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International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)
The International Development, Community and Environment at Clark University (also known as IDCE) is a graduate school program comprised of a community of scholars and practitioners dedicated to environmental sustainability, social justice, and economic well-being. The school offers masters degree and certificate programs, as well undergraduate majors and minors.

Background
The department was founded in 2000 through the guidance of African History professor Richard Ford. It was the formal result of "an informal collaborative of professors from across the University's disciplines were developing curricula, securing grants and conducting research that would result in practical approaches to longstanding social, environmental and economic problems that reached into some of the remotest corners of the globe." Ford worked with Barbara Thomas-Slayter, a part-time professor, to launch IDCE. He also recruited William Fisher, an associate professor at Harvard University in Anthropology, to serve as director.

"We were running probably the second or third largest graduate program at the University on Barbara's salary, the salary of a secretary, and a budget of $12,000," said Ford in an interview with Clark Magazine. "We raised our own money for scholarships; I was writing proposals all night every night. And we loved it. The deans would fight us every time we went in for a budget increase, saying, ‘You're not a department.' We'd say, ‘Good, because we don't want to be a department. We want to pull different people in from economics, geography and other departments to teach courses. We just want to be this little entity that brings good people together."

The International Development and Social Change and Environmental Science and Policy programs provided a starting point for the school which later saw the addition of masters degree programs in Community Development and Planning, Health Science In Community And Global Health and Geographic Information Science for Development and Environment.

=== Approach to Learning === The International Development, Community and Environment Department has built its degree programs on more than 35 years of collective field experience in North America, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It is a place of intellectual rigor and creative thinking, where students acquire the professional skills they need to advance in their careers.

At IDCE students learn how to address complex problems and build community while managing resources wisely. In the classroom and in the field, IDCE students develop critical analytical skills, explore linkages between local and global perspectives, and focus on the human and ecological dimensions of sustainability.

Its community of scholars and practitioners is dedicated to fostering environmental sustainability, social justice, and economic well-being in both the developing and developed world. The major forces of social change — grass roots initiatives, social movements, government policy, market approaches, entrepreneurship, technological innovation, individual action, and education — form the core of our transdisciplinary studies. The programs approach complex problems by crossing conventional disciplinary boundaries. Each of IDCE's programs is flexible, encouraging students to take courses across programs representing a diversity of perspectives. The breadth of opportunities for integrated coursework makes IDCE unique among similar traditional programs. IDCE maintains close links with other academic centers at Clark, including the Graduate School of Geography and the Graduate School of Management, providing even more opportunities for students to gain the skills they will need to cross nonprofit, private, government, NGO, and research sectors.

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International Development and Social Change (IDSC) ===== The Master’s in International Development and Social Change trains students to meet some of the world’s most pressing social, political, economic and cultural challenges. Students explore new ways to understand and improve all of the major forces of change: grassroots initiatives, social movements, government policy, market approaches, technological innovation, individual action and education. The program addresses deep-seated problems through teaching, research and a heavy emphasis on hands-on practice—helping you become an effective driver of social change.

Students in IDSC will focus on one of IDCE’s 10 focal areas: Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation; Conservation and Development; Refugees, Forced Migration, and Belonging; Education and Development; Youth Development; Urban Regeneration: Economic and Workforce Development; Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning; Gender and Identity; Health Equity; and Healthy People, Healthy Planet. In each focal area, students from across IDCE programs come together to bring different perspectives to their courses and projects, learning to work across professional languages to build solutions to global challenges.

Research
Faculty research areas include culture and power, political economy, gender studies, education, empowerment, social transformation and community development, transnationalism and citizenship, geographies of Islam, narratives of exile, economic development, environment, gender, and child labor, social movements, resettlement, anthropology of development, gender, medical anthropology, indigenous knowledge and cultural survival, states and state-effects, political violence, extractive industries, diasporic health, Social Networks Analysis (SNA), feminism, women, militarized culture, resource trends and resource management in Africa, community participation and sustainable development, local institutions, and women and public policy.

Courses
Some of the courses offered at Clark include: Economic Fundamentals for International Development, Gender and Health, Globalization and its Illicit Commodities, Beyond Victims and Guardian Angels: Third World Women, Gender and Development, Development and Displacement in the Contemporary World, Environment & Justice in Latin America, Ideologies of "Race" in Development, Social Movements, Globalization and the State, and Principles of Conflict Negotiation.

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Environmental Science & Policy (ES&P) ===== The Environmental Science and Policy (ES&P) program prepares students for a range of emerging environmental careers at the intersection of science and policy. ES&P equips students with skills and perspectives to work with a wide array of stakeholders – communities, industries, governmental agencies, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, researchers, and donors.

The program encourages students to frequently cross boundaries between being scholars and practitioners through coursework, group projects, internships, and extracurricular activities. Students learn to balance acting practically and idealistically, thinking theoretically and empirically, and between focusing on natural and social sciences.

Graduates of the ES&P/MBA dual degree program may pursue jobs in environmental consulting, entrepreneurial environmental leadership, sustainable technology businesses (including renewable energy systems), nonprofit operations and management, corporate sustainability, and others.

Research
Faculty research interests include transitions in how humans change the environment, and how those changes impact their health, well being, and natural resources; environmental epidemiology; social epidemiology; urbanization and health, particularly chronic diseases; the health and conflict effects of climate change; the development and use of analytical methods and mathematical models to aid the decision process for environmental assessment and management; climate change adaptation; sustainable development, with emphasis on global climate change and conservation and development.

