant to start master's program in development practice

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has awarded the Emory Graduate School $900,000 over three years to develop a new master's degree program in development practice.

"This is a great honor and an exciting opportunity," says Professor David Nugent, director of the new program (right).  "The support from the MacArthur Foundation enables us to bring together expertise, interest, and experience from across Emory and beyond, to launch a unique program that will help shape sustainable development for years to come and across the globe."

The new Master's in Development Practice (MDP) will combine academic training and practical experience.  The academic component of the program will draw on faculty with development related expertise from across Emory University, focusing on issues of governance, health and gender.  Opportunitites for practicum experience will be provided with help from several world-renowned partners, including CARE, The Carter Center, and the CDC.  Find out more about these aspects, and other partner institutions, on our temporary MDP page.

The new program will enroll its first students in the fall of 2010.

The grant is part of a significant initiative from the MacArthur Foundation, aiming to train a generation of development professionals who can engage poverty, population, health, conservation, and human rights as interconnected problems, requiring sustained and comprehensive interventions.  Emory was one of ten universities receiving a grant -- one of three in the U.S., with the rest spread across the globe (see right).  Find out more about the initiative on the MacArthur Foundation website.

"This award is a wonderful recognition of Emory's tradition and principled commitment to expanding fields of training and knowledge in directions and that explicitly aim to contribute to the public good," says Lisa A. Tedesco, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School.  "It is difficult to think of a program that would fit that commitment better than this one."

"It has also been gratifying and exciting to see the response and commitment this new program has generated at Emory," continued Dean Tedesco.  "We have many people to thank for their support.  I especially want to thank Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, Director of the Global Health Institute, and Dr. Reynaldo Martorell, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of International Nutrition at the Rollins School of Public Health."