Villegas

Patricia Elena Villegas

I am a Master of Environmental Management graduate, with a concentration in Coastal Environmental Management. I am a first generation Colombian-American who hails from Athens, Georgia.  After receiving my undergraduate degree in Consumer Journalism from the University of Georgia, I moved to Washington, DC.  In my role as Program Assistant for Conservation International (CI), I managed projects for the Sojourns and Sea Turtle Flagship Programs and edited annual SWOT Reports.   While at CI and during graduate school, I have worked with fishing communities in Colombia and Brazil.

I am interested in community-based conservation and in effectively combining science with creative outreach to engage diverse communities in safeguarding marine species and habitats.  I am a natural connector and communicator and as a marine conservationist, my goals are to interpret and explain the science that connects people to their natural environment in order to spark interest in conservation.

Master’s Project: A Preliminary Evaluation of The State of the World’s Sea Turtles (SWOT) Program [link]