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Careers

Graduates of the Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development masters program are employed in many different types of positions by a wide variety of organizations including governmental and non-govermental agencies, private industry, universities, and others. The graph below shows the distribution of employers for masters students.

CBSD Careers Pie Chart

Gray Square Continuing Education - 14.6%

Teal Square Faculty Position - 5.4%

Purple Square Government - 13.8%

Yellow Square Non-Profit/NGO - 20.8%

Red Square Other - 33.8%
Includes retired, homemaker, self employed, etc.

Gray Square Private Industry - 6.2%

Green Square University Staff - 5.4%


The list below shows a sampling of the types of positions that Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development graduates have held and contains data from the CBSD alumni directory (self-reported by alumni; names, addresses withheld) for alumni who have graduated since the program's inception in 1990. The list may include entry through senior-level positions. The complete alumni directory (hard copy) is available in the Nelson Institute Academic Programs Office.

Faculty Positions

Position Employer (City, State)
Professor Universidad de Guadalajara (Autlan, Mexico)
Professor Njala University College (Sierre Leone)
Assistant Professor Michigan Technical University (Houghton, MI)
Assistant Professor University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX)
Assistant Professor University of New Orleans (New Orleans, LA)

Government Positions

Position Employer (City, State)
Forester/Ecologist Forestry Science Lab, PNW Restoration Lab (Wenatchee, WA)
Environmental Health Specialist Madison Dept of Public Health (Madison, WI)
GIS Analyst Arizona Game & Fish Dept.; Nongame Division (Phoenix, AZ)
Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellow US Fish & Wildlife Service (Washington DC)
National Organic Program USDA (Lexington, KY)
Natural History Biologist Missouri Dept of Conservation (Clinton, MO)
Outreach Coordinator NH Office of Coastal Management (Portsmouth, NH)
Program Coordinator: Wetland Protection & Land Use Planning Wisconsin Coastal Management Program (Madison, WI)
Restoration Ecologist Golden Gate National Recreation (San Francisco, CA)

Non-Profit/NGO

Position Employer (City, State)
Program Coordinator WALHI (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Programme Manager WWF (Islamabad, Pakistan)
Project Coordinator - Migratory Birds Nature Conservancy (Rochester, NY)
Project Information Specialist Nature Conservancy (Bainbridge Island, WA)
United States Coordinator Project del Rio (Santa Fe, NM)
Land Use Planner Elwha S'klallam Tribe (Port Angeles, WA)
Project Manager for Trout Unlimited Center for Community Economic Development (Madison, WI)
Regional Field Director Christian Children's Fund of Canada (CCFC) (Managua, Nicaragua)
Researcher/Contracter ILRI/CRISAT (Granville, OH)
Restoration Ecologist Wildlands Restoration Team (Capitola, CA)
Senior Research Assistant International Food Policy Research Institute (Washington DC)
Sub-director La Reserva de la Biosfera (Guatemala, Guatemala)
Watershed Coordinator Friends of Lake Wingra (Madison, WI)

Private

Position Employer (City, State)
Environmental Scientist/Botanist Natural Resources Consulting Inc. (Cottage Grove, WI)
Organic Farmer Garden of Eve Farm (Aquebogue, NY)
Policy Advisor Macroeconomics World Vision (Washington DC)
Research Coordinator World Bank/GEF (Grenada, WI)

University Staff

Position Employer (City, State)
Executive Director Universidad de Guadalajara (Guadalajera, Mexico)
Project Assistant University of Bremen (Bremen, Germany)
Research Technician Georgia State University, Language Research Center (Atlanta, GA)
Researcher/Instructor University of Cantho (Cantho, Vietnam)

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