STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAU) — The University of Wisconsin Stevens Point will benefit from two donations that will create an endowed chair in the College of Natural Resources. That creates a new faculty position in waterfowl and wetlands conservation, with an emphasis on teaching and research.
UWSP Dean of the College of Natural Resources Christine Thomas says they have been given $2 million dollars. The funds will go to the UWSP Foundation from James C. Kennedy of Atlanta, Georgia and David F. Grohne of Wilmington, Illinois. Kennedy and Grohne are devoted conservationists and active with Ducks Unlimited, Inc., the world’s largest private, nonprofit, waterfowl and wetlands conservation organization.
Thomas says UWSP committed to the salary and benefits of the professor position and the two donors funded the endowment. Earnings generated from the endowment will support research, and related student-faculty activities of the chair. The interest on the endowment will allow the professor, that we’ll do a national search for, to fund graduate students, undergraduate research, matching money for grants.”
The additional faculty position and research capability is expected to draw some new students as well as great professor talent from around the country. Thomas says it didn’t take long for the conservation community to respond to the news. “News of this has spread like wildfires through the wildlife community in North America. We’ve been getting phone calls, emails, congratulations, gee-you should think about this person for the job. That’s exactly the kind of stir that we’d like to have happening about our campus.”
Thomas says the search for the new professor has immediately put in motion. She says they’re plugging in to the conservation agencies, flyway groups, as they start the search for this new professor.
UWSP’s College of Natural Resources is one of only three places in the nation that will have this level of education and research. Thomas says one of the donors is involved in all three programs. There’s one at Mississippi State University, and there’s one at Clemson University, and Mr. Kennedy, one of the donors for our position, funded those other two positions.”
Thomas is hopeful they can locate the appropriate professor candidate and have that person in place early in 2016.
Both donors are successful business leaders with a passion for conservation causes. Grohne is founder of Independent Tube Corporation, a leading manufacturer of structural steel tubing, based in Chicago. In addition to involvement in Ducks Unlimited, he is also a trustee for the Wetlands America Trust. One of the nation’s largest accredited land trusts, it holds conservation easements on nearly 400,000 acres. Kennedy is chairman of Cox Enterprises, a leading communications, media and automotive services company, based in Atlanta. A lifelong nature enthusiast and conservationist, he once served as chairman of the Colorado Division of Wildlife Commission and was awarded Conservationist of the Year.
(Listen to our interview with College of Natural Resources Dean Christine Thomas on our website, here.)
