Throughout the first decade of the 21st century, the Department of Zoology program was housed in the Life Science II and Life Science III buildings. The total number of faculty remained near two dozen and student numbers remained relatively constant (about 250 undergraduates and 90 graduate students). Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) enrollment stayed near 21,000. Yet, during the decade there were noticeable changes within Zoology in personnel, course offerings, and research emphasis.
At the start of the decade, Ted Saunders was President of the SIU System. At SIUC, John Jackson was Interim Chancellor, Margaret Winters was Interim Provost, John Koropchak was Interim Dean of the Graduate School, and Jack Parker was Dean of the College of Science. As the decade proceeded, Glen Pochard became President of the SIU System. By decade's end at SIUC, Samuel Goldman was Chancellor, Don Rice was Interim Provost, John Koropchak was Graduate School Dean, and Jay Means was Dean of the College of Science. William Muhlach became Chair of Zoology in 1994 and remained in that position throughout the decade of 2000.
Faculty who retired during the decade included Joseph Beatty, John Stahl, Benjamin Shepherd, Terence Anthoney, William Dyer, George Waring, and Christopher Kohler. Faculty who left for other opportunities included Thomas Breen, Matthew Nicholson, Robert Neuman, Frank Wilhelm, Anita Kelly, Karen Lips, and Michael Sears. And during the decade, the Department mourned the deaths of former faculty -- Richard Blackwelder, Robert Sheehan, Alan Woolf, Howard Stains, George Garoian, William Dyer, and Florence Foote.
Especially because of new hires, departmental research and course offerings expanded in the areas of fisheries, wildlife biology, toxicology, evolutionary biology, quantitative ecology, population biology, and molecular biology. And, coincident with retirements, research and course offerings diminished in natural history, vertebrate biology, parasitology, and animal behavior. For example, during academic year '01-'02, thirty-seven different classroom courses were taught by Zoology staff at the 100-499 level; by contrast, in the academic year '08-'09, twenty-seven different classroom courses were taught. During each of those years at the 500-level in Zoology, students had a choice of ten additional classroom courses.
At the end of the decade, the Zoology faculty included William Muhlach (Chair), Frank Anderson, Marjorie Brooks, Brooks Burr, Michael Eichholz, George Feldhamer, James Garvey, Richard Halbrook, Ed Heist, Eric Hellgren, Kamal Ibrahim, Agustín Jiménez-Ruiz, David King, Carey Krajewski, James Lovvorn, Michael Lydy, J. E. McPherson, John Reeve, Eric Schauber, Donald Sparling, Richard Thomas, Jesse Trushenski, Matt Whiles, and Greg Whitledge.
History of Zoology at Southern
Department of Zoology -- General Information
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Last updated: 27-May-09 / ghw