<p>
	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Dieter_Bouma.JPG" style="float: left; width: 200px; height: 133px; " /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Dieter Bouma, professor of &ldquo;Conservation &amp; Development in the Indian Tropics&rdquo; has a long and enduring history with Au Sable Institute. First visiting Au Sable as a child when his father Rolf Bouma began teaching Environmental Ethics in 1992, Dieter grew into many different roles at the Institute over the years, from seasonal worker to student, staff member to now faculty. &ldquo;Au Sable has been a formative part of my life, and I thank God for every faculty, staff member and student who played a role in directing my passion for caring for God&rsquo;s earth,&rdquo; says Dieter.</span></p>
<p>
	<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">A recipient of not one but two graduate degrees, Bouma holds a Master of Science from the University of Michigan&rsquo;s School of Natural Resources and Environment as well as a Master of Public Policy from U of M&rsquo;s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. His graduate research focused on community-based conservation in Nepal, home of the Himalayas and a border country with India. &nbsp;Through an international forestry research program and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), he researched community-based conservation, specifically how rural communities in Nepal sustainably manage their forests. &nbsp;The work required interdisciplinary study of forest ecology, social organization, cultural practices, and policy prescriptions and&nbsp;Dieter brings this interdisciplinary lens to studies in the Indian subtropics.</span></p>
