This past fall, the student chapter of The Wildlife Society was named International Student Chapter of the Year out of 120 chapters, and the chapter’s advisor, Dr. Cary Chevalier, was named International Chapter Advisor of the Year for the first time in 2013.
The student group also earned the international distinction in 2011, the first chapter from Missouri to receive the award. Additionally, Dr. Chevalier is the first chapter advisor from a Missouri college or university to earn the international award. Only five universities in the history of The Wildlife Society have received the international student chapter award more than once, and Missouri Western is the first university to receive the international student chapter and advisor awards in the same year.
Dr. Chevalier noted that Missouri Western’s student chapter was recognized from a field that included some of the largest, oldest student chapters at some of the largest and oldest natural resources management schools in the U.S. and Canada.
The chapters are evaluated in several categories, including workshop development, professional development, contributions to wildlife management, community service, contributions to natural resource education, and others.
Missouri Western students volunteer thousands of hours every year at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and with the Missouri Department of Conservation. Volunteer activities include deer surveys, managed deer hunts, habitat work days, teaching hunter safety classes and more.
“We can be very proud of the hard work and commitment our student chapter members have invested, and the international respect and recognition they have clearly earned,” Dr. Chevalier said. “This is the most significant achievement and prestigious honor a student chapter can obtain in the wildlife management disciplines.”
In addition to being named International Student Chapter of the Year in 2011 and 2013, the students were recognized as Chapter of the Year in the North Central Region in 2009, 2010 and 2012.
The awards were presented at The Wildlife Society annual conference in Milwaukee.
