DURHAM. N.C. – Seven students at the Nicholas School of the Environment at 91ÉçÇø¸£Àû have been named 2009-2010 Doris Duke Conservation Fellows.

Doris Duke Conservation Fellowships are awarded to graduate students who show outstanding promise as future leaders in nonprofit or governmental conservation in the United States.

To date, fellowships have been awarded to more than 75 Nicholas School students who are pursuing Master of Environmental Management or Master of Forestry 91ÉçÇø¸£Àûs. Selected by the school, fellows receive up to $32,000 to support tuition, a public-sector conservation internship and career development activities.

In addition, mini-grants of up to $2,500 per campus are available to foster educational activities such as skills training or lecture series featuring conservation practitioners. These activities are initiated and directed by the Doris Duke Conservation Fellows but need not be for their exclusive benefit; other students can benefit as well.

Created in 1996 by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, based in New York City, the fellowship program seeks to improve the quality of people’s lives by preserving natural environments, nurturing the arts, seeking cures for disease and helping to protect children from abuse and neglect.  The fellowship program is now administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

This year’s Doris Duke Conservation Fellows from the Nicholas School, along with their hometowns and programs of study at the Nicholas School, are:

Allison Herren of Bethesda, Md.; energy and environment; 
Amelia Kissick of Falls Church, Va.; ecosystem science and conservation; 
Lindsey Peavey of San Diego, Calif.; coastal environmental management;
Lisanne Petracca of Glen Ridge, N.J.; ecosystem science and conservation;
Ginger Ryman of San Diego, Calif.; ecosystem science and conservation;
Kellyn Shoecraft of Somerville, Mass.; ecosystem science and conservation; and
Joshua Stoll of White Salmon, Wash.; coastal environmental management.