College of the Sciences Primate Behavior and Ecology Program

II. DESCRIPTION OF DEGREE PROGRAMS & CURRICULA

II.A. Provide a Table that Lists Each of your Programs by Location, Regardless of State or Self-Support

Degree Program	Location	College
Primate Behavior & Ecology BS Degree	Ellensburg	College of the Sciences
Primate Behavior MS Degree (proposed)	Ellensburg	College of the Sciences

II.A.1. Undergraduate programs (majors and minors)

The PBE BS program is located in interdisciplinary programs in the College of the Sciences.

II.A.2. Undergraduate certificate programs

Not applicable.

II.A.3. Graduate programs

An MS degree program in Primate Behavior was proposed spring 2007, with plans for the first cohort of students to enter the program in fall 2008. If approved, the Primate Behavior MS program will be located in interdisciplinary programs in the College of the Sciences.

II.B. Provide a Table that Lists Courses, Location, & Learner Outcomes for the Following:

II.B.1. General Education contributions

Not applicable. Although several of the courses included in the PBE core curriculum are general education courses, these are perhaps more appropriately considered contributions made by each of the departments associated with PBE (anthropology, biology, and psychology). These courses serve many students in addition to PBE students, and only a small percentage of the sections are taught by PBE program faculty. In the tables and sections that follow, primary emphasis is placed on eight courses that primarily serve PBE students. Occasional reference is made to other courses in the PBE core or elective categories.

ANTH 313	Primate Social Behavior
ANTH 412	Long Term Primate Studies
ANTH 416	Pongid Behavior
ANTH 418	Primate Evolution
PRIM 220	Introduction to Primate Laboratory Procedures
PRIM 320	Laboratory Work in Primatology
BIOL 465	Biology of Animal Behavior
PSY 442	Evolutionary Psychology

II.B.2. Professional educators contributions

Not applicable.

II.B.3. Service course delivery

Not applicable.

II.C. Describe Currency of Curricula in Discipline (How does the curriculum compare to recognized standards promulgated by professionals in the discipline?)

The United States’ professional association of primatologists, The American Society of Primatologists, sponsors a comprehensive website that includes career and educational advice for the budding primatologist. The Primate Info Network¹ archives limited data on where primatologists are employed, and posts available primatology positions along with information on academic programs focused on primatology. At the 1999 Annual American Society of Primatologists meeting, Sue Howell presented a snapshot of the state of primatology through the 1990s. This appears to be the sole and most recent report on the topic². In the United States, the 686 employed primatologists included in the survey worked primarily in university settings (45%, n=310), followed by regional primate centers and private labs (19%, n=129), medical schools (6%, n=38), zoological gardens (5%, n=34), government agencies (5%, n=33), and conservation/welfare/ rehabilitation centers (2%, n=12) (the remaining 130 employed primatologists worked in widely varied fields with numbers totaling less than 12 for each field). At universities, the majority of primatologists surveyed were located in anthropology departments (22%, n=71), followed by psychology (19%, n=62), laboratories and animal research facilities (19%, n=62), biology (5%, n=18), and comparative medicine (3%, n=10). The remaining 32% (n=105) of professional primatologists were widely distributed among disciplines, but all appear to have a biomedical aspect (for example, ophthalmology: n=1, health sciences: n=2). Survey results showed that female primatology students outnumbered males 2:1, but at universities, labs, and government agencies, more men than women occupied the highest positions. The reverse was true of primatologists working in rehabilitation/welfare/conservation centers and zoological gardens, where women predominated.

Central’s PBE program includes coursework drawn from the three disciplines where most university-based primatologists work: anthropology, biology, and psychology. Graduates of the PBE program learn to conduct collaborative and independent scientific research, have non-invasive research and husbandry experiences with a wide variety of captive species, and become skilled in field research techniques. These experiences will prepare them to work in the wide variety of field, laboratory, and captive settings found in the American Society of Primatologists survey, as well as preparing them for advanced academic degree programs. Central’s PBE program features women in prominent positions of authority, including the current director, the assistant director of CHCI, and the lead professor of the summer field school in China. All the female (as well as the male) program faculty are tenured. The majority of PBE undergraduate students are women, and they currently have many prominently-placed women role models.³

The American Society of Primatologists survey results indicated that biomedical primatology was the main area of discipline-based research through the 1990s, and Central’s PBE program provides students with ample opportunities to practice husbandry, enrichment, and safe interactions with captive nonhuman primates, making graduates well-qualified to conduct research or hold jobs based in laboratory facilities. Howell described conservation fieldwork as the future of primatology, and today this focus (perhaps) represents employment numbers far greater than what this 1990s survey would suggest. Indirect evidence that this is the case includes the recent formation of two MS programs devoted to primate conservation, one at Oxford Brookes University in UK, and one at Roehampton University in UK. Conservation (of wildlife more generally and of primates in particular) is a feature of the Central’s PBE program (Primate Conservation [ANTH 499] and Conservation Biology [BIOL 466] are program electives), and three program faculty, Kris Ernest, Steve Wagner, and Dan Beck, have expertise in conservation biology and conservation genetics.