Drawing on 45 years of coastal leadership, The Coastal Society proudly launched its “Margaret A. Davidson Coastal Career Development Program” in 2018. This Program continues TCS’s long-term emphasis on students, recent graduates, and coastal professionals and was inspired by the late Margaret A. Davidson, an icon who mentored and befriended many of today’s coastal leaders. As a primary part of the MAD program, TCS will honor Margaret’s legacy through a series of career development workshops to benefit early- and mid-career professionals and the next generation of coastal practitioners.
The first workshop in this series was December 13, 2018, in Long Beach, California, in association with the Restore America’s Estuaries – Coastal States Organization Habitat Summit. The Long Beach workshop featured a morning of keynote talks on career options, employment prospects, and important career opportunities in California and around the nation. The afternoon offered a series of smaller group discussions about various skills needed to succeed including resume development, interview tips, how to successfully engage with a mentor, and networking. Subsequent in-person workshops followed a similar agenda, condensed into half-day events on a virtual platform during the COVID pandemic, to provide the latest information on coastal careers.
In honor of Margaret’s life-long commitment to the coasts and those charged with protecting them, most of these workshops feature a strong mentoring component. Registrants will first hear inspiring stories about successful mentor-mentee accomplishments and then have the opportunity to engage with potential mentors during each workshop. After the workshop, participants are paired with a workshop speaker of their choice for a separate conversation.
In an effort to help TCS gauge interest, identify locations, and shape the workshop offerings, we are requesting interested attendees fill out this survey: https://survey.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_br5CU6IFEbhmNTv. Additionally, TCS is seeking coastal professionals interested in serving as a mentor/presenter at workshops. If interested, please contact the TCS Office at: admin@thecoastalsociety.org
Upcoming MAD Workshops:
TCS is grateful to our sponsors and to the Duke University Marine Lab (DUML) for hosting a successful in-person workshop on October 8, 2024 in Beaufort, NC in conjunction with Coastal Carolina Riverwatch’s Water Quality for Fisheries Symposium. The workshop, intended for students and early career professionals currently in or interested in the coastal/marine science, policy, and management fields, was well attended and provided excellent networking opportunities for both the registered attendees and the invited speakers. Please see the TCS Workshop Archive list below for more detailed information on this event and others.
Stay tuned for upcoming virtual or in-person career workshops in 2025 as TCS continues to build upon this successful program. Please contact MAD Committee Chair Jeff Flood with any suggestions for geographic location or topics you’d like to see featured in 2025!
MAD Workshop Archive:
Click on the bolded date below for information on past workshops.
December 8, 2018 – Long Beach, CA, in conjunction with Restore America’s Estuaries and the Coastal States Organization
January 10, 2019 – Washington, DC, in conjunction with the National Council for Science and the Environment conference
April 4, 2019 – Woodbridge, VA, in conjunction with the Atlantic Estuarine Research Society Spring Meeting
June 3, 2019 – Washington, DC, in conjunction with Capitol Hills Ocean Week (CHOW)
June 10, 2019 – Brockport, NY, in conjunction with the International Association for Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) Annual Conference
November 18, 2019 – Wilmington, NC, in partnership with the University of North Carolina – Wilmington
February 7, 2020 – Charleston, SC
February 27, 2020 – Durham, NC, in partnership with the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment
March 26, 2020 – West Long Branch, NJ (cancelled)
June 10, 2020 – Virtual Workshop
September 24, 2020 – Virtual Workshop
November 4th, 2020 – Virtual Workshop
June 29 & 30, 2021 – Virtual Workshop
November 16, 2021 – East Lansing, MI in partnership with the Michigan State University Department of Fish and Wildlife (hybrid)
November 18, 2021 – Virtual Workshop in partnership with NCAR (1)
December 2, 2021 – Virtual Panel Discussion in partnership with NCAR (2)
December 3, 2021 – Virtual Workshop
January 20, 2022 – Virtual Panel Discussion in partnership with NCAR (3)
February 3, 2022 – Virtual Panel Discussion in partnership with NCAR (4)
June 27, 2022 – Virtual Workshop
December 4, 2022 – New Orleans, LA in partnership with the National Academy of Sciences’ Gulf Research Program, Louisiana Sea Grant, the Louisiana Science Teachers Association, and other partners
January 26, 2023 – Virtual, hosted by the Duke Student Chapter of TCS – open to Duke students only.
August 4, 2023 – Silver Spring, MD, hosted by the National Sea Grant Office – open to the 2023 class of Sea Grant/Knauss Fellows only.
March 21, 2024 – Gloucester, VA, in conjunction with the Spring 2024 meeting of the Atlantic Estuarine Research Society (AERS), hosted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS)
October 8, 2024 – Beaufort, NC, in conjunction with the Coastal Carolina Riverwatch’s (CCRW) Water Quality for Fisheries Symposium, hosted by the Duke University Marine Lab (DUML)
Check out another amazing opportunity for graduate students through NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management and the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, the Margaret A. Davidson Fellowship Program.