|
|
|
Alumnae Achievement Awards
2009
|
|
Helen Hays '53
Sea Bird Conservationist Mentor
|
|
Helen Hays ’53 is
a gifted scientist who is internationally recognized
for her work with oceanic
birds. As chairman of the Great Gull Island Committee
at the American Museum of Natural History, she has worked
since 1969 to protect and increase the numbers of roseate
and common terns nesting on Great Gull Island on the
eastern end of Long Island Sound.
A true environmentalist, Ms. Hays has
conducted significant research on the deadly effect
of PCBs in the world’s
oceans and their adverse effect on marine life. Her advocacy
helped bring this fact to the attention of United States
legislators and the world, and she has lobbied successfully
to reduce these environmental contaminants.
As director of the Great Gull Island project for almost
40 years, Ms. Hays has been a mentor to hundreds of students.
Today many are scientists, professors, lobbyists, and
environmentalists, and an equal number have no connection
to the sciences but write passionately about how their
time at Great Gull Island changed their lives. These
former students are everything from award-winning poets
and authors to documentary film-makers and movie stars.
Ms. Hays has authored dozens of scientific papers, and
has traveled the world for her cause of seabird conservation.
Ms. Hays has received several awards
including the Conservation Service Award from the U.S.
Department of the Interior,
the Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Audubon
Society, and the President’s Volunteer Action Award.
|
|
|
Helen on a dock at Great Gull
Island |
Map of Great
Gull Island, drawn by one of the volunteers,
a cartographer, Richard Edes Harrison |
Terns landing
on a dock at Great Gull Island |
For more information about the Alumnae
Achievement Awards, please contact us by email at specialprograms@alum.wellesley.edu or
call the Alumnae Association at 781-283-2331. |
|