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President
ROBERT D. ALDRIDGE
Department of Biology
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, MO 63103, USA
President-Elect
AARON BAUER
Department of Biology
Villanova University
Villanova, PA 19085, USA
Secretary
MARION PREEST
Joint Science Department
The Claremont Colleges
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Williams Baptist College
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Immediate Past-President
JOSEPH R. MENDELSON III
Zoo Atlanta
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Directors (Class and Category)
FRANK BURBRINK (2016 R)
College of Staten Island, USA
ALISON CREE (2016 Non-US)
University of Otago, NEW ZEALAND
TIFFANY DOAN (2014 R)
Central Connecticut State Univ., USA
LISA HAZARD (2016 R)
Montclair State University, USA
TRAVIS LADUC (2014 Mem. at-Large)
University of Texas, USA
JENNIFER PRAMUK (2014 Cons)
Woodland Park Zoo, USA
CAROL SPENCER (2014 R)
University of California, Berkeley, USA
GREGORY WATKINS-COLWELL
(2016 R)
Yale Peabody Mus. of Nat. Hist., USA
Trustee
GEORGE PISANI
University of Kansas, USA
Journal of Herpetology
ERIN MUTHS, Co-Editor
U.S. Geological Survey
Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA
GAD PERRY, Co-Editor
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX 79409, USA
Herpetological Review
ROBERT W. HANSEN, Editor
16333 Deer Path Lane
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Contributions to Herpetology
KRAIG ADLER, Editor
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-2702, USA
Facsimile Reprints in Herpetology
AARON BAUER, Editor
Villanova University
Villanova, PA 19085, USA
Catalogue of American Amphibians
and Reptiles
CHRISTOPHER BELL, Co-Editor
University of Texas, Austin
Austin, TX 78712, USA
TRAVIS LADUC, Co-Editor
University of Texas, Austin
Austin, TX 78758, USA
Herpetological Circulars
JOHN J. MORIARTY, Editor
Three Rivers Park District Plymouth, MN 55441, USA
Herpetological Conservation
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Mitchell Ecol. Res. Service
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185
INSTITUTIONAL PROFILES
Herpetological Review, 2013, 44(2), 185–187.
© 2013 by Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Developing an Undergraduate Herpetology Club
at Cornell University
PHOTOS BY JESSICA TINGLE
In its 20 years of existence, the Cornell Herpetological Society
(CHS)—an undergraduate herpetology club at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York—has reached several hundred students.
It has shaped their college experience and in many cases their
careers. Undergraduate herp clubs like the CHS provide opportunities that students could not gain through coursework alone,
such as peer mentorship, field experiences, teaching opportunities, interactions with established scientists, and the opportunity
to take on a leadership role. These groups create a community of
students with similar interests who can amplify each other’s curiosity outside of a strictly academic setting, often leading to lasting friendships beyond graduation. Because the CHS has positively influenced the lives and careers of its many undergraduate
members, it could serve as an example to inspire the creation
of similar groups at more universities. Ultimately, connections
among several university herp clubs could provide additional
opportunities and ideas.
Three Cornell undergraduates who were devoted to the scientific study of amphibians and reptiles founded the CHS in
1992. Since then, it has operated continuously on a model based
on leadership from a group of undergraduate officers, with advice and guidance from its faculty advisor Kraig Adler. Although
the CHS is organized and run by undergraduate students, it welcomes participation from the broader Cornell and Ithaca communities. The CHS is a registered student-run organization that
must apply for funding each semester along with over 800 other
student organizations at Cornell University. The CHS organizes
three main activities: 1) monthly meetings in which local or visiting speakers present their work; 2) field trips that include short
excursions into the field and longer, multi-day visits to universities, museums, and zoos for behind the scenes tours with staff;
and 3) educational programs that provide outreach to the community. Each of these activities has served to enrich the lives of
herp club undergrads and other community members.
Monthly Meetings
Fig. 1. CHS members examine and photograph a salamander during
a local field survey.
