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Michaela Theresia Zint

Michaela Zint
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor; Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Behavior, Education, and Communication
Cross-cutting
zintmich@umich.edu
(734) 763-6961
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2032a Dana
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About

(she/her/hers)

Professor Zint research interests include environmental and sustainability education (behavior change, program evaluation, professional development, pre-service education) in K-12 and higher education settings; environmental (risk) communication; business & environment (especially green marketing), social sciences & environment; water/fish/fisheries/Great Lakes (issues related to education, communication). Professor Zint is particularly well known for her work in building environmental educators’ competencies (e.g. MEERA) and federal funding agencies’ (e.g. B-WET) capacities to evaluate their (grant) programs, with a focus on measuring (behavioral) outcomes and identifying associated pedagogies and conditions. Current research projects focus on exploring how higher education can best prepare sustainability and climate leaders including through online education as well as on workforce development for a green economy in collaboration with industry.

Publications

  • Zint, M, Porter, P. & Ostrow Michel, J. 2022. Education for sustainability through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). In Bush A., Birke, J. (eds) Nachhaltigkeit und Social Media: Bildung fuer eine nachhaltige Entwicklung in der digitalen Welt. Springer-Verlag. Springer, Germany, pp. 241-257.

  • Carman, J.P., Zint, M., Burkett, E. & Ibanez., I. 2021. The role of interest in climate change instruction. Science Education. 105(2): 309-352

  • Brundiers, K., Barth, M, Cebrian, G., Cohen, M, Diaz, L., Doucette-Remington, S, Dripps, W, Habron, G. Harre, N, Jarchow, M, Losch, K., Michel, J, Mochizuki, Y, Rieckmann, M, Parnell, R, Walker, P & Zint, M. (2021). Key competencies in sustainability in higher education-toward an agreed-upon reference framework. Sustainability Science 16, 13-29.

  • Carman, J.P. & Zint, M. (2020). Defining and classifying personal and household climate change adaptation behaviors. Global Environmental Change 61(102062): 1-14.

  • Morse, B., Carman, J.P. & Zint, M. (2019). Fostering environmental behaviors through observational learning. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 27(10): 1530-1552.

Read more publications here.

Research

  • Innovative Pedagogies for Cultivating Leadership Amidst the Climate Change Crisis. University of Michigan, School for Environment & Sustainability. 2020-present $55,000 (Lead PI).

  • Toward Mastery: Re-envisioning Master’s student learning through a competency-based approach and multi-model mentoring. University of Michigan, Rackham Graduate School. 2019-present $60,000 (Lead-PI).

  • SEAS of change - Toward assessing student-learning outcomes of environmental sustainability education. 2017-present. University of Michigan, Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, $10,000 (Principal Investigator).

  • Michigan Sustainability Cases: Transforming case-based teaching and environmental training. 2016-present. University of Michigan, Third Century Initiative, $1.6 million (Co-Principal Investigator).

  • Planting Roots, Branching Out: A proposal to continue exploring the benefits of an education program design to foster middle school students’ understanding of Michigan’s trees and forests – and – the impacts of climate change on these resources. 2014-2016. US Forest Service McIntire-Stennis Research Program, $55,000 (Principal Investigator).

Education

PhD, Michigan State University (Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Human Dimensions)

MBA, Michigan State University (marketing)

BA, Michigan State University (Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management)

Affiliations

Leader, North American Association for Environmental Education Evaluation Clinic (2014-2015).

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