One-Year Executive Master’s Degree Program

Executive Master of Environmental Management (E.M.E.M.) or Executive Master of Forestry (E.M.F.)

Program Overview

The executive master’s programs welcome applications from mid-career professionals with at least ten years of environmental leadership or adjacent experience. The executive master’s programs enable students to deepen their expertise in environmental management or forestry and become part of an international network of environmental thought leaders and innovators. The programs are small and cohort-based to foster strong peer networks, maximize engagement with faculty, and create meaningful connections across campus. They provide a transformational educational experience in a condensed timeline, allowing professionals to earn their degree without a prolonged career break. 

Program Goals

In every region of the world, Yale School of the Environment (YSE) alumni are working to conserve and protect our planet:  re-envisioning supply chains to turn local wood waste into viable resources that help regenerate urban economies; creating a new model for global coral reef restoration; overseeing the restoration of more than 450,000 hectares of degraded forests in Ghana; and leading the implementation of decarbonization projects, climate change risk assessment, and biodiversity conservation in Chile.  

Meeting today’s most significant global challenges—climate change, biodiversity loss, creating more sustainable cities—requires vision and leadership at every level. Midcareer professionals with a reservoir of knowledge and experience are well-positioned to lead the way in developing and scaling solutions to these urgent environmental, economic, and societal challenges. YSE’s executive degree programs can help students deepen and expand their expertise, increasing their ability to affect change. 

YSE’s ten-month residential executive master’s degree programs give midcareer professionals with an established track record of leadership in environmental management, forestry, or a directly adjacent field the opportunity to deepen their expertise, enhance their leadership capabilities, and build their global networks in this rigorous and immersive educational experience tailored for each student’s professional journey. 

These executive programs:

  • Provide a best-in-class executive degree program that helps mid-career professionals advance their careers and maximize their impact;
  • Support an interdisciplinary approach that emphasizes systems thinking and gives students the versatility needed to address today’s urgent challenges;
  • Expose students to diverse perspectives and approaches to environmental problem-solving;
  • Offer a rigorous yet flexible curriculum that enables midcareer professionals to hone their leadership skills and deepen, expand, or pivot their expertise; and
  • Foster a supportive learning environment and a tight-knit community that advances peer-to-peer learning and enables students to build global networks they can rely on throughout their careers

E.M.E.M. and E.M.F. Program Timeline and Coursework

The E.M.E.M. and E.M.F. programs require 30 total credits for completion. All students must start in the fall semester. The curriculum of the E.M.E.M. and E.M.F. programs are structured similarly; students should identify their primary area of interest or the system they wish to study when deciding whether to apply to the E.M.E.M. or E.M.F. program. E.M.F. applicants should have either ten years of relevant experience in forestry, or an allied natural resource field, or a bachelor's degree in forestry and ten years of experience broadly related to environmental management and policy.

August Before Academic Year

  • Participate in master’s student orientation activities and one week of summer orientation modules (MODs), either in New Haven or Yale Myers Forest
  • Enroll in the one-week intensive course on environmental problem solving and leadership: ENV 3700, Leading through Complexity: Tools for Environmental Problem Solving  (1 credit)

Fall Semester

  • Enroll in the applied practicum capstone course, ENV 3950, Framing and Designing Environmental Solutions, to launch the capstone project (2 credits)
  • Select a minimum of 12 credits of elective coursework*

Spring Semester

  • Enroll in the capstone course, ENV 3951, Launching and Leading Environmental Solutions, enabling the completion of the capstone project (3 credits)
  • Select a minimum of 12 credits of elective coursework*