Tom Wood has been a leader in SENCER since its inception, having served as an original member of our core faculty, as a senior associate, and as coordinator of SENCER’s efforts to partner with the conservation biology community.  A learning community that Tom and his colleague, Elizabeth M. Gunn, developed at New Century College, The Mysteries of Migration, was one of the first “courses” chosen as a SENCER National Model.  Tom has made numerous presentations and offered effective consultation to colleagues at colleges interested in developing SENCER courses and programs.  He has applied the SENCER ideals to a truly pathbreaking project, the Smithsonian Mason Semester, a partnership between the Smithsonian Institution and GMU.

As a SENCER Leadership Fellow, Tom plans to provide consultation to others who wish to develop learning communities reflecting SENCER goals and ideas to strengthen community partnerships and experiential learning.  He will also help guide the development of additional SENCER courses at GMU and work to strengthen partnerships with community colleges, with the view of expanding access to the conservation studies program at the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation and Research Center.

Tom was elected to the inaugural class of Leadership Fellows in July 2008.