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The Major Program

The Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology major deals with the relationships between the requirements of wildlife and the needs of people. Understanding these relationships is vital for the maintenance of ecological diversity, recreational resources, and food supplies. Students completing the major possess a broad knowledge of ecology and natural history, but with the quantitative skills to use this knowledge in critical thinking and decision-making.

The Program. The major emphasizes broad training in biological and physical sciences, with specialization in one of nine areas. The major is primarily for students interested in becoming professionals in the diverse fields of wildlife, fish, and conservation biology. The breadth of course requirements, when combined with electives, make this an excellent preparatory major for such areas as veterinary medicine and secondary school teaching. Certification by professional societies such as The Wildlife Society, American Fisheries Society, or the Ecological Society of America or preparation for specialized resource-related graduate studies may also be achieved by careful planning of electives with a faculty adviser.

Career Alternatives. The major prepares students to excel in the dynamic fields of environmental and conservation biology emphasizing vertebrate animals in their natural environments, as well as resolution of conflicts between humans and wild animals. Positions now held by graduates in this major include wildlife biology, fisheries biology, wildlife damage management, and resource biologists and managers with local, state and federal agencies. Some graduates are biologists or consultants with private industries such as environmental consulting firms, commercial fishing businesses, electrical utilities, sportsman's clubs, and aquaculture operations, while others are veterinarians, medical physicians, and professors/researchers who teach and/or conduct research in academic institutions.