Chancellor Tom George’s guest column appeared on the the website of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Oct. 10. (Photo by August Jennewein)

A guest column from University of Missouri–St. Louis Chancellor Tom George in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch highlights the work of the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center, the long-standing partnership between UMSL, the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Saint Louis Zoo.

The center, founded in 1990, has been helping UMSL train global ecology and conservation leaders for nearly three decades while promoting community education and fostering scientific research.

As the op-ed notes, more than 250 master’s and doctoral students have graduated from UMSL with support from the Harris Center. They have come from 38 countries, with many returning home to apply what they’ve learned as they work to preserve biodiversity.

Washington University in St. Louis recently announced the creation of the Living Earth Collaborative in partnership with the garden and the zoo to bolster its own research efforts.

“It is wonderful to see others in St. Louis devote talent and resources toward the same mission,” George writes, “and, in the process, make St. Louis a world leader in ecological education and research.”

Read all of George’s guest column here.