Michael Dawson Email & Phone Number

Mike Dawson, Educator/Conservationist. Mike has worked as a full-time educator for the Saint Louis Zoo for over 18 years. His career began as a horticulturist, helping to care for the Zoo’s expansive landscaping. He then transitioned into the Education Department. As a member of the Education Department, Mike began as a Naturalist Instructor designing and teaching classes on a variety of ecological and conservation-themed topics to students ranging from kindergarten to college. Most recently, Mike is serving as a Conservation Education Liaison. As a Liaison, he works closely on a wide variety of projects with the Herpetarium and Insectarium staff. These projects include facilitating conservation-themed educational aspects of animal awareness days, creating conservation education curriculum and activities, and serving as a resource to the Herpetarium, Insectarium and Education departments. Mike also serves as the Saint Louis Zoo’s Biofact (animal artifacts-skulls, skins, etc.) Curator, the Saint Louis Zoo’s FrogWatch (National Citizen Science Program for Frogs and Toads) Chapter Coordinator and the Midwest Coordinator for FrogWatch USA. Mike continues to expand his role within the citizen science field by assisting the Saint Louis Academy of Science as a taxa leader for local bioblitz events, and is a co-creator of Turtle Road Watch (A new citizen science project that focuses on identifying areas of high turtle road mortality in the St. Louis region).Mike Dawson, Adjunct Professor. Mike has also worked for Webster University for nine years as an adjunct professor teaching where he developed and teaches an undergraduate Animal Behavior course (BIOL 2200) and two Keystone courses: (KEYS 4002 01 SP 2019 Water: The World& Most Valuable Resource) & (KEYS 4021: Concepts and Practices of Citizen Science).In his spare time, Mike enjoys spending his time exploring the outdoors with wife and two children. Mike has a Master’s Degree in Secondary Education with an emphasis on Biology, a B.S. degree in Biology and an A.S. degree in Zoo Animal Technology.