Arbaat Hassan
Malaysia / Professor / Open University Malaysia, Kota Marudu
- Introduction
Arba’at Hassan, Ph.D., was born in Sungai Leman, a “rice-bowl area” in Selangor on May 16. He started his career as a science teacher in high school (1970~1979) and was then appointed as a science education lecturer at the teachers’ training college (1980~1982). He earned all degrees from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC), USA (B.Sc. in Biological Sciences 1985; M.Sc. in Science Education and Curriculum & Instruction 1987; and Ph.D. in Environmental & Science Education 1992)—where he was mentored and guided by Prof. Harold Hungerford and Prof. Trudi Volk, the most well-known professors in Environmental Education. Upon graduation, Arba’at taught Environmental Education at various universities in Malaysia (1994~2012), and the longest was at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) (2006~2012). He had served in scouting and conducted leadership training for Scouts (1974-2012). He received the Excellent Merit Award from the Malaysian Scout’s Chief Commissioner (1979). While studying at SIUC, he was involved in many environmental education activities, including during Earth Summit in Rio, Brazil (1990). He has honored the Kappa Delta Pi Illinois Chapter: an Honor Society in Education, USA (1991). He was additionally awarded merit of Teaching Excellent, i.e., “Tokoh Pendidik,” by the Minister of Education in 2016. Since retiring, he has been a part-time lecturer at Open University Malaysia. He is also active in editing articles for international journals, writing books, etc. He involves involuntary environmental works. He was appointed as an Associate Member of the Society of Wetland Scientists Asia Chapter in 2018. His contact e-mail is arbaat@yahoo.com.