Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences Undergraduate Major (BS, HBS)

The undergraduate curriculum for the Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences BS degree (180 credits) is composed of core courses as well as specializations of 24 credits. The core represents the educational foundation of fish and wildlife conservation, and the specializations provide students with an opportunity to build their curriculum to meet specific goals. Working with faculty in formal and informal settings, students are encouraged to become engaged in designing their own education. Learning Outcomes of a Bachelor of Science Degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences Undergraduate students majoring in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences will achieve the following learner outcomes by graduation. Conservation and management competencies- Students should be able to: 1) understand physical and ecological elements and processes sustaining ecosystems, and recognize the implications of altering those components; 2) apply conservation principles in developing conservation approaches for ecosystems or organisms within ecosystems; and 3) incorporate social information in developing conservation plans. Mathematical skills- Students graduating from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife will meet mathematical skills competencies. Specifically, students should be able to: 1) translate problems into mathematical/numeric/statistical representations; 2) understand the process of mathematical model building and interpretation; 3) produce tabular and graphic summaries of quantitative data; 4) conduct simple tests of statistical hypotheses; and 5) design appropriate, sound sampling schemes and experiments. Observation and perception skills- Students graduating from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife will meet observation and perception skills competencies. Specifically, students should be able to observe and accurately record natural events. Communication skills- Students graduating from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife will meet communication skills competencies. Specifically, students should be able to: 1) effectively use diverse forms of communication (oral, written, visual, symbolic); 2) engage in constructive dialog with diverse publics (both explain complex technical phenomena and understand comments of nontechnical persons; and 3) effectively communicate ideas and technical information in formal and professional formats. Leadership and team building skills- Students graduating from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife will meet leadership and team building skills competencies. Specifically, students should be able to: 1) constructively provide criticism to peers and to accept criticism from peers; 2) lead a peer‐group to develop collective solutions that exceed the individual contributions; 3) work with people of disparate social, political and educational backgrounds to build consensus and resolve conflicts while maintaining personal integrity. Critical thinking skills- Students graduating from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife will meet critical thinking skills competencies. Specifically, students should be able to: 1) recognize biases and assumptions in their own work and the work of others; and 2) use logic and reasoning, analysis and synthesis to arrive at defensible conclusions.