Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 37(2): March 2011 Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 2011. 37(2): 51–59 51 A Syllabus-based Review of Collegiate Arboriculture Course Content in the United States P. Eric Wiseman, Joseph W. Hoffman, Susan D. Day, and Terry L. Clements Abstract. The professional skills and expertise demanded of practicing arborists are greater than at any time in the past, and many employers and educators believe that higher education plays a role in educating future professionals in this field. Although recent surveys have identified major instructional topics that are critically important for future arborists, no assessment of whether these topics are being taught in college and university programs is available. The following paper is a syllabus-level assessment of 68 arboriculture courses being taught at U.S. institutions of higher education. The most common instruc- tional topics observed in syllabi of arboriculture courses at both two- and four-year institutions were pruning (85%), disorders (81%), physiology/biology (79%), risks/hazards (79%), and soils/nutrition (75%). Tree planting and tree selection, topics identified by educators and public sector employers in previous studies as among the most important instructional areas, were found only in 74% and 62% of course syllabi, respectively. Safety was mentioned in only 53% of syllabi. Syllabus content was similar at two-year and four-year institutions, although tree identification and arborist certification were men- tioned more frequently in two-year institution syllabi. Trends in arboriculture education and implications for employers and professionals are discussed. Key Words. Arboriculture Education; Arborist Training; Course Objectives; Educational Assessment. Demand for arboriculture services (and thus employees) in the United States has shown strong growth over the last two decades. O’Bryan et al. (2007) performed a detailed assessment of the U.S. arboriculture industry for the period 1992–2002. At that time, they estimated the industry comprised nearly 82,000 establishments, employed about 160,000 workers (public and private sector), and earned annual gross receipts of nearly USD $9 billion. According to the researchers, annual growth in arboriculture employment and revenues was nearly 20% between 1997 and 2002. In its 2010– 2011 Occupational Outlook Handbook, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimated 2008 employment in the tree trimmers and pruners occupational category at 45,000 people nationwide (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2010). The BLS report further pre- dicted that employment in this occupational category should grow about 26% over the next eight years, adding nearly 12,000 new production employees to the arboriculture professional ranks. Although the basic occupational duties of future arborists will likely resemble those of arborists practicing today, these duties will be carried out in the context of advancements in tree care science, sophistications in tree care technology, and increas- ing public awareness of proper tree care. As a result, it seems likely that there will be greater demand for well-educated, highly-skilled employees in the arboriculture industry over the next decade. Trends in the expectations of employers support this notion. A mid-1980s survey of arboriculture employers in the U.S. Mountain West region found that less than one-third of respondents desired a four-year degree for arborist employees (McPherson 1984). Nearly two decades later, a survey conducted in the Pennsylvania–Delaware Chapter of the International So- ciety of Arboriculture (ISA) revealed that 70% of surveyed ar- boriculture firms felt that a bachelor’s degree was important for certain positions (Penn-Del Chapter 2001). In the mid-2000s, Elmendorf et al. (2005) reviewed more than sixty years of lit- erature on arboriculture education as well as several employer/ educator surveys, leading them to surmise that “the demand for arboriculture and urban forestry graduates remains high, and in many areas of the United States, demand exceeds the supply of available graduates.” To keep pace with emerging challenges and expectations in the arboriculture profession, it is likely that arborists will increasingly rely upon post-secondary education to succeed in the 21st century workplace. Yet there is no com- prehensive understanding of collegiate arboriculture education in the U.S. This information is critical for framing discussions of the higher education needs of aspiring arborists and for re- fining collegiate arboriculture courses to meet those needs. In the United States, there is no prevailing standard for col- legiate arboriculture education. Although ISA sets clear expec- tations for arborist competencies in its professional certification programs, the organization does not evaluate or accredit collegiate arboriculture programs. In 2007, the Society of American Forest- ers (SAF) instituted a specialized accreditation for collegiate ur- ban forestry programs (Society of American Foresters 2010). This accreditation has a broad disciplinary scope and addresses arbori- culture as a component of urban forestry education rather than its focal point. Although SAF accreditation has historically focused on programmatic elements (e.g., facilities, instructor qualifica- tions, funding), curricular content has been scrutinized on several occasions over the last 50–60 years, resulting in a narrowing of dis- ciplinary focus (Green 2006). Nonetheless, it is unclear whether urban forestry accreditation by the SAF will have a significant im- ©2011 International Society of Arboriculture
March 2011
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