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John Pattison-Williams, ’06 BSc, ’09 MSc, has two boys who are growing up and learning in much the same way he did: on a mixed family farm 16 kilometres north of Camrose, the same land on which he was raised. Farm life can be an amazing education for kids. In fact, Pattison-Williams recalls not wanting to go to school when it came time. “I wanted to stay on the farm,” he says. “I wanted to be out with the animals in the bush and wetlands, to run around and ride horses.” Despite his inclinations, Pattison-Williams not only went to school, but stayed there. He graduated from the º£½ÇÉçÇø’s Augustana Campus and completed his master’s at North Campus before venturing further afield (University of Greenwich) for a PhD in natural resource management with a focus on wetlands research.

After a series of international research positions, including a year working as an international development officer in Uganda where he met his partner, Pattison-Williams returned to his family farm, where he now strives to find balance as a father, adjunct professor and owner of a resource consulting business.

Pattison-Williams studies wetlands, which are a valuable tool and in many places a disappearing resource in the mitigation of climate change. In his roles as an academic and a business owner he demonstrates a knack for creating common ground, working with such organizations as the Canadian Cattle Association, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, and the Nature Conservancy. It’s in conversation and collaborative work with farmers that Pattison-Williams supports agricultural communities to better manage wetlands, and he teaches stud