Mid Coast Today

Meet Unity Distance Education master's student Sydney!

Sydney recently took the Wildlife Ecology and Management course at Unity Environmental University with Professor Dr. Bonnie Gulas-Wroblewski .

I'm originally from Salt Lake City, Utah but I travel frequently. I am completing my master's in Wildlife Conservation and Management at Unity.

Before Unity, I was working on research papers but starting to move away from the idea that I wanted to pursue a Ph.D. right after finishing my bachelor's; this came after gaining more experience in the nonprofit world and seeing the sensitivity of policy in management.

I chose Unity after assessing the courses they offered and their relevance to my career, as well as looking at the background of the professors and their experience in fields identical or adjacent to mine. The ability to do these courses online and with the flexibility of when was a huge advantage for me as I work on other research and run a non-profit with my husband that requires me to be present in different parts of the country/world.

I want to be able to speak with and create feasible management and conservation plans in collaboration with, and consideration of, multiple stakeholders invested in wilderness areas and wildlife outcomes. This degree is helping me step into my role of director of conservation ecology for our organization with a well-rounded perspective and practical skills beyond research that allow for favorable conservation outcomes to be negotiated.

My professor for Wildlife Ecology & Management (Bonnie Gulas-Wroblewski) added a huge value to this course by consistently providing recent peer-reviewed papers that created a balanced perspective on how different conservation approaches affect different human and animal groups. The class also helped me analyze my state wildlife plans more thoroughly and consider how to collaborate with them for improvements. 

Original source can be found here