U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

09/27/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/27/2024 11:49

Service and Partners Celebrate Innovative Agreement

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today joined leaders from Bowie State University, Alabama A&M University and Bethune-Cookman University to celebrate the signing of a memorandum of understanding which expands the consortium's efforts to recruit students from diverse backgrounds into conservation careers -- an innovative collaboration that will aid the Service in creating a workforce that reflects the diversity of the American people.

"Meeting the rising conservation challenges in the 21st Century demands new approaches and innovative, inclusive thinking," said Siva Sundaresan, Deputy Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "In the face of urgent threats such as land conversion, widespread species decline, climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.

Learn more about climate change , and increased detachment from nature, closing the gap in workforce diversity underrepresentation is a mission-critical element that will have real impact on the delivery of our conservation mission for the American people."

The partnership aligns with President Biden's Executive Orders 14035Advancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce and EO 14041, Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity through Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The agreement establishes a collaborative working relationship that seeks to increase understanding of the Service and its conservation mission, coordinate and facilitate educational and professional opportunities, and enhance student career development in wildlife conservation and related fields.

The collaboration is built upon the shared belief that the Service's mission is best served by recruiting, welcoming, and empowering bright, driven professionals from diverse backgrounds who can help find effective solutions and connect with a rapidly changing America.

"Bowie State University is pleased to strengthen our relationship with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through the MOU," said Bowie State University President Aminta Breaux. "We've had a growing relationship over the years with the Patuxent Research Refuge. Such partnerships add to our overarching University Sustainability Plan, enhancing research capacity, deepening student learning and engagement, and helping to reduce our carbon footprint. It is absolutely imperative that African Americans and other underrepresented ethnic groups help combat declining biodiversity, water quality, climate change and other issues while pursuing careers focused on the environment and conservation. The MOU provides that pathway for our students," said Breaux.

"Alabama A&M University's newly established working partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Consortium of Minority-Serving Institutions benefits Alabama A&M University, particularly its students and the community," said Daniel K. Wims, president, Alabama A&M University. "This access will identify student opportunities for college courses, career development, training and employment for conservation-focused efforts and projects. Our commitment and dedication to this effort will add to the success of all institutions involved."

The Consortium now includes seven universities in six states spanning the mid-Atlantic, southeast and southwest which together serve over 76,000 students. The Memorandum of Understanding, which today adds to a partnership first established in April 2022, empowers the partners to help create and drive strategies to identify, nurture and place talented, diverse students in career paths with the Service and/or within the broader conservation community. The Service and member institutions are working together as equal partners to lead the Consortium's efforts. Other Consortium members include the University of Texas at San Antonio, New Mexico State University, Tuskegee University and Fort Valley State University.

"Our founder, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune's last will and testament left us a 'responsibility to our young people…that they never lose their zeal for a better tomorrow'", said Dr. Sarah Krejci, Quality Enhancement Plan Director and Associate Professor for Bethune-Cookman University. "This Memorandum of Understanding represents our commitment to this responsibility by building bonds with our fellow Minority Serving Institutions and federal agencies such as the United States Fish and Wildlife Service that allow our students to contribute their talents to addressing real world issues impacting threatened and endangered species across the nation. Through this partnership our students will have transformational learning experiences, build workforce readiness skills, apply their classroom learning, and start their pathway to impactful careers and leadership."

Those who attended the event at Bowie State University - about 50 individuals including enrolled students, partners, faculty and leadership - had an opportunity to speak with students about research projects, hear from graduates of Minority Serving Institutions now working as leaders in the Service, and interact with live owls and monarch butterflies in celebration of student leaders taking flight.