When asked about his dream job, Nate Woiwode says, “My dream would be to have all the environmental problems we’re facing go away and I’d just retire from environmental work and take people on adventure tours.” Realistically, from his extensive travels in developing countries and his environmental coursework at Michigan State University and Duke, Nate knows that the world will always need people like him to help tackle environmental problems. He is particularly interested in the effects of environmental degradation on developing countries’ abilities to prosper, and he would like to work with the U.N. or an international nonprofit on this issue.

Summer 2007 update:

After three very busy years pursuing joint master’s degrees in environmental management and public policy, and a Certificate in International Development Policy, Nate says his post-graduation (May 2007) occupation is to “embrace being unemployed” while enjoying the sun, sand and surf on Long Island – that is, at least for this summer.

Not to worry though, Nate is also actively engaged in the job search. 

In the short term, he possibly will be working for Broadreach, a Raleigh-based organization he has experience with, as a summer guide instructing kids about marine reserves while sailing in and around the Caribbean.

For the longer term, he is hoping to hear positive news about a consulting job with the Borneo Tropical Rainforest Foundation. He interned with the foundation last summer doing work on community development and illegal logging as part of his master’s degree in public policy. Returning to work there full time “would be ideal,” he says.

Nate also is a finalist for the Presidential Management Fellowship. Fellows are nominated by their school because they exhibit a capacity for leadership and a commitment to excellence in the management of public policies and programs. Fellowship finalists are given opportunities to interview for select federal jobs or appointments for which they are qualified. Having interviewed with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development, Nathan is optimistic that a job may come from this as well.

In the meantime, Nate is becoming somewhat of a Zen master in the “art of patience,” something that, in hindsight, he says all Nicholas School grads would do well to obtain.

When asked about his dream job, Nate Woiwode says, “My dream would be to have all the environmental problems we’re facing go away and I’d just retire from environmental work and take people on adventure tours.” Realistically, from his extensive travels in developing countries and his environmental coursework at Michigan State University and Duke, Nate knows that the world will always need people like him to help tackle environmental problems. He is particularly interested in the effects of environmental degradation on developing countries’ abilities to prosper, and he would like to work with the U.N. or an international nonprofit on this issue.

He is taking the first step towards this dream during his summer 2005 internship with Woods Hole Research Center, where he is compiling information on national and international policies dealing with nitrogen and its control. Nitrogen, Nate says, has impacts on every major environmental issue: it is a greenhouse gas; it has the potential to reduce the ozone layer; runoff from fertilizer affects water quality and contributes to fish kills; and its appearance in water and the atmosphere contribute to human health problems. Mates compilation of nitrogen policies will be a valuable tool as the environmental community eventually asks the U.N. to focus on problems of nitrogen deposition, much in the same way as it has already addressed climate change.

Nate will almost certainly get a master’s project out of his summer’s work—but which master’s project is still to be decided, as he is jointly pursuing a Master of Public Policy degree from the Terry Sanford Institute at Duke.

You could say that Nate was born to do environmental work; his father was director of the Michigan chapter of the Nature Conservancy for 22 years, and his mother has directed the state’s chapter of the Sierra Club for 20 years. “I went to my first Sierra Club meeting at six months,” he reports. “My concept of a normal household involved recycling, envelope stuffing, and retreats.”

During his undergraduate years at Michigan State, he spent a spring break “service learning trip” in Mexico, helping a mountain village to clean up and paint its school. The experience exposed him to the difference between their world and his and the need to invest in clean water and food for other people. After college, he continued his travels as a tour guide for a company that specialized in adventure travel and ecotourism for college-age students, and also worked for the Sierra Club and as the Michigan organizer for the Heritage Forest Campaign.

As an undergraduate, Nate had focused almost solely on science, but he eventually came to embrace the idea that science should influence policy. “That's what led me to Duke,” he says.

Aside from his coursework at Duke, Nate has been president of FOREM, spearheaded a voter registration drive, and helped found the Duke chapter of the Sierra Club. His biggest contribution may be as a founder and captain of the Green Devils, an intramural team that in its first year won the graduate league football and softball championships. He reports that the team’s existence was a recruiting plus for several prospective students, even without any athletic scholarships!

All of these activities and a full class schedule! Nate is taking classes at Terry Sanford for his second master’s degree and for a Certificate International Development, and in the Law School. “Being exposed to other grad schools and students at Duke—even if it goes against your belief—gives you a sense of what you’ll be dealing with out there. You can be in an environmental law class and have someone say they'd rather have the golf course than the endangered butterfly. It is invaluable to come up against this kind of experience, because you will face it in your career.”

At the Nicholas School, Nate embraces access to “the greatest minds in the field, the professors and visiting scholars” and, in particular, appreciates being in an environment where “everyone values the same things; it’s remarkable, invigorating, gratifying, and inspiring.”

To view the video, choose from the formats listed after each caption:

1. Nate's advice to prospective students: take advantage of the opportunities and resources found at the School and Duke.
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2. Nate Woiwode talks about how he arrived at his chosen program of study at the Nicholas School.
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3. He talks about the people of the Nicholas School.
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4. He talks about creating new recreational opportunities at the Nicholas School.
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5. Nate talks about the influence of his parents' environmental careers.
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6. Nate waxes positively about his ability to weave courses such as law and policy at Duke and others throughout the Triangle into his Duke degree program.
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7. He shares his thoughts on the "local" scene and living in Durham.
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8. Nate describes how a course on Spirituality and Ecology expanded his perspectives on environmental issues.
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9. He talks about what type of career he envisions for himself using his joint MEM/MPP.
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