The position is new, but the organization isn't. Michigan class of 2012 graduate Stephanie Fortino is a two-time alumna of the University of Michigan Biological Station. She will be returning to the Station in December as Recruiting and Outreach Coordinator.

While at Michigan Fortino earned a B.S in Program in the Environment (PitE) and English, Language, and Literature. She was also a four-year member of the Michigan Marching Band.

Her first summer at UMBS, in 2010, Fortino took Forest Ecosystems and General Ecology. She returned two years later and took Limnology and Environmental Writing and Great Lakes Literature. In 2015 Fortino posted to Facebook, "It's been five years since I went to UMBS for the first time. It was that profound summer when I fell in love with Northern Michigan above the 45th parallel... And really hugged my first tree. Seeing a Bug Camp friend last night reminded me how grateful I am to have experienced such a collaborative, unique place of learning. I owe many things to the U-m Biological Station.”

Stephanie Fortino (far right) on a field trip with her Forest Ecosystems class in 2010.

For the past four years, Fortino has lived and worked in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She was a journalist with The St. Ignace News and Mackinac Island Town Crier. She is a member of the St. Ignace Kiwanis Club and was just elected to the Michilimackinac Historical Society Board of Directors this year. 

Her new position at UMBS will draw on Fortino's nothern Michigan and U-M connections. Indeed, one of her first responsibilities will be recruiting for the Station at North Central Michigan College in Petoskey December 7 and 8.