This award is given annually by the Education Committee, in conjunction with the Teaching Section at the BSA Awards Ceremony. It recognizes outstanding contributions made to Botanical instruction. This award recognizes individuals whose work has improved the quality of botanical education at a regional, national, or international level. The ideal candidate’s application will demonstrate the following:  

• Enthusiasm for teaching botany
• Innovation in teaching that increases student and/or public interest in botany
• Innovation in teaching botany that increases the quality of botanical education
• BSA Membership 

Reviewing past recipients may be helpful in determining whether an individual is a good candidate for this award (see below).

The 2023 Award(s) will be presented at BOTANY 2023, in Boise, Idaho on July 26, 2023.

The selection of awardees is driven largely by nominations from the membership. A new online form here aims to make the process easier for students and early career people who want to nominate someone but might require help putting together a complete nomination packet. Please fill out the form by March 31, 2023 if you need assistance. Anyone may complete the online form, but it is not required.

Nominations should include:

1. A formal letter of nomination including a clear statement of
     a. The notable accomplishments of the candidate;
     b. Contributions made by the candidate and evidence of influence on the discipline or people;
2. Letters of support and evaluation regarding the nominee's candidacy from at least three referees (maximum of 5; at least one letter from a current or recent mentee is required), with complete contact information (postal address, phone and e-mail address); and
3. The lead nominator and each letter of support writer must each complete the Professional Conduct Disclosure Form;
4. The curriculum vita of the candidate being considered.

All nominated awardees must adhere to the BSA Guidelines for Professional Ethics and the Ethical Guidelines for Nominated Awards.

Past nominees who were not awarded in the previous year can be considered for one additional year if their nomination materials are complete and the lead nominator agrees.

All nominating materials must arrive no later than April 21, 2023.

Respectfully submitted for the Committee, Dr. Rachel Jabaily, Chair of Education Committee Dr. Kyra Krakos, Chair of the BSA Teaching Section Nominations and all required materials must be emailed as a .PDF file to bsa-manager@botany.org. Please include “2023 Bessey Award Nomination” in the subject line of your email(s).

For more information please contact:
BSA Bessey Award Committee c/o Executive Director
Botanical Society of America
4344 Shaw Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63110
E-mail: bsa-manager@botany.org
Phone: 314-577-9566

Award Recipients: 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2003 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1990 | 1989

Award Recipients

2022 - Dr. Stefanie (Steffi) Ickert-Bond (University of Alaska Museum of the North and University of Alaska Fairbanks) is a well-respected botanist with a passion for fieldwork, collections, and natural history, combined with skills in active learning and evidence-based pedagogy—as well as a conviction for offering equitable access to science learning. Long before the Covid pandemic hit, she created online courses that allowed students to participate in hands-on, two-way communicative learning from any location. In early March 2020, she offered her course "BIOL F195-F02; Introduction to Alaska’s Flora” to be made freely available on the “BotanyDepot” website, thereby offering a lifeline to botany educators around the world who suddenly found themselves scrambling to build virtual experiences and online resources to teach systematic botany, plant anatomy, and local floristic courses. The course materials are a series of short video modules, grouped into topics, plus additional reading materials and fun, creative activities that are designed to deepen students’ understanding of the concepts—and encourage them to go outside and explore the plants in their area. In the “Learning Glass” presentations, Dr. Ickert-Bond speaks to the camera while drawing, labeling, and describing aspects of plant form and structure. She guides the viewer through complex aspects by creating a basic foundation, a step-by-step pedagogical scaffolding—and then proceeds to add clear examples and visual explorations. She is continuing to build new course content, including for winter bud identification and for fundamentals of museum studies.

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.”

2021 - Dr. Beronda Montgomery (Michigan State University) is an outstanding scientist and one of the foremost ambassadors of Botany today. Not only has she made significant and lasting contributions to our understanding of determinants of cyanobacterial cell shape, signaling, and light dependent Physiology but she has also burst onto the scene as a public intellectual and authority on plant science and mentoring. With a huge Twitter following she engages and challenges us through sharing her science and research on pedagogy through social media, podcasts, online seminars, and special lectures both for her scientific colleagues and for the general public. Beronda is also one of the cofounders of #BlackBotanistsWeek.

