UF Center for Latin American Studies
Program director Glenn Galloway reflects on 12 years of progress and camaraderie
June 7, 2023
In January 2007, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation commissioned an international, multidisciplinary group of experts and practitioners to identify measures that might be taken to enhance the preparation of development practitioners. Do development professionals receive an adequate education to prepare them for their work? Are they well prepared to address complex, interdisciplinary challenges?
Through this analysis, the commission recommended the creation of the Master of Development Practice (MDP) Program. They envisioned a program structured around four pillars—social sciences, natural sciences, health sciences, and management—in order to nurture in students a holistic, interdisciplinary understanding of sustainable development challenges. through classroom study, participatory exercises, and field practice MDP students would develop a balanced combination of knowledge, skills, and appropriate professional behavior. Following these recommendations, the MacArthur Foundation launched a global call for proposals, encouraging universities worldwide to embark on the development of their own MDP programs. Of the approximately 85 universities that applied, ten were selected, and among them was the University of Florida.
Since then, 24 additional institutions have launched MDP programs worldwide. To date, 125 students from 25 different countries have graduated from the UF MDP program, conducting field practicums in 43 countries around the world. Glenn Galloway has served as director of UF’s MDP program since 2011, and for five years has been the North American Representative for the MDP Global Association. Dr. Galloway says that most satisfying aspects of his experience have been the generous collaboration and engagement of core, affiliate and unaffiliated faculty from 34 departments, centers and institutes; awesome students and alumni; the partners that host MDP students; and the support from the Centers of Latin American Studies and African Studies, which co-administer the MDP Program, and the International Center.
In April, the UF MDP Program celebrated its 12-year anniversary with many members of its community in attendance, including Dr. Lucia Rodriguez, the Director of the MDP Global Association; core and affiliate faculty members; the Directors of the Centers for African Studies and Latin American Studies and the International Center; as well as current students and alumni attending in-person and virtually from different parts of the world. Alumni who patched in from Indonesia, Uganda, California, Colombia, and Philadelphia shared what earning an MDP degree from UF has meant to their professional careers.
With over 12 years of existence at universities across the world, the Global MDP program has amassed nearly 7,000 graduates—and counting. As the community grows, so too do efforts to keep the community connected. A Students and Alumni Advisory Council (SAAC) was established in 2014; summit meetings for MDP leadership are held periodically to share experiences and pursue collaborative initiatives. Currently, this includes a book project (Routledge Press) entitled Transforming Education for Sustainable Development: Global Perspectives from Classroom to Practice with the participation of over 40 authors, including faculty members, alumni, students, and partners.
Celebrating UF’s 12 years of MDP is an opportunity to reflect on the program’s past and future. UF MDP students have pursued a diversity of topics in the Global North and South alike, reflecting the broadening of the sustainable development agenda since the program’s beginnings. This thematic and regional expansion is due, in part, to the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). “The combination of the broad SDG agenda and the incredible institutional capacity of UF enables us to accommodate students with a wide range of interests,” Dr. Galloway says. The students themselves benefit from such an interdisciplinary environment in a small, tight-knit cohort: “They may be interested in one thing, but while in the program, they are exposed to the work of their fellow students,” explains Dr. Galloway. “So, it really opens their minds—and ours—to see how these different development challenges are playing out and how fellow students get involved and contribute to the work of their host organizations in different parts of the world.”
