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

Welcoming our 2011 participants

Congratulations to the 10 early-career wildlife professionals selected to participate in this year’s Leadership Institute! These individuals will be involved in a variety of distance learning and hands-on projects, which will culminate in intensive mentoring activities and leadership workshops at the 2011 TWS Annual Conference in Waikoloa, Hawai’i in November.

Please welcome:
•    Robert Byrd, USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services, South Carolina
•    Shawn Cleveland, The Nature Conservancy, Montana
•    Nichole Cudworth, Wyoming Game and Fish Department
•    Jonathan Derbridge, University of Arizona (Ph.D. Student)
•    Jessica Dowler, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Glacial Ridge & Rydell National Wildlife Refuges, Minnesota
•    Raymond Iglay, Mississippi State University
•    Cheryl Lohr, University of Hawaii at Manoa (Ph.D. Candidate)
•    Tony W. Mong,  Wyoming Game and Fish Department
•    Johnathan O'Dell, Arizona Game and Fish Department
•    Chadwick Rittenhouse, University of Connecticut

The Leadership Institute was established to provide a select group of TWS members with basic leadership training that will prepare them to move into leadership positions, both in their workplace and in the Society. With nearly 70 percent of wildlife professional leaders projected to retire in the next decade, career-building opportunities like the Leadership Institute are crucial.

“As professionals, these future leaders will face some difficult challenges in the years to come,” stated Michael Hutchins, executive director/CEO of TWS. “The Leadership Institute was designed to groom them to face the many and varying conservation and management issues that lie ahead.”

The program has been popular and growing since its introduction and, each year, has received more applications than it can award. Past participants can attest to its popularity: according to a recent graduate of the program, “Few opportunities exist for young professionals to enhance their experiences for career development and, more specifically, for becoming active leaders within their professional realms. Therefore, this was a unique opportunity indeed.”

Alumni news

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

Jami Belt, LI Class 2010, moved from student employee into a term appointment as the citizen science program coordinator for Glacier National Park.

LeAnne Bonner, LI Class 2008, is now a Fish and Wildlife Biologist with the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program in the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  She manages the State Wildlife Grant projects for state partners in Region 2 - Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.  She also serves on the Region's Climate Change committee, administers WCRP and competitive SWG awards, and reviews revisions to state Wildlife Action Plans.  

Kristina Boyd, LI Class 2010, has a new job as the project manager for the Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Project, headed up by the USGS in Montana. She is also working on getting the Early Career Professional Working Group started and has a meeting scheduled for the annual TWS conference, with the charter being drafted this summer.

Sarah Bucklin, LI Class of 2009, recently returned from an intensive South American cloud forest ecology expedition in the Andes where she studied high elevation tropical rainforest ecology and learned about ongoing insect and bromeliad plant investigations being conducted by University of Wyoming researchers.

Allison Fowler, LI Class 2008, is now a staff biologist at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. She will be coordinating the state wildlife grant and wildlife action plan for Arkansas.

Kent Fricke, LI Class of 2010, successfully defended his Master's thesis at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, on the spatial ecology of raccoon, striped skunk, and Virginia opossum in east Texas. He is currently working on his Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, focusing on adaptive management of non-game wildlife species in Nebraska.

Emily Just, LI Class 2010, was elected as the PA TWS chapter treasurer.  She also served on the PA Bureau of Forestry’s Oil & Gas Guidelines and BMPs Writing Team which was awarded a PA DCNR team excellence award at the 2011 Employee Recognition Award Presentations in May.

Krysten Schuler, LI Class 2008, is now at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Ithaca, New York, working as a wildlife disease ecologist.  She is also working with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to develop their new statewide Wildlife Health Program.  

Lindsey Smythe, LI Class 2010, has transferred to a new position as the wildlife biologist at Desert National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada.  She was previously the biologist at Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona.

Marsha Ward, LI Class 2007, became a Certified Wildlife Biologist through The Wildlife Society.
 

Leadership: Training opportunities

NCTC Leadership Challenge Workshop: During a three-day workshop at the National Conservation Training Center, participants analyze their personal feedback report while learning the Leadership Challenge Model through video cases, group activities and discussion, lectures and workbook activities. Course participants choose up to ten observers to complete an online 360-degree assessment based on the Model and receive a detailed personal feedback report. The Five Practices of the model include: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart, as articulated in the book, “The Leadership Challenge”, by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. Learn more here. Workshops are scheduled in August and December of 2011 and April 2012.

AAAS 2011 Leadership Seminar in Science and Technology Policy: Scheduled for November 14-18 in Washington, DC, this seminar will include sessions on how policy is made in areas ranging from genetics to energy policy, on federal budgeting for R&D, on how scientists can be effective in interacting with Congress, on science and regulation, and many other topics. The Seminar is designed for anyone who needs or wants to know how S&T policy is made -- scientists and engineers, managers and administrators in all sectors, association officials, government agency program managers, and others.

