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Charles Edwin Bessey Teaching Award
DR. CHARLES EDWIN BESSEY is remembered as one of the great developers of botanical education in the United States of America. In 1884, he accepted the professorship of botany and horticulture at the University of Nebraska. His work and dedication to improving the educational aspects of Botany are most noted in what Nebraskans call "The Bessey Era" (1886-1915), during which Nebraska developed an extraordinary program in botany and ranked among the top five schools in the United States for the number of its undergraduates who became famous botanists. Dr. Bessey served as dean of the University of Nebraska Agricultural College and became head dean in 1909. He served as interim chancellor for the University 1888-91, 1899 and again in 1899. This award recognizes individuals whose work has impacted botanical education at a regional, national and/or international level.
Dr. Joan Edwards, a professor at Williams College for five decades, has shaped a career characterized by an unwavering commitment to nurturing the next generation of botanists and environmental stewards. Through her innovative teaching methods, she has instilled a sense of curiosity and wonder in countless students. As one of her nominators pointed out, “Very few faculty members at any higher education institution have the stamina to remain in their position this long, and even fewer do so while not only maintaining their teaching and research standards, but continuing to pioneer and adjust to changes in technology, student needs, and pedagogical understanding in the way that Dr. Edwards has.” Her courses, such as Field Botany and Conservation Biology, have served as catalysts for intellectual growth, fostering interdisciplinary exploration and hands-on research experiences. Dr. Edwards has remained dedication to student-centered research, teaching the value of observation, curiosity, interconnection, integration, AND that the unexpected is always interesting. She has cultivated a collaborative environment where students are empowered to make meaningful contributions to the field. One of her former students stated, “Joan’s ability to convey the excitement and wonder of biological phenomena and then make the underlying concepts, (whether physical, molecular, developmental, ecological, or evolutionary) seem simple and accessible to all of her students is the core of her approach to teaching.” Beyond the classroom, Dr. Edwards's outreach efforts transcend boundaries, engaging with the broader community to foster conservation efforts and a deeper appreciation for the natural world. Dr. Joan Edwards epitomizes the essence of excellence in botanical teaching, embodying a profound passion for plants and a steadfast dedication to inspiring future generations of botanical enthusiasts.
2023 - Dr. Cynthia Jones, University of Connecticut and Dr. Eddie Watkins, Colgate University
Dr. James “Eddie” Watkins is a Full Professor in the Department of Biology at Colgate University and is a world-renowned authority on fern gametophyte physiology and ecology. Eddie has garnered national and international recognition in his field of research while simultaneously becoming respected and beloved for providing undergraduates with the highest quality mentorship. In the last 20 years, he has cultivated a resurgence of interest in fern gametophyte biology within the botanical community and become a pillar of the fern community by eliciting excitement for ferns in peers and students, producing numerous publications with students, and publishing popular online content that is accessible to a broad audience.
In 2008, Eddie and fellow fern expert Robbin Moran (NYBG) revived the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) sponsored specialty course: Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes in Costa Rica, which had not been offered since 1967. Since reviving this course, they have held it every 2-3 years and have enjoyed great success in generating interest in ferns generally, especially in early career researchers from all over the world, and particularly in Latin America. Eddie is an innovative, passionate, and inspiring educator-scholar, and he has changed the trajectory of students at Colgate and around the world to have a greater appreciation of plants. In his classroom and laboratory, whether at Colgate, the OTS in Costa Rica, or elsewhere, Eddie uses the most effective and innovative pedagogical methods. For years he has paid significant attention to improving the quality of education and learning outcomes, and his success in this area has led him to take on the role of Director at the Center for Learning, Teaching, and Research (CLTR) at Colgate University. As Director of the CLTR, Eddie manages the faculty development program to train Colgate faculty members in the most innovative pedagogical approaches available today. He is a mentor to the next generation of Botanists: he brings undergraduates to the Botany meeting every summer and supports them as they present, helps them grow their professional networks, and does everything he can to make them feel welcome and comfortable. He is well deserving of the Bessey Award.
Dr. Ickert-Bond is a trailblazer in botany education, not only in teaching, but also in diversity and inclusion in botany education. As one person from the nomination committee wrote, “Through inclusive pedagogy that uses innovative technology combined with an artistic and creative vision to engage students in critical learning about plants, habitats and biodiversity science, Dr. Steffi Ickert-Bond embodies the action and spirit of the Bessey Award.”
Her extraordinary and innovative approaches to mentoring and teaching are documented in a number of peer-reviewed articles on pedagogy, mentoring and diversity in STEM. In her work, she links the domains of plant science and mentoring while sharing that mentees, like plants, flourish or struggle based on their environment—not as a result of any inherent deficiency.
