Dr. Mike Rechlin named as new Dean of Future Generations Graduate School

Future Generations Graduate School welcomes Dr. Mike Rechlin as its new Dean. Dean Rechlin most recently served as the Chair of the Biology Department at Principia College. For twelve years, he directed the Forestry Division of Paul Smith’s College. He also has been a research affiliate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies for the past ten years.

Dean Rechlin, who prefers to go by the name Mike, has a long association with Future Generations, having supported community-based conservation activities in Arunachal Pradesh, India, and Tibet, China since 1996. In addition, he has served as an adjunct faculty member of the Graduate School since 2003, and he led the Graduate School’s first self-study as part of the accreditation process in 2007.

Mike’s international work began in Nepal as a Peace Corps volunteer. He returned to Nepal in 1992 where he served as Chief of Party for the Institute of Forestry Project of the United States Agency of International Development. As a consultant with Future Generations, Mike has worked extensively with senior leaders and community stewards of the Qomolangma (Mt. Everest) National Nature Preserve and the Four Great Rivers region in Tibet, China. He has spent many months working with tribal communities and government managers in northeast India to improve local management of biosphere reserves. Please click <here> to see Dean Rechlin’s recent article in the Himalaya, entitled A Passion for Pine: Forest Conservation Practices of the Apatani People of Arunachal Pradesh.  

Mike is married to Nancy Boyer-Rechlin and has two children, Nathan and Bethany.  He is an avid canoe racer and looks forward to exploring the rivers and ski slopes of West Virginia.