Women's History Month: Saluting UW-Stevens Point faculty and staff
Shelli Dubay - wildlife ecology, College of Natural Resources
Lyme disease set Professor Shelli Dubay, wildlife ecology, on a career track that has inspired hundreds of wildlife students.
Initially, she was interested in veterinary medicine. But as an undergraduate student at the State University of New York at Purchase, she worked as a technician for the New York Medical College. She became fascinated at how Lyme disease was spreading among the mammals they were tracking.
That led her to graduate school at the University of Wyoming, where she met her mentor, Beth Williams, the first person to identify chronic wasting disease in deer and elk.
"I was very fortunate to have a female mentor in wildlife in the early 90s," said Dubay. "I regularly think, 'What would Beth do in this situation?' when I am mentoring my own students."
She also credits her Ph.D. mentors, Greg Hayward and Carlos Martinez del Rio, who "spent so much time helping me realize my own worth."
Inspired by Dubay's passion for wildlife and wildlife diseases, students majoring in wildlife ecology and management at UW-Steven Point are realizing their purpose and worth as wildlife professionals too.
"My favorite stories are of when Dr. Dubay was helping her grad mentor with CWD because it's this incredible (yet terrible) wildlife phenomenon, and she was helping one of the people on the frontier of studying it," said Rose Arnold, a student from Lemont, Ill. "It makes us feel like we can make some awesome discoveries too one day."
Dubay is accessible, Arnold said, and encourages her students to look at graduate school and not be complacent about their studies.
"She really cares about her students and is devoted to our success," said student Maddie Hartlaub of Whitelaw, Wis. "Dr. Dubay has helped fuel my passion for wildlife conservation and gives me confidence to face a male- dominated field head on. I would not be who I am today without Shelli's incredible mentorship and guidance. I could not ask for a better role model."
From her classroom lectures to fieldwork, Dubay "instills passion for the field of wildlife ecology with her infectious fascination with virtually all aspects of this field," said Adam Tess, a student from Sun Prairie, Wis.
"Dr. Dubay is a pioneer in her field, leading by example and using her voracious appetite for knowledge to enlighten those around her," said Tess. "I could not be more thankful for her and the great work she does at this university."
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