Nov. 18, 2008
UWSP’s Dombeck named Wisconsin Academy
Fellow
Michael Dombeck, University of Wisconsin System Fellow and professor
of Global Conservation at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
(UWSP), was recently named 2008 Fellows of the Wisconsin Academy of
Sciences, Arts and Letters.
Fellows are named for their qualities of judgment, perceptiveness
and knowledge of how literature, art and science contribute to the
cultural life and welfare of the state. They also have a career
marked by an unusually high order of discovery; technological
accomplishments; creative productivity in literature, poetry, or the
fine or practical arts; historical analysis; legal or judicial
interpretation; or philosophical thinking.
“I am both humbled and flattered to have been selected an Academy
Fellow from one of the nation’s most prestigious liberal arts
academy,” said Dombeck. “To be named amongst such an eminent group
is an honor.”
A native of Wisconsin, Dombeck was named an Academy Fellow along
with evolutionary biologist Sean Carroll, former Supreme Court
justice Janine Geske, biochemist Laura Kiessling, mixed media artist
Anne Kingsbury, art educator Barbara Brown Lee, and historian Kerry
Trask.
Dombeck was former chief of the U.S. Forest Service and former
director of the Bureau of Land Management before becoming a member
of the UWSP faculty in 2001. He is a nationally renowned
conservationist with over 25 years experience in managing federal
lands and natural resources. Dombeck has focused much of his efforts
on sustainable forest ecosystem management, watershed health and
restoration, fisheries management, and countless public speaking
engagements both nationally and internationally. He is the recipient
of the prestigious Lady Bird Johnson Conservation Award, the Audubon
Medal and the Distinguished Executive Award, the highest award in
federal service.
A prolific author, Dombeck has authored, co-authored, and edited
over 200 scholarly and popular publications. Two of his personal
works are “Watershed Restoration: Principles and Practices,” and
“From Conquest to Conservation: Our Public Lands Legacy.” He and
Francis Pandolfi co-authored “The Business of the Conservation
Nonprofit,” this past year.
He led the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service from 1997
to April 2001 and the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land
Management from 1994 to 1997. Dombeck is the only person ever to
have led the two largest land management agencies in the United
States involving nearly 500 million acres of public lands.
Dombeck received his bachelor’s degree in biology and master’s
degree in biology and education from UWSP. He also received a
master’s in zoology from the University of Minnesota and a doctorate
in fisheries biology from Iowa State University.
He resides near Stevens Point with his wife, Patricia.
