ORONO – Angela Fuller of Colchester, Vt., a postdoctoral research assistant and associate graduate faculty member in the University of Maine’s department of wildlife ecology, has been chosen to attend The Wildlife Society’s 2008 Leadership Institute to be held this summer and fall.

The Maryland-based institute, established in 2006, provides a select group of early-career wildlife professionals with the extensive training that will allow them to eventually move into leadership positions.

Fuller, who has conducted field-based research on Canada lynx, American martens, snowshoe hares and other mammals, is one of 10 people from the U.S. and Canada chosen for the program based on academic records, leadership abilities and demonstrated level of excellence in their current positions.

With nearly 70 percent of the leaders in the profession due to retire in the next decade, the goal of the TWS leadership institute is to prepare young members two or three years out of school for the future challenges facing wildlife managers and conservationists.

The program will run from May through November and culminate with intensive mentoring activities and leadership workshops at the 2008 TWS Annual Conference in Miami.