2019 - Dr. Suzanne Koptur has been an active member of the BSA since graduate school. She has presented over 40 papers at BSA conferences over the years, both ecological and educational, and is a member of the Teaching, Ecology, and Tropical Biology sections. Suzanne is a clear fit with the qualities recognized by the Charles Edwin Bessey Teaching Award. During her career she has mentored an exceptional number of graduate and undergraduate students, including many from groups under-represented in the sciences. She actively seeks funding to provide early opportunities for her students, providing opportunities for undergraduate researchers to join her and her graduate students in the lab and field, supporting and encouraging them to attend and present at botanical meetings, and to be involved in the PLANTS mentoring program and other career-building opportunities. In 2017 she was awarded the FIU University Graduate Student Provost Award for Mentorship of Graduate Students recognizing her mentoring efforts. One of her former students writes: “Through her vocation to training the next generation of botanists, she has left a lasting legacy. Every one of us that has had the great fortune in having Suzanne as a teacher will go forth as emissaries for science, creating a ripple effect that will spread her passion for plants far and wide throughout the world.” Suzanne is an active and engaged teacher who embraces new teaching techniques like active learning, flipped courses, and online teaching. She was active in creating a new FIU initiative, Quantifying Biology in the Classroom (QBIC), to help biology students develop quantitative skills to help them succeed. She served as the QBIC director from 2012-2016, and continues to serve this program as co-director. She contributes to the research on teaching and has made great impact in developing and supporting a culture of teaching innovation within her department. In addition to her work at FIU, she is active in community outreach. She has been a supporter and proponent of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden’s Connect to Protect program encouraging citizens and schools to help create habitat corridors between the endangered South Florida Pine Rocklands. She has worked with local schools to build butterfly gardens, organizes several conferences that bring researchers and natural resource management professionals together, and serves on county committees to develop conservation initiatives.
Dr. Gibson is exceedingly generous with each of these innovations. The case studies are provided as freely available powerpoints and are meticulously documented with notes for using the case studies in the classroom. Not only is Dr. Gibson committed to improving education for college students, he has published three text books aimed at K-12 students. His commitment to public outreach is equally impressive. Throughout his career, he has given presentations at venues ranging from Native Plant Societies, to Natural History Museums, to Community Centers. Dr. Gibson twice led the BSA contingent at the USA Science and Engineering Festival (http://www.usasciencefestival.org/) attended by many thousands of visitors. Finally, Dr. Gibson is a loyal and energetic member of the Botanical Society of America. He has taken on leadership roles in the Teaching Section, including service as chair, vice chair, program coordinator, and now secretary/treasurer. Dr. Gibson took on the leadership of PlantEd, where he is committed to providing a platform for disseminating new developments in education.
Dr. Kirchoff is transforming the way that students learn through the creation of active, visual learning programs and mobile applications. He has created, validated, and is in the process of distributing groundbreaking software that helps students more easily master complex subjects. Furthermore, he has collaborated not only with scientists in the U.S., but also Europe and Australia, to adapt his visual learning software to local problems such as helping Australian veterinary students recognize poisonous plants and providing visual identification keys for tropical African woods. In 2007 he was the BSA Education Booth Competition winner for Image Quiz: A new approach to teaching plant identification through visual learning and his work was showcased in the Education Booth at the Botany & Plant Biology 2007 Joint Congress in Chicago. In 2013 he was the inaugural recipient of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT) Innovations in Plant Systematics Education Prize and this year he was recognized with the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors award for Excellence in Teaching (watch the video!).
2013 -Dr. Shona Ellis, Professor of Teaching and Associate Head of Biology, Botany Department, University of British Columbia (UBC). Shona has been faculty member in the Botany Department since 1994 teaching courses from Freshman Biology through upper division and graduate-level Plant Anatomy. She is active in the scholarship of teaching and learning with numerous publications and presentations both in basic botany (predominantly byrophytes and phytochemistry) and botanical education. She was twice awarded the Killam teaching award, UBC’s highest teaching commendation, as well as an award from the Society of Canadian Women in Science and Technology for her efforts promoting women in STEM. She has developed many on-line resources for her courses and for the general public (see http://www.botany.ubc.ca/bryophyte). In cooperation with the UBC Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth and the Science Centre for Learning and Teaching, she has developed an eportfolio project for students. As all good teachers, she leads by example - - see her eportfolio at: http://blogs.ubc.ca/shonaellis/.
