Letter from Nancy Degnan, Executive Director and
Shahid Naeem, Director of Science

In January 2007, CERC's governing board agreed to a joint management model for CERC's education, training, and research programs. The governing board, made up of members from the CERC consortium, consisting of the American Museum of Natural History, the New York Botanical Garden, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Wildlife Trust, and Columbia University, supported Shahid Naeem becoming the newly created director of science (stepping down from his role as interim executive director) and Nancy Degnan becoming the executive director (stepping up from her role as associate director). The details are still under development by the board, but this change reflects a move towards more of a team model for CERC's administration.

What better way to announce this change than for the two of us to write this letter together! We are grateful to CERC's board for working with us to think hard about the most effective ways to govern ourselves and how best to move forward to achieve our mission and goals. CERC believes that building environmental leadership and solving complex environmental problems is critical and given our location and the collective experience and resources of the consortium devoted to CERC, we are poised to become a world leader in conservation education, training, and research.

While the executive director will be the chief financial officer and director of education programs of CERC, and the director of science will oversee programs with a dominant research theme, this distinction does not limit our engagement with each other. Rather, it facilitates the synergy of research and education that is the trademark of CERC.

Under this leadership model, working closely with the governing and management boards of CERC, Shahid will be able to give and receive input on the intellectual direction of CERC's research initiatives. These initiatives, linked to our consortium members, will continue to be cutting edge and innovative. Shahid is also chair of Columbia's Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environment (E3B), where he contributes to the research that draws together the faculty from across the consortium institutions—many of whom already teach our young people in undergraduate and graduate degree programs. In this way, the trademark research and education synthesis of CERC can be realized in classrooms, at any level, from K-12 to certificate to Columbia degree courses. What better way to maximize the power of learning and to build knowledge and understanding to create the best environmental leadership and solve any, even the most complex, environmental problems!

In Shahid's first letter to our community, he also cited our efforts to reach out across Columbia, seeking to create new and powerful connections to science initiatives around the University. In January, E3B department had a ribbon cutting of its newly renovated 11th floor space. Many of our colleagues came to join us in celebration. We are eager to work together to make Columbia the premiere institution for conservation biology and sustainable environmental development. Indeed, CERC is taking the lead on Columbia's Environmental Biology Taskforce, which will develop the strategy and vision for Columbia's plan to become a world leader in conservation and sustainable development.  

Under this leadership model, also working closely with the governing and management boards of CERC, Nancy will continue to build and shepherd first-class programs in environmental education designed to help create a cadre of "citizen scientists" who learn about ecology, conservation, and the language of science and inquiry so that they may impact the decisions made about the balance of the environment and human needs. 

In CERC's Certificate Program in Conservation Biology, we continue to deliver one of the most unique professional programs available in the education and training marketplace. Our students come from all walks of life, including the public and private sectors, public schools, small and medium size business sectors, sustainable architecture, and conservation advocacy organizations, to name a few. Our students also come from our consortium member institutions and we have begun an alumni program designed to allow graduates to take courses that they were not able to when they were working toward a certificate. We have seen significant growth in our certificate program and anticipate only upward trends. 

In our Summer Ecosystem Experience for Undergraduates and our Teacher Training Institute, we are currently recruiting for a June/July program. Our intent is to give our students in both programs exposure to field work and a deeper understanding of how ecology can enhance their understanding of the world, and enhance their chosen major, in the instance of undergraduates, and what and how they actually teach our children, in the instance of school educators. 

And, we are pleased that the Overbrook Foundation Conservation Fellowship Program continues to support conservation leadership from Central and South America with fellowships and professional opportunities. CERC's administering of the foundation's program is indeed an honor. We plan to develop a clearinghouse for reports and papers written by these conservation leaders as well as engage with them on the best ways to create networks of information and knowledge sharing.

The new year has been auspicious in CERC's history. We take on the mission of CERC with even greater excitement and we are planning to achieve extraordinary results. 

We are grateful to the vision of CERC's founder, Don Melnick, in bringing together arguably the brightest and most dedicated scientists, researchers, and practitioners to address the environmental challenges we face. We are also grateful to the V. K. Rasmussen Foundation who funded this vision and made it a reality.

We will write to you often. Please feel free to write to us with ideas that you might have for CERC and for creating environmental leaders and problem solvers.

Best,                   

Shahid Naeem, Director of Research

Nancy Degnan, Executive Director