Strickland Family Wyoming Coop Unit Excellence Fund
Dale and Paula Strickland live in Cheyenne, Wyoming and are loyal supporters of the University of Wyoming (UW) including its educational and athletic programs. Dale and Paula came to Wyoming from Tennessee. Paula was an elementary school teacher. Dale received his Ph.D. in Zoology and Physiology from UW in 1975. Thereafter, Dale was a scientist and administrator with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department before co-founding Western Ecosystems Technology, Inc., which provides environmental and statistical consulting services. In establishing this fund, the Strickland’s aspire to provide the value of education to future generations. The Strickland’s hope to aid graduate students and families just as they were previously helped. When they arrived in Wyoming for Dale’s Ph.D. program, they had a family with young children and money was tight. As a student at UW, Dale received additional stipends from state and federal agencies in the summer for which they were grateful and made a meaningful difference in their lives. With the gift and fund, they pay it forward!
Impact
The mission of the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (Coop Unit) is to address timely and critical informational gaps for Wyoming’s fish and wildlife species, mentor students who will comprise the next generation of wildlife professionals, and provide service and outreach to agency cooperators. The Coop Unit trains many of the wildlife graduate students in the University of Wyoming’s Zoology and Physiology Department. As the de facto research arm of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD), Coop Unit research projects tend to be extremely applied and highly collaborative with biologists from the WGFD. Many of Wyoming fish and wildlife species are managed through methods, approaches, or policies that are underpinned by studies conducted by Coop Unit faculty, graduate students, and postdocs. Many of today’s wildlife professionals working in state or federal agencies managing wildlife or their habitats were trained at the Coop Unit.