2012 - Dr. Paul H. Williams, Professor emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Paul Williams developed a rapid cycling Brassica. This simple act changed the way science is taught in the United States and around the world. Today over 10 million students use Fast Plants, as they are also know, in any given year. Fast Plants complete their life cycle as quickly as 35 days allowing students to develop an understanding of the plant life cycle and track the results of genetic experiments. Dr. Williams is a familiar figure at conferences, leading workshops introducing teachers to inquiry-based , innovative and inexpensive ways to use Fast Plants with large lecture hall classes or small groups in classrooms. He has also a contributor to educational manuals such as "Exploring With Wisconsin Fast Plants," "Spiraling Through Life with Fast Plants," and "Bottle Biology". He has received many awards and honors including being recognized as a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and recipient of the Erikkson Medal from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 2012 - Drs. Les Hickock and Thomas R. Warne, University of Tennessee. Dr. Les Hickock and Dr. Thomas R. Warne collaborated on the development and genetics of the tropical fern Ceratopteris. They realized that this plant would make a powerful educational resource because of the rapid life cycle, the dynamics of sperm motility, and the potential of investigating density dependent changes in gametophyte development. They produced instructional materials to support inquiry education, such as an intriguing exploration of sperm chemotaxis. Today, Ceratopteris is distributed world-wide in K-16 classrooms through the C-Fern® program.
2011 -Dr. Susan Singer, Carleton College. Dr. Singer is the Laurence McKinley Gould Professor of the Natural Sciences at Carleton College. She has served as Co-director of the Carleton Interdisciplinary Science and Math Initiative as well as the Director of the Perlman Learning and Teaching Center. At the national level, Dr. Singer has served as a Program Director for the National Science Foundation and recently worked on the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s recent publication “Vision and Change”. This document is a call to action that is already impacting the future of biology teaching. Dr. Singer has received numerous grants, which have often resulted in publications including student authors. Her recent work as a member of the Education, Outreach, and Training Committee of the iPlant Collaborative epitomizes the national impact her actions have had on creating innovative and effective approaches to teaching botany.
2010 - Dr. Geoff Burrows, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga NSW, Australia. Dr. Burrows, Senior Lecturer in Plant Sciences, has been award the Charles Bessey Awards for his contribution to botanical education. Dr. Burrows has developed web-based resources for teaching leaf morphology, gynoecium morphology, floral symmetry, and floral formula. Additionally, he has been involved with extensive community outreach, including the creating of the popular Supermarket Botany web site. He has an extensive publication record, including four papers on botany education. Finally, Dr. Burrows integrates research with education by using his research findings to illustrate concepts in taxonomy, morphology, anatomy and ecology. The web-based resources are available at: http://www.csu.edu.au/herbarium/. 2010 -Dr. Chris Martine, State University of New York at Plattsburgh. Dr. Martine fostered the creation of the first student chapter of the Botanical Society of America. He is an active member of the Education Committee. He has successfully integrated undergraduate research into his department. His impact on SUNY – Plattsburgh can be summed up by the statement of his department Chairperson. “Dr. Martine has utterly transformed the teaching of botany at our school and vastly increased research and learning opportunities in botany for our students." Finally, Dr. Martine is extensively involved with community outreach. He has developed inspirational YouTube videos, including his "Chlorofilm" botanical education series, which teach children botanical principles in fun ways—check them out - http://botany.org/botany-without-borders.php!
2009 - Dr. Roger Hangarter is the Class of 1968 Chancellor's Professor in the Department of Biology at Indiana University. Although he is foremost a botanical researcher who studies how plants use light and gravity to regulate their growth and development, he recognizes the synergistic relationship between research and teaching. He is highly committed to, and has been highly successful at, communicating botany to public audiences. His Plants-In-Motion website provides a large collection of his own time-lapse plant movies and educational materials for teachers and students worldwide. He also develops visually compelling educational projects. His work is exhibited in US science museums as well as art galleries. Using time-lapse photography, Dr. Hangarter has created movies allowing us to see that plants are living organisms capable of some extraordinary things. His time-lapse movies provide a unique opportunity to demonstrate the dynamics of plant life. Professor Hangarter has shared his vision with the BSA at its annual meetings on several occasions—- including his most memorable delivery of the 2006 Educational Forum and Outreach plenary address entitled "Communicating an Awareness of Plants through Science and Art" at the Chico, CA meeting. In short, Dr. Roger P. Hangarter's significant and ever-evolving body of botany education work represents teaching innovation, documented national impact, attention to scientific quality, and a quest for public enlightenment.
