Kenneth Jock ’79 took his St. Lawrence education home.  The biology major and environmental studies minor is director of the Environment Division of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe at Akwesasne, NY, about 40 miles from campus.  He began work there in 1987, became director in 1990 and has developed the division into one of the premier tribal environment programs in the country.  He co-founded the Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment and chaired it from 1990 to 2000, and was the Region 2 representative on the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Tribal Caucus from 2000 to 2004.  He received the EPA Region 2 Environmental Quality Award in 1993. 

“St. Lawrence gave me the tools to analyze complex scientific problems and come up with practical solutions for our community,” he says.  “My professors also gave me the multidisciplinary foundation to integrate information from many sources and media and make sense of it.  I learned how your passion can take you in the direction you need to go and sustain you through difficult times.  And have fun too!”

A member of the Native American Student Organization as a student, he has this advice for those aspiring to work in environmental careers: “Do not be worried about specializing in a certain field unless you really know what you want to do.  You are working on the foundation; the house gets built when you actually work, learn and gain experience on the job.”

St. Lawrence students can engage in tutoring and service work at Akwesasne; for information, go to www.stlawu.edu/ccel/.