Academic Programs Catalog

The mission of the Fisheries and Wildlife department is to build local, national, and international capacities to conserve ecosystems that support fish, wildlife, and society through integrated programs in research, education and engagement. The department’s faculty, students and staff address a wide range of research themes that fall along spectrums of disciplinary expertise, scientific approaches to understanding, collaborators, funding sources, and stakeholder groups.  Our expertise ranges from disciplinary areas with a long-standing history in the domain of fisheries and wildlife to those emerging more recently. Collectively, we are tackling challenges and developing solutions in areas including, but not limited to: managing for sustainable harvest of fisheries and wildlife populations, developing sound governance structures and effective policies, assessing the ecological status of animal populations and their ecosystems at broad geographic scales, incorporating the diverse ways that humans use and value natural resources into management processes and decisions, and understanding and responding to emerging infectious diseases, global climate change, human-wildlife conflict, wildlife trafficking, environmental toxins, and invasive species.

The department's graduate program is a national leader in the training of students for careers in research, management, teaching, extension and consulting. The Department of Fisheries and Wildlife offers a thesis or non-thesis Master of Science (M.S.) degree and a Doctoral (Ph.D.) degree in Fisheries and Wildlife. Required courses are few, allowing for programs of study that reflect diverse student interests and skill-building opportunities. Consistent with our commitment to the application of our work to improve natural resource conservation and stewardship, all our graduate students are required to conduct an outreach project or enroll in an outreach course.  Graduates of our master's program are hired by a variety of local, state and federal governmental agencies, private corporations, museums, zoos and nature centers, tribal organizations, and environmental consulting firms. Ph.D. graduates are employed on the faculty of leading universities and compete successfully for positions outside of academia, such as research positions with federal agencies. Approximately 100 graduate students are currently enrolled, the majority of whom receive financial assistance in the form of graduate assistantships. 

Graduate student research projects span the department’s diverse disciplinary areas. These projects take advantage of modern computing facilities, a world-class library, university research stations, laboratory facilities, and department relationships with a global network of scientists, management agencies, and stakeholder groups.  Whereas many of our graduate students address research questions applied to the natural resources of Michigan, many are involved in projects of national and international scope.  Our students present their research results to a wide range of regional, national and international audiences. 

The Department of Fisheries and Wildlife offers Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degree programs in fisheries and wildlife.  Students in the Master of Science degree program in fisheries and wildlife are eligible for the dual JD program with Michigan State University - College of Law. Doctoral students may pursue interdepartmental dual degrees in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior or Environmental Science and Policy.  For additional information, refer to the statements in Environmental Science and Policy – Dual Major and Ecology, Evolution and Behavior – Dual Major in this catalog.  

Students who are enrolled in Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degree programs in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife may elect specializations in environmental and resource economics, fish and wildlife disease ecology and conservation medicine, and gender, justice and environmental change. For additional information, refer to the statements on Interdepartmental Graduate Specializations in Environmental and Resource Economics, Graduate Specialization in Fish and Wildlife Disease Ecology and Conservation Medicine, and the Graduate Specialization in Gender, Justice, and Environmental Change in this catalog.