Grinnell Award

Chair

Members

  • George A. Feldhamer
  • Jennifer Frey
  • Deedra McClearn
  • Bret S. Pasch
  • Katie Stanchak
  • Rebecca Terry
  • Tad Theimer
  • Robert M. Timm
  • Patrick Zollner

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.

2022 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 in the broadest sense.

The 2022 recipient of the Joseph Grinnell Award, Dr. Rob Swihart, is a Professor of Wildlife Ecology in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University, a position he has held since 1991.  His research has focused on the ecology of forest-dwelling mammals, advancing fundamental ecological understanding and contributing to conservation and management of wildlife in human-dominated landscapes. 

Dr. Swihart’s mentoring is renowned in our field!  He has mentored 32 graduate students, 60 undergraduate researchers, and 13 post docs, and many of his former students are leaders in mammalogy and active members of the American Society of Mammalogists.

Dr. Swihart has received numerous awards for outstanding teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.  Throughout his career, Dr. Swihart has worked to develop and refine his teaching and mentoring skills, and support justice, diversity and equity in science and society.  His nomination was supported by letters from colleagues, former graduate students, and current undergraduate students, all of whom reflected on a caring mentor and a skilled and enthusiastic teacher of mammalogy and statistics, among other subjects.  A consistent theme that emerged from the letters was Dr. Swihart’s willingness to take time to create respectful relationships that foster confidence, scientific excellence, and personal development.  One undergraduate student wrote that “Every day, Dr. Swihart exhibits his passion for mammalogy.”

Congratulations and thank you to Dr. Rob Swihart!

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.

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.

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