ASU Partners with Phoenix Zoo on Conservation Efforts

Left to right: Jan Schipper, Conservation Research Post-doctoral Fellow; Ben Minteer, Arizona Zoological Society Chair.
Photo by: Sandra Leander

Arizona State University’s School of Life Sciences and the Phoenix Zoo are launching a new program to strengthen animal conservation efforts by collaborating on new research, as well as improve conservation communications and outreach to the public.

Arizona Zoological Society chair Ben Minteer will engage in a multi-year project focused on the science, ethics and history of zoo conservation. “We can infuse our research at ASU with the concerns that Phoenix Zoo conservationists and management raise, and enrich their work with our expertise in conservation science and the history and development of zoos in society,” said Minteer.

Zoo president and CEO Norberto J. “Bert” Castro sees this relationship as a natural fit. “Conservation and education are core to the Zoo’s mission. Like all nonprofits in this day and age, we must seek out partnerships that allow us to magnify our impact,” said Castro.

And for the first time, the two organizations are jointly supporting a new Conservation Research Post-doctoral Fellow position. Jan Schipper begins working this month in a shared capacity with the zoo and the university to develop a conservation research program focused on local and international species threatened with extinction.

To read more, please visit https://asunews.asu.edu/20140117-sols-zoo-conservation-partnership