Applicants will be admitted on a rolling, space-available basis, and will be notified by e-mail within three weeks of receipt of the application.  The selection committee selects a diverse class to optimize the learning experience and the exchange of ideas.  The deadline for applications is September 15.  The 2011 application and preliminary program are available here.

Where are they now?

Read about what an LI alum is up to now and what they have achieved since they participated.

Krysten Schuler (Leadership Institute Class of 2008) recently started a new position at Cornell University with the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Animal Health Diagnostic Center.  As a wildlife disease specialist, Krysten works with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on a new Wildlife Health Program. Specifically, Krysten explores the ecology of wildlife diseases and responds to disease issues in the state. She also engages in other activities, such as preparing training workshops for biologists and projects in the field. What makes the job particularly enjoyable for Krysten is the fact that it is so dynamic. “One day may be [spent] thinking about risks associated with chronic wasting disease and the next is working out the logistics of getting a black bear carcass in the lab for diagnostics.  I am able to work daily with a mix of biologists, administrators, and veterinarians so I get to see a lot of different perspectives on issues.”  

Krysten is a member of the New York Chapter of TWS and is a charter member of TWS Wildlife Disease Working Group. She is also a participating member of the Wildlife Disease Association and the American Society of Mammalogists.

Being a part of the Leadership Institute has helped Krysten realize “how involved a young member could be at a national level by really letting you see behind the curtain and interact with Council.  It made it much more tangible to think you can have an impact.” To Krysten, the most enjoyable aspect of the LI experience has been conversations with interested applicants. “It’s fun to hear their perspectives on why they are thinking of applying, what their expectations are, and then talk to them afterwards to see what they got out of the experience.”  

Since being a part of LI, Krysten organized a full-day workshop for TWS’ annual meeting last year. Entitled Field Investigation of Wildlife Diseases, the workshop was sponsored by the Wildlife Disease Working Group and included a lab that gave each participant an opportunity to necropsy a bird and mammal.  As a co-organizer of a half-day symposium of Wildlife Diseases around the Pacific planned for this year, Krysten is gearing up for another event. “We have a great group of speakers lined up and presentations will span a wide variety of taxa from corals and turtles to birds, marine mammals, and even Tasmanian devils!”

Guest editorial: The Devil wears Patagonia (anonymous)

This piece offers my experience dealing with a difficult boss. My purpose in ranting about this experience is two-fold: 1) to rant about my experience, and 2) to remind leadership alumni that they should be leading and not just managing others.

I think at one time or another we’ve all had an annoying boss, a weird boss, or a lazy boss. But my experience goes beyond personality traits and straight into character flaws. My boss was just downright mean, manipulative, and made my life miserable.  At first, she seemed nice and we got along just fine. Soon, I was doing a lot of work and getting very little, if any, credit for it.  She would add her name to reports that I had written and submit them as her own.  She read my mail and, though I could never prove it, I’m convinced she hacked into my email as well. She was your classic example of a micro-manager (and control freak). She was also a liar. I witnessed her lie to several people on numerous occasions. And for many reasons, I endured this behavior (fear of losing my job, fear of confrontation, fear of seeming petty or ‘catty’ for complaining).

I began to feel isolated and angry……so very angry. I actually kept a list of all of her wrongdoings.  I was pretty miserable, not only at work, but also at home. I was seriously considering a career change. Looking back now, I am completely embarrassed and a little ashamed at how much I let this person get to me and control my life. I was suffering from what Stephen Covey calls ‘enemy-centeredness’ (p. 116 of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People).

Had I not gone through leadership training, I would never have read Covey’s book or completed the self-evaluation from the TWS leadership workbook.  The self-evaluation was hard for me, it seemed kind of wishy-washy. But, it was probably the most important lesson for me—that we choose how we react to others. And completing this, along with reading Covey’s book, really helped me to see how I was reacting and allowed me to modify my behavior in such a way that I could actually excel at work (despite the devil).

Eventually, the devil moved on (did I do a little dance? Yes, I did). But, truth be told, even the devil taught me something. She taught me what a leader is not. And therefore reaffirmed for me what a leader is and should be. A leader should be building up everyone they interact and work with. They are not concerned about getting credit but instead are focused on the goals and the vision. In their wake, they are leaving behind other leaders.

I know that you all completed the leadership assignments and of course everyone will have their own issues to deal with, but I find that it’s helpful to return to the workbook or Covey’s book when I start to hit a wall or lose my focus. I hope that you all will do the same and remind yourselves to focus on your vision and your goals. The journey to leadership is dynamic and it may be necessary to re-evaluate ourselves along the way to make sure we are progressing. In the end, we want to be able to say that the mission for our vision will be continued by the leaders we left in our wake.