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MSU Fisheries and Wildilfe Club

Shawn J. Riley
Associate Professor

Human Dimensions of Wildlife Management

Fisheries & Wildlife
13 Natural Resources Bldg
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824

rileysh2@msu.edu

Click here for background information about Dr. Riley

Dr. Riley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, and a scientist in the Partnership for Ecosystem Research and Management (PERM), sponsored by the Wildlife Division of Michigan's Department of Natural Resources.

At Michigan State, we conceptualize the system of wildlife management being comprised of three overlapping dimensions: habitats, wildlife organisms, and people. What drives Dr. Riley's day-to-day activitites is a desire to create more effective management of wildlife through increased knowledge and synthesis about human dimensions of the conservation enterprise. No matter where you are in the world, the work of conservation gets done through management in a framework of governance. That fact necessitates better information about people and understanding of their interactions with wildlife, and the systems within which those interactions occur and are governed.

In the Land Grant tradition at MSU, Dr. Riley has a three-way assignment in research, teaching, and outreach.

Research: Dr. Riley's research activities are in discovery and integration of human and environmental dimensions of wildlife management.  Current projects include: factors affecting public trust and confidence in wildlife agencies; human dimensions of suburban wildlife management; how individuals and communities develop capacity for living with wildlife; human dimensions of wildlife health management in the US; antecedents to compliance with wildlife policies and regulations; public perceptions of hunting in Sweden; and, factors affecting agency capacity for managing fish and wildilfe health in North America (the latter in collaboration with Cornell University Human Dimensions Research Unit). 

Teaching: Shawn's classroom teaching includes a course titled, Human Dimensions of Fisheries and Wildlife Management (FW434).  He previously taught undergraduate courses titled Principles of Fish and Wildlife Management; Concepts in Wildlife Ecology; and Wildlife Management; and graduate courses titled Leadership in Environmental Management; Applications of Management Science to Fish and Wildlife Management; and, Coping With Uncertainty in Wildlife Management.  In fall 2011, he will teach a grad seminar on Systems Thinking Basics. Shawn has guest lectured in > 20 courses in five colleges across MSU, and at six other universities on three continents. Dr. Riley has received the Excellence in Teaching Award by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, a Lilly Teaching Fellowship from MSU, and a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship.

Outreach: Shawn's outreach efforts focus on improving wildlife management through: building capacity within resource agencies to make effective decisions; professional development of agency personnel; program evaluation; and diffusion of techniques to integrate human and environmental dimensions of management.  He regularly conducts workshops across North America directed at improving wildlife management through structured decision making, group model building, and application of systems thinking to natural resource policy and decisions.

Background: Full CV available upon request

Education: Shawn earned a BS (1980) in Biological Sciences and a MS (1982) in Fish and Wildlife Management (minor in Range Management) from Montana State University, and a PhD (1998) from Cornell University in Wildlife Science (minors in Resource Policy Analysis and Management, and Agricultural Economics).

Professional progression: Dr. Riley came to Michigan State University as an Assistant Professor in 2001 from Cornell, where he was a Research Associate in the Human Dimensions Research Unit and a Lecturer in the Department of Natural Resources.  He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2007, and spent 2009-2010 as a Senior Fulbright Fellow and Guest Professor in the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences at Umeå in the Department of Wildife, Fish, and Environmental Studies. Prior to his studies at Cornell, Shawn served 16 years as a summer field worker, lab tech, graduate research assistant, research biologist, wildlife management biologist, and statewide program biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. He is a Certified Wildlife Biologist (1989) and active participant in The Wildlife Society.

Click on a tab below or on the menu bar to the upper left to view Dr. Riley's research, teaching, and outreach activities, as well as lists of publications, presentations, and reports.