True to its mission as a club run by students primarily for
students, the CHS now reserves its first meeting every year for
a series of talks by more senior club members based on their
summer research or other biological activities. New students
benefit from other undergraduates discussing their research, recently including topics as diverse as lizard mating systems in the
American Southwest, toad colonization of Alaska, or Brazilian
frog phylogeography. More senior students show new students
how to seek out funding for their own research projects, demonstrating that one can, in fact, become a budding scientist while
still an undergraduate. Other meetings during the academic year
feature scientists, conservationists, wildlife photographers, veterinarians, and more, allowing students to learn about different
types of careers. Speakers have included Aaron Bauer, Carl Gans,
Chris Jenkins, Joseph Mendelson, Robert Murphy, and Margaret
Stewart, among many other accomplished herpetologists. After
each meeting, a casual dinner at a local restaurant allows students to have closer interactions with the guest speakers.
Off-Campus Activities
Field trips, both local day trips and multi-day excursions
farther afield, give an inside look into different applications of
herpetology. The club makes the most of the herp diversity in
Fig. 2. By conducting systematic surveys each fall and spring of properties owned by a local land conservation organization called the
Finger Lakes Land Trust, the CHS contributes to the Land Trust’s and
other herpetological databases.
JESSICA TINGLE
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University,
Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
e-mail: jlt83@cornell.edu
Herpetological Review 44(2), 2013
186
PHOTO BY BRIAN SHERMAN
Lakes Land Trust, which has the CHS conduct herp surveys on
their various properties each semester (Figs. 1, 2). The club has
frequently sent those data to the New York Herp Atlas project.
The CHS also takes advantage of the annual spring salamander
migrations to witness explosive breeding events. Last year the
CHS began collaborating with Cornell’s natural areas and arboretum staff to form a plan for protecting salamanders as they
cross roads and for educating the increasing number of people
who go to see the migration each spring. Additionally, an annual trip to southwestern New York with a staff member from the
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation lets
students spend a day finding hellbenders, collecting data about
them, working on habitat restoration projects, and releasing juveniles head-started by the Buffalo Zoo (Fig. 3).
Members of CHS take at least one annual trip to locations
farther away, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Toronto, Ann Arbor, Washington and other cities around the eastern
United States. The club uses these trips as a way to visit museums,
zoos, or university labs, often meeting curators, veterinarians,
and researches at multiple institutions over the course of a weekend (Figs. 4, 5). Students choose the location at the beginning of
the year, and then the faculty advisor arranges the trip.
Educational Outreach and Community Benefits
PHOTO BY JESSICA TINGLE
Fig. 3. The club sponsors a trip every August to observe hellbenders
in the wild. To achieve success requires a small army of rock turners
and dip-net holders, and someone to grope for the animal. The giant
salamanders are then PIT tagged, measured, weighed, and returned
to the same GPS-referenced rocks, in cooperation with a New York
State Department of Environmental Conservation officer.
The club benefits the larger university and local communities through educational outreach. Every year members of the
CHS take reptiles and amphibians to university residence halls,
Cornell’s annual veterinary college open house, local schools,
the Ithaca Science Center, and community centers to educate
people about these oft-misunderstood creatures (Fig. 6). Most of
the people who attend these programs leave feeling less afraid
of herps than when they arrived, while some even leave with a
newfound love of herps and other creatures. Occasionally, parents from the community bring their children to join the herp
club on local field trips and at its meetings, thus fueling the next
generation of herpetologists.
Club members who participate in outreach programs develop strong public speaking skills that often help them in their
subsequent careers. They learn how to effectively engage an
audience, an ability that serves them in a variety of situations,
whether they go into research, conservation, environmental law,
or another career.
