A 30 hour terminal degree with specialized field of expertise in Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences, Forest Biology & Management, Forest Business, Natural Resources Management & Sustainability, Parks, Recreation & Tourism, or Wildlife Ecology & Management.
To prepare leaders in the conservation and sustainable management of forests and other natural resources, to discover ways to restore and better use the earth's natural resources, and to put into practice forestry and natural resources knowledge.
The PhD degree is frequently required for research and staff specialist positions, and is nearly always required for university faculty positions. The PhD is often regarded as a degree of specialized education within a relatively narrow field of expertise. The PhD requires a dissertation and a minimum of 30 hours of consecutive course work, at least 16 hours of which must be in courses open to graduate students only. As a requirement of residency, at least two consecutive semesters of full-time coursework or the equivalent must be spent in resident study on this campus (i.e., enrollment for a minimum of 30 hours of consecutive course work included on the Program of Study).
The graduate program in Wildlife Science is designed to provide a strong background in the biological, ecological, and managerial aspects of the wildlife profession. The wildlife faculty are active in a variety of graduate teaching and research areas, including population dynamics, community ecology, physiology and nutrition, behavioral ecology, wildlife diseases and population health, habitat management, nongame and endangered species, urban wildlife management, wildlife damage management, conservation biology, and biometrics. Federal cooperative research and service units in the Warnell School bring additional adjunct faculty to the graduate wildlife program from the U.S. Department of Interior and U.S. Department of Agriculture.