2008 - Dr. Beverly Brown is an Associate Professor of Biology, at Nazareth College of Rochester, New York, and Immediate Past Chair of the Teaching Section of the Botanical Society of America. Dr. Brown was instrumental in the development of the BSA’s Planting Science project, providing the model for the project’s first activity, called “Planting Seeds.” The “Planting Seeds” project was based on her NSF Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) award to Nazareth College entitled, “Interdisciplinary Teaching: using the study of sprouts to teach mathematics and science at a liberal arts college.” Dr. Brown continues to serve the educational mission of BSA as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Planting Science project. In addition, she has been a long-time, active member of the Teaching Section of the BSA and has made several presentations related to the integration of her teaching and research, which includes the study of competition for pollination between invasive and native species.
Dr. Michael Pollan - Michael is a Knight Professor at the University of California--Berkeley and Director of the Knight Program for Science and Environmental Journalism there. Author of such best-selling books about plants as "The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World," "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals," and "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto," he has awakened a basic interest in plants as food like no other author in recent times. The New York Times Book Review sums up his approach like this: "Pollan has a wide-ranging intellect, an eager grasp of evolutionary biology, and a subversive streak that helps him to root out some wonderfully counterintuitive points. His prose both shimmers and snaps, and he has a knack for finding perfect quotes in the oddest places… Best of all, Pollan really loves plants." One of today's university science students commented: "When you read each of Pollan's books, you just can't stop until you reach the very last page, and then, you feel you must tell someone about all you've learned! Pollan proposes a new (yet very old) answer to the question of what we should eat: 'Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.'" With this award, the BSA wishes to recognize Dr. Pollan's carefully researched and far-reaching contributions to public awareness and understanding of plants via more than a dozen popular-press works.
2007 - Dr. Thomas Rost, University of California Davis - Tom is Assistant to the Director of International Programs, Professor Emeritus of Plant Biology, and Botanist Emeritus in the Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of California, Davis. He is recognized for his innovative and outstanding teaching in plant anatomy, including early and experimental adoption of technology in his classes. Tom has been active in the BSA Education Committee and in the Structural and Developmental Section. He has published over 140 scientific papers on root growth and development and other anatomical topics, and co-authored four books, including two general botany textbooks. Dr. Rost received the Davis Division Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award, which is the highest teaching award make by each UC campus.
2006 - Dr. W. Hardy Eshbaugh, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, Professor Emeritus, Department of Botany. The nomination letters indicate that Hardy has advanced and broadened botany education for several generations of Miami University students. He pioneered the development of field courses ranging from introductory level formal courses to public outreach for retirees. We thank him for his 33 years of formal teaching and his continuing efforts to bring additional understanding of the natural world to the public at large.
2005 - Dr. Donald Kaplan, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California. The nomination letters we received indicate that Donald has made a significant impact on the lives of many students whom he taught and supervised during his illustrious career. On behalf of his students and the Botanical Society of America, we are pleased to acknowledge Donald's passion and excellence in teaching botany. We thank him for his inspiration and dedication to our field, and we are proud to place his name on the list of Charles Edwin Bessey Award recipients.
2003 - Dr. Joseph Novak, University of West Florida, Pensacola. This award recognizes outstanding contributions to botanical instruction.
1999 - Dr. William Jensen, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. For taking the time to passionately teach botany to our next generation and for contributions far exceeding all expectations to the botanical sciences.
1998 - Dr. Joseph E. Armstrong, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois. Over the years, Joe has shared his passion for plants with thousands of students. In addition, BIOLAB, an electronic bulletin board, has become one of the most extensive collections of innovative laboratory activities that enhance student learning.
1997 - Dr. Marshall D. Sundberg, Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas. Dr. Sundberg is a botanist in the tradition of Charles Bessey, He balances botanical research with educational research and teaching.
1991 - Dr. Gordon Uno, University of Oklahoma. 1990 - Dr. Barbara W. Saigo and Dr. Roy H. Saigo, University of Northern Iowa. Both recipients have given tirelessly of themselves in furthering botanical instruction, including leadership roles in the BSA Teaching Section and Education Committee.
1989 - Dr. Samuel Noel Postlethwait, who, like Charles Bessey, is recognized both as a scholar and as a teacher. Professor Postlethwait has been an inspiration to his students and has done much in promoting the teaching of botany during his tenure in the Biology Department at Purdue University, particularly in developing the audio-tutorial method of instruction. His enthusiasm for teaching and spirit of scholarly activity infects his students, who, in the spirit of Charles Bessey, continue to inspire others in the field of botany.
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