This page highlights some of my service activities during my tenure at Loyola University.  A complete listing of my service can be found at the link (CRTC Vita).  Here for simiplicity, I have categorized my service highlights under 4 areas:  Department, Advising, Sponsored Lectures, and Regional Expert.
 

DEPARTMENT.

Chair

I was chair of the Department of Biological Sciences from 1988 - 1992.  This period was a transition period for the Department and sometimes a
difficult political time.  Much changed for what I see as for the better.

I oversaw the upgrade of the much of teaching and research infrastructure in the Department.  A good portion of this effort was to simply create the climate for the talents of the Department faculty to surface.  This included adding modern cell and molecular biology, restructuring the core curriculum, as well as overseeing the addition of new upper level courses, bringing in $250,000+ in teaching and research instrumentation, initiating new faculty hires, soliciting the first ever adjunct appointments to the Department, encouraging the first ever sabbatical stay in the Department, and encouraging further 'outside-the-box' thinking by the faculty.  During my tenure as chair, the Department became more vibrant and much more visible to the regional community of university biology educators and researchers.  Today, we are deeply committed to maintaining this solid foundation.

None of this is to imply that the Department of Biological Sciences had not functioned before my time as chair.  We were and still are highly grounded in Jesuit tradition.  We are proud of our past graduates and our past commitment to undergraduate research.  We are especially proud of the number of medical doctors and other health professionals who received their education in biology at Loyola.

Other

I have committed a lot of energy and time to numerous other activities involving Departmental development and support.  These range from serving on numerous permanent and ad hoc committees, coordinating seminars, purchasing and maintaining vehicles and a boat, among many others.
 

ADVISING.

Loyola University is committed to the undergradaute student.  Student advising is a major service activity each faculty member at the University ought to take seriously.  I do.  On average, I have from 25 - 30 student advisees most of whom are assigned to me, but occasionally students request me as their advisor.  My office door is always open for 3 - 4 hours per week during regular office hours, and I am available by appointment.  I do take pride in my advising.

I have a strong philosophy towards advising.  I make a special effort to educate the student about taking responsibility themselves.  With each student, I state that the relationship we have is one of advice.  Each student is free to make choices.  My advice comes from knowledge from years of experience.  The student can take the advice or not.

In addition to pure academic 'advising', I write annually between 15 and 25 letters of evaluation/recommendation.  These letters help students get the job they want, get into Medical School, get into graduate school, get a research scholarship or fellowship, get a volunteer appointment, and even get university or outside grants.  I have a great success rate in letter writing, but most of the success comes from the good students learned and inherited abilities.
 

SPONSORED LECTURES.

During the second half of my tenure at Loyola, I have continued to push for University excellence beyond just my Department.  This has particularly manifested itself in two highly visible lectures I have overseen and the highest administration has financially supported.

(1) Dr. Jared Diamond of UCLA visited the campus during May, 1997 to give two public lectures.  Co-incidentally a new book of his, Guns, Germs, and Steel, had just come out, and so he had a well attended book signing on campus, too.  The following Fall his book won the Pulitzer Prize for Science Writing!

(2) Dr. Paul Ehrlich of Stanford visited the campus during November, 2000 to speak on his newly released book, Human Natures. His public lecture drew an overflow crowd to the University and it received rave reviews.

While visiting New Orleans, both of these internationally known scholars interacted with our students and the regional community of university educators.  With the help of several very knowledgeable people, I also had the great pleasure of guiding both men into the natural environs of southeastern Louisiana. They both got to see what a fine place Loyola University is.  Also, their visits spoke volumes to the regional community about the University's place in scholarship, place in research, and place committed to students.

In addition to these visitors, I have been an outspoken advocate of the need for visiting lecturers to my Department.  This encouragement has born fruit.  Today, the Department of Biological Sciences (1) has a regionally recognized biweekly research seminar series, and (2) is building an endowed fund for support of speakers.
 

REGIONAL EXPERT.

During my tenure at Loyola University I have been willing to give of myself to help the cause of biological science.  This effort has been at very different levels and spanned a very wide range of activities.  Some of the highlights are:
    (1) leading expert witness for two days in federal court to stop the planned dredging of the Pearl River basin
    (2) regional field leader and expert for the visit of the International Association of Vegetation Scientists
    (3) organized the field trip (12 in total) component for the Association of Southeastern Biologists annual meeting in New Orleans
    (4) consultant for the Louisiana Nature Conservancy on their environmental inventory and assessment of the Pearl River ecosystem
    (5) consulted by personnel at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park on park revegetation issues
    (6) contracted for 3 annual cycles of CWPPRA (Coastal Wetland Policy & Protection Restoration Act) State funding for wetland restoration
    (7) 5 year member of the science advisory board for the Crosby
Arboretum of Picayune, Mississippi
    (8) regional guide and expert for a group of preeminent Japanese
ecologists conducting a survey of the vegetation of North America
    (9) repeat judge for the State High School Science Fair
  (10) organizing field trips (22 total) for the annual 2003 meeting of the Society of Wetland Scientists meeting to be held in New Orleans in June.
 

Finally, again please consult my CRTC vita for other Service activities that especially include significant department, college, and university level committments.