Galen
Rathbun
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Background
B.S., Zoology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
Ph.D., Zoology, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
Scientist Emeritus, U.S. Geological Survey
Fellow and Research Associate, Department of Ornithology and Mammalogy, California Academy of Sciences
In 1966, after receiving my undergraduate degree in zoology from Humboldt State University in California, I became a Peace Corps volunteer for 5 years, working as a secondary school science teacher and then a museum education officer in Kenya. In 1976, I completed my Ph.D. in zoology at the University of Nairobi, Kenya; my dissertation topic was the behavioral ecology of sengis or elephant-shrews. I repatriated to the United States with a two-year Smithsonian Institution postdoctoral fellowship at the National Zoological Park in Washington, DC. My professional career was as a federal research biologist and project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Florida manatee and California sea otter programs. Upon retirement in 1999, I became a Scientist Emeritus of the U.S. Geological Survey. I have served on the Committee of Scientific Advisers to the US Marine Mammal Commission, and also as an associate editor for the journal Marine Mammal Science. Currently, I am on the review panel of the African Journal of Ecology. Since 2000, my professional affiliation has been with the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco as a Fellow and Research Associate in the Department of Ornithology and Mammalogy. In 2001, I became the founding Chair of the Afrotheria Specialist Group of the IUCN – the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which involves many international conservation issues.