Other Activities
Fig. 4. Behind the scenes at the Philadelphia Zoo, CHS undergrads
get up close and personal with a tortoise named Bubba and many
other herps, some of which are never exhibited.
the region by focusing the majority of outings locally. Many of
those trips are with a conservation organization called the Finger
Members of the CHS have taken advantage of several opportunities outside the club’s regular activities. Some arose in the
form of summer research projects, grants, or internships that
the students heard of from other club members or from the club
advisor. Others received research funding from an anonymous
donor who provides funds to the CHS. For example, three undergrad club members used this source and other funding to do
a survey of herpetofauna in Papua, New Guinea, during which
they discovered a new frog species that presently holds the world
record for smallest known vertebrate (see their article in PLOS
One, at http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029797). A few years prior to that, CHS undergraduates participated in a faculty search for a herpetologist in Cornell’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. The CHS
members interviewed each candidate, and then wrote a report
on each. The search committee took their recommendations
Herpetological Review 44(2), 2013
187
PHOTO BY KRAIG ADLER
quite seriously because the CHS members took the process so
seriously, and ultimately chose the candidate whom the herp
club had recommended. Such experiences played a formative
role in the subsequent academic and career pursuits of the students who participated in them.
Finally, the CHS fosters friendships by bringing students together. Outside of formal club activities, students get together
for fun events like herp-related movie nights, holding potluck
dinners, and watching such outlandish films as Life in Cold
Blood, Anaconda, or Snakes on a Plane. They also go on hikes or
camping trips together to take a break from school. These informal activities help relieve student stress while creating a more
tightly-knit club.
Post-Herp Club Careers
Fig. 5. At the Pittsburgh Zoo, the club members observe an Alligator Snapping Turtle held by the curator of reptiles. Left to right: Herb
Ellerbrock (reptile curator), Rich Glor, Mehdi Joseph-Ouni, Mike Benard, Howard Evans (Cornell professor), Jeremy Sabatini.
PHOTO BY CARLY HODES
Many club alumni remember their CHS days fondly as a formative influence. One of the club’s founders now directs a worldwide conservation organization called Amphibian Ark, and returns to Cornell from time to time to give talks, help, and advice
to current undergrads. Other members have become university
professors or museum curators. Some of them did not previously recognize the possibility of building a career in research
until they joined the CHS. Other alumni have pursued careers
as zoo or private veterinarians, or medical doctors. Many who
chose fields outside of biology or conservation for their careers
remain interested in herpetology, including a couple of environmental lawyers and one computer programmer who spends his
free time describing new species of turtles. In dozens of cases,
the presence of an undergraduate herpetology club has fueled
people’s enthusiasm during college, providing a jumping off
point for a lifelong interest in reptiles and amphibians.
Throughout the history of the Cornell Herpetological Society,
a few dedicated students have sustained the meetings, field trips,
and community outreach that left a lasting impact on so many.
Similar undergraduate-driven herpetology clubs can thrive anywhere provided they have certain critical components. First and
foremost, enthusiastic and focused students must manage to
find each other, and then they must sustain a high enough level of involvement in the club to organize events. Nearly as important is guidance and mentorship from an advisor who truly
cares about the club and its members. Such an advisor provides
continuity and has the expertise to help students plan the best
meetings and field trips possible. A third important component
is funding, which many universities provide to student clubs
through student activity fees. However, funding plays a less crucial role than do the students and faculty advisor. Even without
money, clubs may hold local excursions, herp-themed movie
nights, meetings, and much else. Different regions in the world
have different resources to offer, so as long as students (with an
advisor’s help) can recognize those resources, then they can create a very successful organization.
Members of the CHS sincerely hope that students will find a
way to use whatever resources they have—human, ecological, or
institutional—to engage their peers outside of classrooms and
Fig. 6. The CHS operates a large display of live herps, skeletons, and
other learning materials as part of its extensive outreach program
to the local community. Among its largest events is an open house
sponsored by Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine, where students and Ithacans of all ages overcome fears to learn about the animals.
labs, leaving a lasting contribution on their campus as they explore their passion.
Acknowledgments.—I thank the advisor of the CHS, Kraig Adler,
and several officers and former officers—Mike Benard, Joseph Chase,
Rich Glor, Matthew Meyer, Eric Rittmeyer, Bryan Stuart, Mike Treglia,
Tristan Weinkle, Brian Worthington, and Kevin Zippel—for providing
information, help, and photos. For more information on the Cornell
Herpetological Society, consult our website and blog:
http://rso.cornell.edu/cuherps/flash/flash.html
http://cuherps.blogspot.com/
Herpetological Review 44(2), 2013