For this quarter we are highlighting Jo Cowen (who also happens to be a 2018 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine for her exemplary volunteer record with the California Raptor Center (CRC). Starting as a volunteer in the 1980s, she took a brief hiatus before returning in 1992 to assume the role of volunteer Education Coordinator, a position she has held for over 20 years.

Jo books, coordinates, and teaches approximately 60-80 on-site public education programs per year at the CRC, which reach an average of 800-1,500 people. Audiences are primarily schoolchildren in grades 2-12, but Jo's on-site programs also serve people of all ages and backgrounds, including retiree groups, professional organizations, university groups and clubs, UC Davis undergraduates, and School of Veterinary Medicine students. The CRC has developed lasting relationships with a number of local schools and teachers through these educational presentations.

Thanks in large part to Jo's leadership, the CRC's education programs are in more demand than ever before. Since 2013, requests for the CRC's education programs have grown exponentially. On-site presentations have grown since then by 60% (e.g. 1000 attendees in 2013 to 1650 attendees in 2016). Additionally, the two yearly Open House events average 500-700 visitors per event, and Biodiversity Museum Day, which the CRC has participated in since 2016, most recently drew another 1,130 visitors to the Center in the spring of 2018. Taken together, all of the CRC's education and outreach programs reach around 10,000 members of the general public per year, contributing to and enhancing the SVM's mission of teaching and service. This level of educational outreach by the CRC would not be possible without Jo Cowen's exemplary service and dedication.

A strong component of the CRC's mission is to educate the public and local community about the roles of raptors in the environment and the perils raptors face from humans and other threats. The CRC's highly rated education program helps connect the general public to the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine by teaching about the rehabilitation, medicine, biology, and conservation of birds of prey. Almost all of the public education provided by the CRC is developed, coordinated, and delivered by our volunteers, and Jo Cowen has been instrumental and indispensible in leading the way. Our education program would not be the success it is today without her many years of dedicated service.