Faculty Profile for Dr. Michael Clay Green

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Dr. Clay Green is the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Research in The Graduate College and Professor of Biology in the Department of Biology.

In his Associate Dean position, Dr. Green works collaboratively with stakeholders across campus on specific strategic initiatives related to priority areas identified in Hopes & Aspirations High, President Damphousse’s vision for Texas State. Dr. Green is involved in on-boarding for newly-approved doctoral programs, identifying and addressing needs in order to improve student success in research-based degree programs, and developing and implementing mentoring training for graduate faculty. He is also working closely with the Dean Andrea Golato and Associate Dean Donna Vandiver to review master’s and doctoral programs with declining or low enrollments and design action plans with faculty, chairs, and deans to reverse the observed trends. He will also engage in research activities on graduate education and explore external funding for said research.

Dr. Green earned his Ph.D. in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, a Master of Science in Range and Wildlife Management from Sul Ross State University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Soviet and East European Studies from University of Texas at Austin. After having served as a Visiting Scientist with the U.S.G.S National Wetlands Research Center, he joined Texas State University in the Department of Biology in 2005, was tenured and promoted to associate professor in 2011, and was promoted to professor in 2016. In addition, Dr. Green has served as director for the Ph.D. in Aquatic Resources and Integrative Biology program since 2013 and as chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee since 2015. He also is past president of the Waterbird Society and currently serves as Chair, Heron Specialist Group for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission. In 2022, he retired as Captain, U.S. Navy, after 30 years of service in the armed forces.

Dr. Green’s research focuses on the ecology and conservation of birds with an emphasis on threatened and endangered waterbirds including North America’s rarest heron, the Reddish Egret, and the world’s rarest heron, the White-bellied Heron. He has a distinguished record of grant-funded research. He also has more than 60 refereed publications to his name, many of which have been co-published with students, as well as many technical reports and conservation action plans. He has served as research advisor for 31 doctoral and master’s students and served as a member on an additional 68 thesis and dissertation committees. His students are productive scholars in their own right, publishing their dissertation and thesis research in peer reviewed journals.