Editor: Laura M. Bies
LI Newsletter Subcommittee Chair: Allison Fowler

TWS Launches Online Mentoring Program

TWS recently established an Online Mentoring Program to help prepare young members to lead the next generation of wildlife professionals! This new program provides an opportunity for early-career biologists to gain knowledge and insights from more experienced wildlife professionals. Mentees will not only gain valuable information regarding their concentration, but will also build valuable contacts and develop other stepping stones toward enhancing their careers. Mentors have the opportunity to foster a professional relationship with enthusiastic mentees, while enjoying the satisfaction of promoting success for future wildlife biologists.

The partnerships will be based on participants’ backgrounds and interests. TWS asks mentors to commit for six months to a year to ensure both parties fully benefit from the program. Most interaction and communication will take place online via e-mail and other internet tools. Mentors will act as role models, providing career advice, writing and editing assistance, and recommendations for higher education. Mentees should be honest about their ambitions and uncertainties, weaknesses and strengths, and expectations of a mentoring relationship. As of early September, 278 TWS members had signed up as mentors, and 250 as mentees – a great start!

TWS Online Mentoring program is a great resource for young members hoping to enhance their professional development and experienced professionals looking to share their expertise, building a successful future for natural resources and wildlife conservation. If you are interested in either becoming a mentee or mentor, please visit TWS Online Mentoring Center!

Alumni News

Read about promotions, awards, and leadership positions recently attained by LI alums.

Sarah Bucklin, LI Alum 2009, presented “The Invertebrates of Monterey Bay" to the Izaak Walton League of America--Casper Chapter.

Bridgette Flanders-Wanner, LI Alum 2006, was accepted into the fall 2010 class of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Stepping Up To Leadership program (SUTL). SUTL is designed for employees who have demonstrated by their performance that they have high potential for assuming positions of increasing leadership responsibility. This 6-month program offers individuals the chance to improve their leadership skills through skill assessments, coaching, self-paced and group exercises, and developmental assignments.

Angela Fuller, LI Alum 2008, completed training courses ‘Introduction to Structured Decision Making’ and ‘Adaptive Management: Structured Decision Making for Recurrent Decisions’ at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, WV.

Jordona Kirby, LI Alum 2006, received a promotion and is now the National Rabies Field Coordinator with Wildlife Services. Formerly, she was the Rabies Biologist for Tennessee. Read more below!

Emily Munter, LI Alum 2006, started a new position as a wildlife biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service -Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program in Nebraska. Her focus will be on restoring wetlands and priority uplands on private lands in southwest and western Nebraska. She will be stationed out of North Platte, NE.

Daniel Thompson, LI Alum 2007, began a graduate program at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks to pursue a Masters Degree in Wildlife Biology. He will be doing research on caribou nutrition at the Large Animal Research Station through the Institute of Arctic Biology. 

Leadership Training Opportunities

Leading From Within: Offered by the Institute for Conservation Leadership, Leading From Within is a five-month program that strengthens your leadership skills and increases your effectiveness as a leader with others, within your organization, and in group settings. The Program offers an exciting blend of workshops, a 360-degree assessment, self-reflection, opportunities to practice new techniques, learning from peers, and one-on-one time with a coach to help you increase your leadership awareness and skills. Applications are currently being accepted; learn more at www.icl.org/programs/signature-intensive/leading-within.

Where are they now?

Read about what a LI alum is up to now and what they’ve achieved since they participated.

Jordona Kirby, LI Class of 2006, recently became the National Rabies Field Coordinator for USDA Wildlife Services. Before this promotion, Jordona was a rabies biologist for Tennessee. As the Field Coordinator, Jordona now oversees oral rabies vaccinations in eighteen states. Jordona is excited about the new position, which provides many opportunities to travel, and to meet and work with a variety of people. Recently, Jordona spent three weeks in several states in the Northeast providing and administering oral rabies vaccinations.

Jordona is also the Secretary-Treasurer of TWS’ Wildlife Diseases Working Group. This international group was established last year, and includes members from 42 U.S. states, 9 Canadian provinces, Brazil, Japan, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. The group’s mission includes promoting the education, prevention, and management of wildlife diseases.

Jordona has found the Wildlife Diseases Working Group to be extremely beneficial in her career field, and the LI as a whole. Earlier in her career, LI helped Jordona build confidence in making career choices, and she recommends the program to other young professionals.

Book Review: Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office: 101 Mistakes Women Make that Sabotage Their Careers by Lois P. Frankel

Alexa Sutton, TWS Policy Intern
Although recent reports show that the gender-wage gap is closing, women remain underrepresented at the highest levels of leadership. This trend is apparent across disciplines, but is exacerbated in the fields of engineering and science – including the wildlife sciences. Ascent to executive positions - often built on a collection of participation in mentoring, leadership behavior, and management training – appears to remain elusive to many women, and Lois P. Frankel explores this phenomenon in her book, Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office.

In her effort to explore the complexities of building a career as a woman, Frankel cites a list of 101 behaviors and practices that women unconsciously engage in that can contribute to self-sabotage. Notables on the list? Speaking at length, grooming in public, avoidance of taking “power positions” (e.g. sitting at the head of the table), pandering or over-explanation, using equivocating phrases (e.g. “Maybe we should...” “Perhaps we might…”), avoiding confrontation, and giving unwarranted or excessive apologies. Why do women do these things? According to Frankel, early gender socialization encourages girls to be “nice” by engaging in exactly the sort of timid, obsequious, or submissive behaviors that are maladaptive as women in the workplace.

The book delves into great detail about women’s unconscious workplace actions, ranging from the counterproductive to the downright destructive, and Frankel expounds thoroughly on what’s wrong with each. With an eye towards teaching women how to operate effectively in a male-dominated workforce, Frankel includes helpful self-assessment activities and analyses that provide the reader with insight into their own strengths and weaknesses as a leader, then provides examples of how to eliminate or improve the negative practices.

Although more focused on careers in business than other fields, the book provides wildlife professionals - especially women - good advice on starting or continuing to build their careers!

TWS Convenes Blue Ribbon Panel to Discuss the Future of the Wildlife Profession

Leadership Institute alumni have experienced firsthand TWS’s dedication to students and early career professionals. The dialog continues this fall as TWS convenes a Blue Ribbon Panel on the Future of the Wildlife Profession and Its Implications for Training the Next Generation of Wildlife Professionals.

The panel was originally requested by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), and has drawn wide support from federal agencies such as NIFA, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Geological Survey, US Department of Agriculture –Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and the US National Park Service. Diversity was a top priority in assembling members of the panel, which will meet this year in early November.

Ultimately, the panel’s findings will be shared with the Association of Public Land-grant Universities, the National Association of Fish and Wildlife Programs, state and federal agencies, and professional and scientific societies. The Blue Ribbon Panel will be the first step towards a new agenda for cooperation as we all work towards strengthening the wildlife profession.