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Community Development and Planning (CDP) ===== The Community Development and Planning (CDP) program trains current and future community development practitioners, activists, and scholars to take on the challenges and struggles facing urban areas in the United States. Students learn ways of thinking and transforming communities that enable equity and social justice. The CDP program integrates theory, practice, and reflection through high-quality internships, coursework, and the participation of practitioners and community leaders in small seminars.

Research
Faculty research areas include urban and regional economic development, labor markets and workforce development, political economy, Latin America, Latinos in the US and immigration, governance, non-profits and institutional development, and research methods, youth development, youth worker professional development, community based participatory research, community economics, citizen participation, and non-profit governance.

Courses
Some courses available in the CDP include: People and Places: Theories of Community Development and Planning; Community Development Finance; Negotiations in Community Development; Grant Writing for Community Developers; Planning and Zoning for Community Developers; Strategies for Community Organization; International and Comparative Analysis of Community Development; Nonprofit Management Issues; Social Policy, Immigration and Poverty; Urban Transportation: Problems and Prospects; Youth and Community Development; Migration, Globalization and Knowledge-Based Industries.

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Henry J. And Erna D. Leir Master Of Health Science In Community And Global Health ===== The M.H.S. curriculum is designed to prepare students for careers as community or global health professionals in the public, private or non-profit sector. Specific skills students learn include:
 * An understanding of health issues facing communities locally and throughout the world.
 * A multi-dimensional perspective of health, including social, economic, cultural, political and environmental factors.
 * Competency in appropriate research methodologies.
 * Appreciation of the ethical implications of health research, practice and governance.
 * An understanding of politics and gender, poverty and race as they relate to global and community health issues.
 * An understanding of how health care inequities affect health.

Courses
Core courses (8) will introduce students to the core concepts and methods of public health. These include: Introduction to Community or Global Health; Epidemiology & Biostatistics; Comparative health systems; spatial analysis for global and community health; monitoring and evaluation; project management; community-based engaged research; health communication.

Elective courses (3) allow students to choose from a variety of topical areas such as Advanced Topics in Development Theory: The Political Economy of Food and the Ethics of Eating; Culture, Health and Power; Environment, Poverty and Health; Environmental Toxicology; Food Production, Environment and Health; Gender and Health; Geographic Information Science for Community Development and Planning; Inequality and Poverty; United States Health Care Policy.

Capstone, practicum, or internship (1) is the culminating experience of the curriculum where students develop individual or team-based experiences that allow them to translate the knowledge they gained in their studies into action. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the extensive network of public and private partners locally or internationally to secure field-based experiences for this requirement. Students can also work with a faculty on a research project as their culminating experience.

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Geographic Information Science for Development and Environment (GISDE) ===== The program in Geographic Information Science for Development and Environment (GISDE) prepares professionals for careers where they apply the world's most advanced computer mapping technologies and spatial analysis to address crucial issues concerning socioeconomic development and environmental science.

It is a joint program between the International Development, Community and Environment school and Clark's Graduate School of Geography. It specializes in applications of geospatial technologies to problems of sustainable development and the environment, including: Public health and environmental justice, Global change and earth system monitoring, Land use change, Food security and humanitarian assistance.

Clark University produces the GIS software IDRISI Taiga, which is used by researchers and educators in more than 180 countries. Clark is the only academic institution in the world with a successful 22-year history of GIS and remote sensing software development, and an equally rich history of applying that technology to address global challenges like environmental degradation and food insecurity. That means GISDE students have the unique opportunity to harness the analytical power GIS while learning from its innovators.

Research
Faculty research interests include water resource applications of GIS and remote sensing; land use and land cover change at rural-urban fringe; landscape ecology applications to sustainable development; machine learning (classification tree) applications; glacier lakes and climate change; Health applications of GIS and remote sensing; environmental justice and GIS; spatial statistics; urban applications of remote sensing; land-use change and environmental degradation; GIS; urban sustainability; environmental justice and health; vulnerability analysis; brownfield redevelopment; and urban greening.

Courses
Some of the courses offered by GISDE include: Advanced Raster GIS; Advanced Remote Sensing; Computer Programming for GIS; Internet and Open Source GIS; Advanced Topics in Spatial Analysis; Quantitative Modeling; Biogeochemical Cycles and Global Change; Environmental Toxicology; and Landscape Ecology.

Student Life
More than 40% of IDCE students come from outside the US, creating a classroom with a diversity of knowledge and collective experiences that influence every student. The intersection of development theory and practice is a hallmark of the program.

Clark University is located in Worcester, Massachusetts, the second most populous city in New England. ts central location in the state makes it an easy base for exploring the nearby cities of Boston, Providence, and Portland; and is a short drive away from the lakes and mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire.. The student community of IDCE and Clark is inclusive and supportive, with many students living very close to campus Frequent social events are planned by fellow students, as well as excursions to interesting destinations on weekends. Overall, living expenses tend to be less compared to cities like Boston. The nature of the IDCE community contributes to Worcester being a great place to live and study.

Tuition/Scholarships/Financial Aid
More than 80% of IDCE students do receive some form of merit based partial financial aid toward tuition. IDCE is able to offer some fellowships to outstanding applicants, ranging from 40% to 100% tuition remission.

IDCE Fellowship recipients have demonstrated leadership in their work experience and have excellent academic qualifications. Merit-based IDCE Fellowships are awarded students irrespective of nationality.

Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and Alumni of AmeriCorps programs, Teach for America, City Year, and World Teach who are admitted to one of IDCE's programs are provided partial tuition fellowships worth at least 40% tuition remission (more than $20,000 at current tuition rates). Additionally, each year, IDCE awards at least one full tuition-free competitive fellowship for applicants of extraordinary merit who belong to those groups (at least one is awarded per category).