The second recipient of the Robert M. Hatcher Memorial Scholarship was presented to Mackenzie Roeder.

Mackenzie is a graduate biology student at Austin Peay. She will be graduating early to begin Ph.D. position with SHARP (the Salmarch Habitat and Avian Research Project) at the University of Maine. Her plans for the future after completing her doctorate are to use her skills in molecular biology and evolutionary ecology to help conserve threatened and endangered birds and their habitats.

Mackenzie is also the recipient of the Kautz-Thorwell Scholarship, the APSU graduate student research support grant, the Presidential Volunteer Service Lifetime Achievement Award (for dedicating more than 4,000 hours to volunteer conservation service), and the APSU Summa Cum Laude Academic Achievement award for maintaining a 4.0 GPA.

PICTURED FROM LEFT ARE MR. HATCHER’S WIFE, BETTY, TWRA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ED CARTER, THE HATCHERS’ DAUGHTER, TERRI HATCHER GOODWIN, THE HATCHERS’ SON, JERRY, TWRA BIRD CONSERVATION COORDINATOR, DAVID HANNI, AND MACKENZIE ROEDER.

A native of a small town in the Catskill Mountains in New York, she inherited her love of birds from her great-grandmother. She has spent the past 10 years leading bird-watching hikes at wildlife refuges and caring for injured and orphaned birds at wildlife rehabilitation clinics. During her undergraduate years, she became interested in molecular biology and earned two bachelor’s degrees, one in forensic science and the other in biology. She assisted with the Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project’s and later joined AmeriCorps and worked at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge in Illinois.

The establishment of the scholarship was announced in 2014 at the release of a 13-week old bald eaglet named “Hatcher’s Legacy” in his honor at a ceremony at Bells Bend Park near the Cumberland River, just outside of Nashville. The announcement came shortly before Mr. Hatcher’s death after a battle with cancer.

The Robert M. Hatcher College Memorial Scholarship is administered by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Foundation. Donations are welcome and tax deductible and can be sent to: 

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Foundation
5000 Linbar Dr. Suite 275
Nashville, TN 37211. 

Click here for more information or to donate to the Robert M. Hatcher Ornithological Scholarship Fund online.