The largest single accomplishment both immediately before my presidency, during my presidency and immediately after my presidency, was the resolution of the conflict between the People’s Republic of China and the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, and their member institutions regarding giant pandas. We came to a logical… Read More
I was president of AZA, 1994, and immediate past president in 1995. And I left the zoo in 1995. Read More
And what benefit did you see it gave you or the zoo when you were vice-president then you became president to be in that position, aside from your personal growth, did it help the zoo?… Read More
About the time I was having these second thoughts about what’s your future at this institution?… Read More
(indistinct) made me the offer to come on as his conservation and environmental advocate and to take on increased administrative, as well as academic responsibility at university. And I was reborn in a very real sense because I was freed of all of the disagreeable or the unpalatable of both… Read More
And one of my additional incentives when I got the PhD was certainly now you’re going to teach, you’re going to teach and do research at a different level. And so having that university affiliation gave me an opportunity I otherwise wouldn’t have had, and I didn’t lose anything in… Read More
You had ceased being president, or you were in that position?… Read More
So your long-term goals then were they changing, or were you thinking now that you weren’t going to be the director, there was a new person in charge that in the, as you said, that things were going in a different direction that you wanted to continue onward, or you… Read More
I, at the time of the appointment, I don’t know whether I was relieved or disappointed. And I say that honestly, on one hand, I thought I deserved to be the director of the zoo because I had invested 25 years or so of my life in the institution. And… Read More
And that was done in a very cold and calculating way. And I was forced to be in a position to be the senior staff person who sat with the personnel manager and had to look these people in the face and to say to them, “We don’t need you… Read More
What was that relationship like?… Read More
And then how did that affect your long-term goals?… Read More
Well, when Kevin Bell was promoted to, was appointed director, I think initially not much changed between the two of us. I mean, essentially we went from being comrades and colleagues to comrades and colleagues, except that he was then in charge. I was kind of a reversal of roles,… Read More
I do not know, I can honestly say that I don’t know whether a national search was done after his departure. I can tell you that I was less than enthusiastic about applying for the position, because I could see the handwriting on the wall in terms of how the… Read More
But you did apply for the position?… Read More
I did make my interests known, but I wasn’t, I was mediocre about it. There was another individual within the staff that became, or was elevated to the zoo director position. Read More
Did he, I mean, did you continue to do your job responsibilities?… Read More
I continued to try to do my job responsibilities, but I was for ever being interrupted or interfered with, because there were so many things that he didn’t know nor know how to deal with them. And so I was, come with me we’re going to the park district, come… Read More
And after he left the zoo, they again, did another search or did they go just within the organization?… Read More
And were you still interested in the job?… Read More