The ERC was launched in July 2012. The ERC was in many ways an expansion of the first of IPFW’s Centers of Excellence, the Center for Reptile and Amphibian Conservation and Management (the “Herp Center”), which itself was launched back in 2000. Although it engaged in a variety of conservation efforts, the Herp Center not surprisingly focused on the ecology and conservation of reptiles and amphibians. With the explicit expansion of mission, the ERC can more easily showcase and support a broad range of conservation issues.