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.

Dr. Montgomery has been described as a visionary, an outstanding educator, and an engaging source of inspiration by colleagues and students alike. Her transformative leadership encourages and enables others to become more deeply engaged in teacher-scholar outreach and training. As one of her nominators described, “Prof. Montgomery is a giant walking among us. Her scholarship around equity-engaged mentorship has awakened multiple generations of plant scientists of a pathway to do better. She has brought acclaim and welcome attention to plant science, and has forged a unique melding of her science, her advocacy and her teaching…. I can think of no one who better fits the criteria of the Bessey Award or who is more deserving of public recognition for her work on behalf of all of us.”

2020 - No Award Given in 2020

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.

2018 -Dr. Lena Struwe, Dr. Struwe clearly brings all of the qualities recognized by the Charles Edwin Bessey Teaching Award. Not only is she an outstanding plant systematist, but also an inspirational teacher and advocate for the field. She has reinvigorated the Botany program at Rutgers, including leading an active and growing herbarium, a campus flora project and dynamic and well-enrolled botany classes. She has worked extremely hard to create new techniques and methods to help students learn. She hosts a blog on botanical accuracy (botanicalaccuracy.com) that is recognized as one of the Top 50 Biology Blogs and most recently, she founded Botany Depot (botanydepot.com), a public website allowing botany educators around the world to exchange ideas and materials. Dr. Struwe is the first person that many reach out to as a resource for successful ideas and guidance for teaching Botany in the classroom. She has had a lasting influence on her students, colleagues and the public.

2017 -Dr. Phil Gibson, The 2017 recipient of the Bessey Award is Dr. Phil Gibson, of the Department of Microbiology & Plant Biology and the Department of Biology at the University of Oklahoma, clearly brings all of the qualities recognized by the Charlies Edwin Bessey Teaching Award: enthusiasm, innovation in teaching that increases student and/or public interest in botany, innovation in teaching botany that increases the quality of botanical education, and BSA Membership. Dr. Gibson's commitment to effective teaching began in graduate school where he developed a forest ecology summer field course because he recognized the critical importance of taking students into the field and providing research experiences. As a faculty member, Dr. Gibson's pioneering work with student engagement has expanded to include development of numerous case studies that use primary research to teach fundamentals, flipped classes complete with you-tube videos, and card games that teach phylogenetic concepts.

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. 

2014 -Dr. Bruce K. Kirchoff, Dr. Kirchoff has been on the faculty at(University of North Carolina, Greensboro since 1986 where he has distinguished himself as a plant morphologist and botanical educator. He is a former member of the BSA Education Committee and served as chair in 1993-94.  His botanical education research on image recognition is a direct outgrowth of his morphological studies. 

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://www.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.

Dr. James Wandersee, Louisiana State University - Jim is the LeBlanc Alumni Association professor in the College of Education at LSU, focusing on biological and botanical science education. He is currently the Chair of the Teaching Section of the BSA and has presented many papers and workshops in this section and in the BSA Educational Forum. He helped coin the phrase “plant blindness” which was part of a campaign to help teachers, students, and the general public overcome their inability to notice plants in their own environment, which leads to the inability to recognize the importance of plants in the biosphere and in human affairs. He is a prolific author, with over 100 publications and several books that have been translated into six languages. He was elected a fellow of AAAS, was an officer in the National Association of Biology Teachers, and is the director of the 15 Degree Laboratory, A Visual Cognition Research and Development Laboratory for Improving Biological and Botanical Learning.

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.

Dr. David W. Lee, Florida International University, Miami, Florida. Peer nominators wish to recognize life-long effort and creativity demonstrated by Dr. Lee teaching of botany and advocacy for botanical education. His unique career path began in 1970. It has included extensive research and teaching in the tropics, as well as academic positions in the United States. We thank him for sharing his love of botany and his desire to communicate about plants to students and the public in uniquely effective methods.

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.