The Julia Elkin Conservation Leadership Award has been established in memory of Elkin, a member of the SEAS community who graduated in 2015. Elkin passed away on February 25 after being struck by a car while jogging in Berkeley, California, and sustaining a traumatic brain injury. 

While Elkin was studying at SEAS, she was named a Wyss Conservation Scholar, a program funded by the Wyss Foundation that supports students who seek to become future leaders in nonprofit and public sector conservation in the U.S. 

With generous support from the Wyss Foundation and the University of Michigan, an endowment has been established with a $200,000 gift that aims to honor Elkin’s memory by supporting students with interests similar to hers, enabling them to participate in a summer internship experience focused on U.S. land conservation. As an endowment, it’s expected that the fund will expand over time, thus honoring Elkin’s work and name in perpetuity. 

“The Wyss Scholars Program was created to support the education of a new generation of leaders in conservation. Julia Elkin epitomized what it means to be one of those leaders. After graduating as a Wyss Scholar from the University of Michigan, she demonstrated her commitment to conservation and passion for public service through her work for the California State Coastal Conservancy, Marin County, and Sonoma Land Trust,” said Molly McUsic, president of the Wyss Foundation. “We continue to mourn the loss of Julia and are proud to honor her legacy by partnering with the University of Michigan to establish the Julia Elkin Conservation Leadership Award. The award will ensure that Julia's impact on the conservation community continues by supporting others who seek to follow in her footsteps.”

SEAS Professor Steve Yaffee knew Elkin well and said she was not just a stellar student with an inquiring analytic mind and great communication skills, but someone with incredible energy, infectious enthusiasm, a sense of creativity and artistry, and a magical radiant smile. 

“A few of us at SEAS started wondering how we could honor Julia and support similar students in her name,” said Yaffee. “Now, thanks to the generosity of the Wyss Foundation and U-M, we can enable other students to have the kind of summer internship experience that Julia had working for The Wilderness Society in Montana, which helped her more clearly define her career path that resulted in her expanded impact on the field.”

Yaffee said that specified criteria for the award will include academic merit and career focus, but an additional criterion is that students should emulate the spirit of Elkin. 

Fellow Wyss Scholar and friend, Sara Cawley (MS ’15), added, “Julia’s sincerity, warmth, and sense of curiosity, as well as her diverse experiences and unexpected talents (Julia was a prolific singer of sea shanties and a talented artist, as well as a harpist and a flautist!) made her approachable and skilled at finding ways to connect with people from all walks of life. That's what made her so good at working to find solutions to conservation and climate resiliency issues, which are, at their core, people issues. Julia was committed to making a difference in her corner of the world. Although her time was cut far too short, she has left behind a legacy of meaningful work and impactful community-building: beginning with her time at Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and extending through her student research at SEAS, her Wyss internship with The Wilderness Society, and her career in California focusing on coastal conservation and resiliency.”

Donations in honor of Elkin are welcomed, as expanding the size of the endowment will increase its yield and impact. Those interested in contributing a tax-deductible gift to the fund may do so here.