Dawson Dunning, a 2005 graduate in Wildlife Biology in CFC, wins
prestigious scholarship
By Carey Shimek
Main Hall to Main Street
August 2006
For the first time, a UM student was awarded a prestigious Jack Kent Cooke
Graduate Scholarship. The award, worth up to $50,000 per year, is intended
to help young people of exceptional promise reach their full potential
through education.
The award went to Dawson Dunning, a 2005 UM graduate in Wildlife
Biology in the College of Forestry and Conservation and a Davidson
Honors College scholar.
Dunning grew up on a cattle ranch outside of Otter and attended high
school in Broadus. He intends to use the scholarship for a master’s
degree in science and natural history filmmaking at Montana State University
in Bozeman.
In his application, Dunning said he wants “to explore a career
as a conservation biologist using science and natural history filmmaking
to promote our planet’s most important conservation messages.”
At UM he took advantage of two study-abroad programs: a Davidson Honors
College program in the Galapagos Islands and a biological sciences program
in Peru. He also won the President’s Recognition Award for being
the outstanding senior in wildlife biology, the Watkins Scholarship for
research at UM and two national scholarships: the Udall for students committed
to careers related to the environment and the Goldwater for science research.
Dunning has volunteered with the UM Advocates and Missoula’s Wildlife
Film Festival. He also worked with the U.S. Forest Service as a stream
fish surveyor.
Reprinted with permission.