Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
Rave Reports on The Nicholas School's Stanback Interns
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| Fred and Alice Stanback with Ben Prater
in the Duke Forest.
The Nicholas School
Campaign Total: $137,274,436
The Nicholas School was named for Pete and Ginny Nicholas
at the outset of the campaign. Thirteen endowments and some
24 new fellowships were established, while annual giving exceeded
$4 million. Funds were raised to build the Ocean Science Teaching
Center at the Marine Lab in Beaufort, NC. A $70 million Nicholas
gift will expand the school’s reach and impact, making
it the nation’s leader in environmental education and
problem-solving.
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Since it began in 1996, the Stanback Internship Program has funded
251 summer internships at 44 environmental organizations. While
the program primarily targets Nicholas School students, it also
encourages the participation of students in law, public policy,
and business. “The more I learn about conservation problems,
the more I think needs to be done,” says longtime Nicholas
School Board of Visitors member Fred Stanback Jr. T’50. He
conceived the program to “give students practical experience
with conservation and environmental policy organizations, while
providing organizations with access to scientific and technological
skills that many organizations do not have.” With ties to
dozens of environmental groups in North Carolina, Fred and Alice
Stanback W’53 set up the initial internship opportunities,
and they have “heard nothing but rave reports” from
the organizations that have hosted and benefited from Duke’s
Stanback Interns.
Ben Prater MEM’04 spent last summer assessing the environmental
impact of timber sales in national forests and lobbying members
of Congress for the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project (SABP),
a small watchdog group in Asheville, North Carolina. “You
feel like you’re making a real difference when you talk face
to face with decision-makers” and “rub elbows with prominent
activists and environmentalists,” Prater says.
He “could never have afforded to pursue this experience”
had it not been for the Stanback Internship Program, Prater says.
He would not even have known about the SABP, which has had such
an impact on his academic plans. Prater discovered it through the
Stanback Internship recruitment fair—“one of the biggest
deals of the semester,” according to Prater—and from
this internship his master’s project emerged. With the help
of software developed by a Duke ecologist, Prater is developing
a cost-effective analysis tool to help organizations map the long-term
impact of disruptive activities in protected areas, prioritize at-risk
land parcels, and provide objective data.
A charter member of Duke’s student-run Greening Initiative
and the new state delegate to the National Forest Protection Alliance,
Prater says the internship “inspired my activist spirit and
opened my eyes to many important issues.” That, says Fred
Stanback, “is exactly what I hope for with the internships.”
Prater, who plans to build a career in forest conservation, says,
“The Stanbacks are dedicated to protecting our natural world
and supporting the education of students who aspire to do the same.”
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