Amy Emmert
Amy Emmert
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) alumna Amy Emmert (MS/MSEd ’03) decided to work toward her master’s degree at SEAS because she wanted to expand her skill set to better match what she was doing in her career.
Trained as a biologist, Emmert worked as a zookeeper during college and realized how much she enjoyed the educational components of the job. Hoping to learn more about environmental education, Emmert came to SEAS to study in the Behavior, Education and Communication specialization.
During her search to find a graduate program that was a good fit for her, she became interested in SEAS Professor Ray DeYoung’s research, and reflected on the groundbreaking nature of his work in environmental education in the late 1990s. “At the time, he was one of the major players in looking at behavior change towards environmentalism,” Emmert said, “and that was something that I was really interested in.”
Emmert took what she learned from her early career, her education at U-M, and time spent abroad with her when she moved back to Detroit and assumed the role of school program coordinator at the Belle Isle Aquarium. Emmert had volunteered at the Belle Isle Nature Center, and was excited to return to the island. She worked closely with the Detroit Public Schools system and some teachers she had worked with in the past. “I was able to really lean into what they were doing at their school and in their curriculum and how the aquarium could support them through environmental education and place- and project-based learning.”
