Our Goal

To provide students with the necessary foundation to pursue either a more general or a more specialized career opportunity in the area of conservation. This is accomplished through our curriculum which provides a core of essential courses, fundamental for anyone in the conservation area, along with electives that allow for as broad or as specific a conservation focus as the student desires. The academic program includes lectures, hands-on laboratories, field projects, and a required internship to provide the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience for beginning a career in conservation or to pursue an advanced degree.

Why major in Conservation?

Students major in Conservation for a variety of reasons:

1. They want to work outdoors.
2. They want to contribute to maintaining a quality environment for our generation and those to follow.
3. They like the broad based curriculum that gives them a large degree of flexibility to specialize in a particular area of conservation that interests them.
4. They have a long-time interest in a particular area of conservation that they want to pursue as a professional career.
5. They want to acquire the interdisciplinary training needed for many conservation careers or for graduate school.

What Do Conservationists Do?

Conservation is concerned with the management of Earth’s natural resources for sustained utilization, and since these resources are varied and complex, students interested in the field of conservation have many opportunities for developing their professional careers. Students can take a broad academic approach and pursue careers in the more holistic types of occupations such as a county conservationist, interpretive naturalist for a private or public nature center, or as a conservation warden enforcing environmental regulations. Another approach would be to specialize in a specific area of conservation, which would enable the student to develop careers in areas such as soil conservation, watershed management, wildlife or fisheries management, forestry, solid waste management, ecosystem restoration, or park management. The field of conservation provides many opportunities for students to develop careers that will match their particular interests and abilities.

Faculty

The environmental science and management unit within the plant and earth science department is home to the conservation major. There are five full-time faculty who form the instructional and student advising core for the major. Since conservation is such a diverse discipline, numerous faculty from other departments and units provide support courses for the major.