As the fish and wildlife biologist had men, women, students and professionals singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” during her presentation Wednesday afternoon in the James Madison College Library in Case Hall, Parker demonstrated the benefits of incorporating people from all different backgrounds by showing them how much better their voices sounded in unison.

Diversity of race, gender and age, among many other forms, traditionally haven’t been balanced in the natural resource work-field, she said.

Parker, a bubbly black woman who is the former assistant director and regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said historically, the field has been filled by white men.

“I’ve been in the field over 30 years now, and we’ve come a long ways, but we have a long ways to go,” she said. “Not just in terms of people of color and women, but people of different cultures.”

These trends of inequal representation are reflected in MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, or CANR, said Kelly Millenbah, associate dean and director of the Office of Academic and Student Affairs for CANR.

Millenbah said enrollment in natural resource majors is expanding, while gender equality in them has leveled and ethnic diversity has made smaller improvements in the past 20 years.

According to the Office of the Registrar, 1,480 undergraduate women and 1,435 undergraduate men were enrolled in CANR in spring 2013. The men-to-women ratio has reversed a small amount.

Millenbah said MSU’s ratios are in line with national numbers. Increasing diversity within CANR will come from early recruitment and inclusion programs within the college, she said.

The natural resource career market is what fisheries and wildlife and environmental economics and policy freshman Liz Brajevich is excited to jump into after college. Knowing the field is growing in diversity only makes her more motivated, she said.

“I’m a little blonde person from California,” she said. “For me, the whole field of natural resources can be intimidating. But I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to be in the fish and wildlife (program and) I do see an increase in diversity in our field.”

Al Stewart, an upland game bird specialist and program leader for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources with the Wildlife Division, said after more than 40 years of work, he notices the increased presence of women in the field and courses.

“When I was in taking fish and wildlife classes at MSU, there was maybe one or two women in the whole class. And today, when I go back to lecture in classes … 75 percent of the class is composed of women,” he said.