CONS Announcements

On January 1, 2010 Dr. Karen Lips became the new Director of the CONS
Program. Drs. Inouye and Dietz will each continue as a Director Emeritus
to offer their thoughts and experience to CONS students and alumni. Dr.
Lips looks forward to working with faculty, students and alumni as the CONS
program enters its next phase.
Prospective Students' Open Houses for Spring 2010 will be held on February 4-5 and April 29-30. Open houses are a great opportunity for individuals interested in becoming CONS students to learn more about the program in-person. For two days each at the beginning and end of the spring semester, a full agenda of events will give visitors the chance to attend classes, meet with program directors, and talk with current students to gain a first-hand impression of life as a CONS student. Please contact the CONS office (consoffice@umd.edu) if you are interested in attending.
Amy Zets is the latest student profile. Visit the Current Students page to read about her extensive international conservation experience with the Peace Corps, the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program, and the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force.
Congratulations to Dr. Jim Dietz and many Brazilian collaborators on being featured in a special edition of Nature, which focuses on biodiversity and Darwin at 200. "Biodiversity's Bright Spot: While species losses mount worldwide, conservationists in Brazil have made great strides towards saving the golden lion tamarin and its forest habitat from destruction."
For a brief overview of the CONS program, you can also view a 1-page brochure (.pdf).
Spring 2010 Multidisciplinary Environmental Problem-Solving Course: CONS students and MBA students from the Smith School of Business will work together on projects that deal with traditional business areas (finance, marketing, strategy, logistics) as well as environmental impact and sustainability. Enroll in the course, or send us an idea for a project! Learn more here (.doc).
Spring 2010 Course in Adaptive Management for Conservation Projects: This full-semester course is held on the College Park campus and is primarily designed for first year CONS students, but will be open to other graduate students where space permits. We are currently recruiting projects for the Spring 2010 on-campus course. Students will work on applying the adaptive management process to real-world conservation projects, with help from the project representative. In return, the project representative will benefit from the students' fresh perspectives and will be able to take the course for free. Please contact the CONS office if you are interested in submitting a project for use in the course. For more information about the course, click here.
A collection of grants and fellowship opportunities is now available on the Current Students page.

Welcome to the redesigned and updated CONS website!

You may have noticed an increase in activity and request on the listserver. We have been working to compile current and historic information on the CONS program, students and alumni for use in planning, grant writing, and marketing.

We hope the website, the listserv, and the new Facebook page will all help to strengthen our alumni and student network and increase communication among the cohorts. This is just the first of many exciting changes that the CONS program will be experiencing in the next few years as we transition from the Directorship of Drs. David Inouye and Jim Dietz to one led by Dr. Karen R. Lips. Now that the new Website is live we will be updating this page with program announcements, student and alumni news items, local sustainability and conservation events, and fellowship and funding resources. Please let us know what you like about the new Webpage, and what else you would like us to add.

One of the first things we need from you is news items and photos. One of our new features will be student and alumni profiles that celebrate your successes. If you have a new announcement or success story, we would love to hear it so we can publicize your accomplishments. We are also looking for some great action photos to accompany your profile where we can see you in the field on your internship, or doing your thing in a Problem-Solving or Adaptive Project Management Course .

Another new item will be a searchable database of internship programs . All CONS students and alumni will be able to access the password-protected database so that you can explore Internship options. If you have forgotten the password, email the CONS Office for a reminder. We will soon add an online evaluation form where you can submit additional details about your internship experience if you wish. We are also working on a grants and funding database that will include due dates, contact information and directions about how to apply for those of you looking for fellowships or funding for your projects.

In other news, we wanted to draw your attention to the new course Karen is organizing for the Spring Semester. Tentatively titled, "Multidisciplinary Environmental Sustainability Problem-Solving Course", this is a collaborative offering from the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business and the University of Maryland's Graduate Program in Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology. This course will partner CONS students with MBA students to devise innovative solutions to environmental issues faced by corporations. This is a new course that marries the business skills learned in the MBA program with the environmental knowledge of sustainability issues developed in the CONS program to produce students with critical thinking skills, creative problem-solving abilities, and the ability to communicate with stakeholders in both fields. We hope this will become a permanent course and that it will strengthen the Sustainability aspect of the CONS program. If you are interested in participating, please email Karen so that she can determine how many projects are needed.

You may have heard of the budget cuts that the whole University of Maryland System has experienced. Like all other programs, CONS is being asked to do more for less, and we are working with the CLFS Development Office to find funding to upgrade the CONS space in Cole Field House as well as to provide support to recruit new students. There are many ways our alumni can help support CONS, and we are asking you to offer support during the transition period by providing internships to current CONS students, pitching projects to the PS or APM courses, agreeing to host Downtown Networking Events, serving on our Alumni Advisory Board, or advertising the CONS program at your workplace. If you are interested in assisting us with any of these activities, please drop us a line - we look forward to hearing from you!

We share your pride in this outstanding program and the accomplishments of its graduates, and are excited at the opportunities CONS will be exploring as we transition into a new era. We look forward to seeing you around campus or around town!
Sincerely,

David, Jim, and Karen