Mission & History
Chair
- Janet Rachlow (jrachlow@uidaho.edu)
Members
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History and Mission
The Joseph Grinnell Award was established by the Board of Directors in 1996 to honor individuals who have made outstanding and sustained contributions to education in mammalogy over a period of at least 10 years. The award recognizes excellence in education in the broadest sense. It encompasses not only the traditional roles of teaching undergraduate and graduate students in academic institutions, but also educational activities such as production of materials for federal, state, or local agencies, public education through creation of museum displays, and enhancement or encouragement of education through stewardship activities. Candidates may be nominated by colleagues, supervisors, students, or others familiar with their devotion to, and execution of, their educational activities.
2023 Joseph Grinnell Award Recipient
Each year the American Society of Mammalogists recognizes excellence in education with the Joseph Grinnell Award, which was established to honor individuals who have made outstanding and sustained contributions to education in mammalogy over a period of at least 10 years.
The 2023 Grinnell Awardee, Dr. Brian Arbogast, has been doing so for over 20 years. Dr. Arbogast is a Professor of Biology and Curator of Mammals in the Department of Biology and Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Dr. Arbogast’s nomination was supported by letters from former students who credit him for inspiring them to pursue careers in mammalogy and science. Traits like generosity, enthusiasm, compassion, collaboration, and career-long support for women and minorities in science are attributed to Dr. Arbogast by his students and colleagues.
In the past few years, Dr. Arbogast has received numerous awards, including two prestigious teaching awards – one that is the highest teaching honor at his home university (2019 UNC Wilmington Distinguished Teaching Professorship Award) and one that is the highest honor in the University of North Carolina System (2022 UNC Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award). Dr. Arbogast also has been instrumental in establishing a research station in Ecuador, WildSumaco Biological Station, which creates opportunities to collaboratively advance conservation and education in the science of mammalogy and tropical ecology for local scientists and students, as well as those from the US. The station will undoubtedly continue to inspire generations of mammalogists.
Congratulations and thanks to Dr. Brian Arbogast!
Photo courtesy of Brian Arbogast.
Streaming Presentations
ASM Members can log into the Business Office site and stream presentations from past winners!
Past Awardees
Click here for past recipients of the Joseph Grinnell Award.
To Nominate
Nominations for the Joseph Grinnell Award
The Joseph Grinnell award recognizes excellence in education in the broadest sense. It encompasses not only the traditional roles of teaching undergraduate and graduate students in academic institutions, but also educational activities such as production of materials for federal, state, or local agencies, public education through creation of museum displays, and enhancement or encouragement of education through stewardship activities.
Candidates may be nominated by colleagues, supervisors, students, or others familiar with their devotion to, and execution of, their educational activities. A letter of nomination, maximum length two pages, should detail the candidate's excellence in education in mammalogy and should elaborate the reasons why this individual should be considered for this award. The committee appreciates clear evidence of excellence in teaching or mentorship or the high quality of other educational products. Such evidence could include summaries of teaching evaluations, student comments, student success, or other assessments of the effectiveness of educational activities.
The letter of nomination, the candidate’s curriculum vita, and up to 4 additional letters of support should be sent to Janet Rachlow (jrachlow@uidaho.edu) by 15 March as a single PDF document. The recipient will be announced at the banquet of the annual meeting of the Society. Nominations are not retained from previous years.
Nominations should include a statement regarding adherence to the ASM Code of Professional Conduct. For example:
As a part of preparing this nomination, I have read and understood the American Society of Mammalogists' Code of Professional Conduct (here). To the best of my knowledge, the individual I am nominating exemplifies the high caliber of professional conduct that the ASM expects and promotes as required to be eligible for this award, as well as to retain this recognition should they be the award recipient.
Annual Reports
Recipients
JOSEPH GRINNELL AWARD for excellence in education in mammalogy
1990-1999
- 1997—B. Elizabeth Horner, Smith College
- 1998—James L. Patton, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley
- 1999—Philip Myers, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan
2000-2009
- 2000—Robert J. Baker, Texas Tech University
- 2001—Timothy E. Lawlor, Humboldt State University
- 2002—John B. Bowles, Central College, Pella, Iowa
- 2003—David J. Schmidly, Oklahoma State University, Texas Tech University, and Texas A&M University
- 2004—Norman A. Slade, University of Kansas
- 2005—Mark S. Hafner, Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University
- 2006—Jerry R. Choate, Fort Hays State University
- 2007—Peter D. Weigl, Wake Forest University
- 2008—R. Mark Brigham, University of Regina
- 2009—David M. Armstrong, University of Colorado
2010-2019
- 2010—Enrique P. Lessa, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Republica Montevideo, Uruguay
- 2011—George A. Feldhamer, Southern Illinois University
- 2012—James H. Brown, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
- 2013—Ricardo Ojeda, CONICET (the Argentine national research agency), Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Aridas, Centro Científico Tecnológico
- 2014—Troy Best, Auburn University
- 2015—Robert C. Dowler, Angelo State University
- 2016—Joseph A. Cook, University of New Mexico
- 2017—Robert M. Timm, University of Kansas
- 2018—M. Denise Dearing, University of Utah
- 2019—Donald Kaufman, Kansas State University
2020+
- 2020—Tad Theimer, Northern Arizona University
- 2021—Deedra McClearn, Organization for Tropical Studies
- 2022—Robert Swihart, Purdue University
- 2023—Brian Arbogast, University of North Carolina Wilmington
- 2024—Matina Kalcounis-Rueppell, University of Alberta