Nature & Nurture | Annual Fund News

Orvis Fellowship Endowment Fund Established

The Orvis Fellowship Endowment Fund was established with combined gifts of $100,000 from The Perkins Charitable Foundation, the Orvis-Perkins Foundation, and the Leigh H. Perkins Charitable Lead Trust. The new fellowship will benefit students in the Masters of Environmental Management program.

"My good friend, John D. Drinko, told me about the important work going on at the Nicholas School. My own interest in the work of The Nature Conservancy and the challenges facing it and other conservation organizations led the foundations to make this commitment," said Leigh H. Perkins, president of the Orvis-Perkins Foundation and a trustee of The Perkins Charitable Foundation.

"Conservation organizations are having difficulty finding site-based generalists -individuals trained in natural resource management, communications, policy and law. These are precisely the kind of professionals trained in the Nicholas School MEM program."

"The Orvis Fellowship is a wonderful addition to our program," stated Dean William H. Schlesinger. "I am not surprised that conservation organizations are having difficulty hiring the talent they need. There is an extremely competitive market for our graduates. In fact, 98 percent of our graduates are employed in their chosen field within six months of graduation. The solution to the problem is at the other end of the pipeline - enabling more bright and talented young people to enter the environmental field. The Orvis Fellowship will allow the Nicholas School to offer funding to a student who might otherwise stay in another field because they could not afford the cost of an environmental education."

If you would like additional information about fellowships or other funding opportunities, please contact Anita Brown, director of advancement, at 919-613-8019 or anita.brown@duke.edu.