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On Becoming a Conservation Biologist: The Things Textbooks Never Tell You

  • Chapter
Conservation Biology

In this chapter you will learn about:

  1. 1.

    The value of a personal mission statement in conservation biology and the principles for writing one

  2. 2.

    Elements in educational experiences and professional relationships that lay the foundation for opportunity and service in conservation biology

  3. 3.

    Objective criteria for selecting educational programs, mentors, and jobs in conservation biology

  4. 4.

    How to determine an appropriate stance on issues of advocacy in conservation as a conservation professional

When a celebrated alumna of a prestigious university was asked what she thought of her undergraduate training, she replied, “It was all very well done. Quite comprehensive. They taught me everything but how to get a job.”

This lament is not unique to any particular field. In an effort to avoid appearing “vocational” or “prescriptive,” colleges and universities often sidestep - at least in classes and textbooks - the issue of how people cease being students and become effective professionals in a particular vocation. Implicit in this silence is the assumption that ideas in textbooks will equip students to function at the forefront of their disciplines. The truth is, acquiring information about conservation is not the same as doing conservation. Textbooks do not perform conservation; people do. And the people who accomplish the most are those who become conservationists. Conservation as a career merits attention alongside conservation biology as an academic pursuit.

What follows is an unconventional chapter on the problem of moving from knowledge about conservation biology to effective involvement in conservation biology. For those who are now considering or committed to a career in conservation biology, your current and future education forms a vital role in that preparation. A fundamental question of that education is: what does a conservation biologist have to know and what does a conservation biologist have to be able to do? But before these questions can be answered, there are more fundamental and personal ones that must be addressed.

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(2008). On Becoming a Conservation Biologist: The Things Textbooks Never Tell You. In: Conservation Biology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6891-1_14

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