UCO-Biology Department Newsletter Vol. 3 Issue 2, Spring 2000
Update on activities and accomplishments toward the building of the Selman Living Laboratory (SLL).
As was discussed in Volume 2, issue 1, Fall 1998 of Bioluminescence, a grant from the Oklahoma State Department of Tourism and Recreation and a donation of 320 acres has allowed UCO to obtain the Selman Cave System and the surrounding land for an outdoor lab and field station. Since that time Dr. William Caire has been working towards the construction of the field station. The following are a few of his accomplishments toward that goal.
The SLL has obtained $44,000 (grant + matching funds) to establish
astronomy facilities at the site. A 12" Telescope, 9’ observatory
dome, computer and a video projector have been ordered. Oklahoma City University
has allowed the transfer of a 12’ observatory dome to the SLL and the Leonardo
Center in Enid is donating a 32-cm reflecting telescope to the site. This means
that there will be two telescopes on site. To get the 12’ observatory dome
to the SLL, Evans Electric of OKC provided free transportation and The Oklahoma
Department of Transportation provided a free oversize permit for the move. Dr.
Steve Maier and his physics club students at Northwestern Oklahoma State University
are developing some astronomy programs and instruction manuals for the use of
the telescopes. Dr. Maier is also working on obtaining donations of concrete
for the observatory dome pads.
The Woodward County Rural Water District has offered the SLL a 50,000-gal water tower and representatives from Evans Electric are working on a way to move the water tower. It will cost about $20,000 to bring it up to standards, but this is better that the $100 000 required to buy a new tower.
Partnerships are being established with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for education programs and wildlife preservation projects at the SLL. The ODWC was instrumental in Northwest Electric donating ten telephone poles, the time, and trucks to move the poles to the SLL. The telephone poles will be used to build bridges. Personnel from Alabaster Caverns have agreed to help with this project, but more help will be needed. The ODWC is also arranging for the SLL to use one of their trucks (high mileage) on an annual basis.
A donation of $500 by Mrs. Doris Selman and a matched amount by the UCO Foundation has resulted in the money needed to erect a nice entrance gate to the SLL. A design has been drafted. Mrs. Betty Selman has paid for a surveyor to stake off additional land she donated for the astronomy observatory and other facilities. We are in the process of getting that land deeded over to the university.
Collaboration between the SLL and the Oklahoma City Grotto has resulted in a preliminary map of the Selman Cave System and Scott Christenson of the U.S. Geological Service is donating his time and their computers to continue to update the grotto map with the aerial photo of the SLL.
Graduate student projects from the UCO Biology Department continue to use the site of the SLL for data collection, and close to 200 species of plants have now been documented to be present on the site. The SLL is now an official member of the Organization of Biological Field Stations in North America and the Nature Conservancy has been approached about listing the SLL on the Oklahoma Natural Areas Registry.
Several grant proposals have been written seeking funds for education, research, and lodging buildings. Proposals for nature trails and formal biotic inventories are also in the works. Dr. Caire has worked very hard to make the Selmen Living Lab a reality. We wish to thank all the people who have donated their time and money. If you would like to help us build bridges, make nature trails, or donate time for other project, please contact Dr. William Caire (wcaire@ucok.edu) or donations for the development of the Selman Living Lab can be made to the UCO foundation. Make your check payable to UCO Foundation and be sure to designate the Selman Living Lab.
This May, Dr. Harrison made his final walk in graduation procession. As a faculty member I have seen him lead the graduating biology students to their position for 11 years as the Chairman of Biology; for the past four years he has been on the platform as the Assistant Dean. When I think back of the years that Terry was Chair of the Biology Department, I think most of change. Terry wanted the Biology Department to be the best department in the state. He was instrumental in putting in the biology core program. He was the strength behind the master’s program and the individual who led the department towards being an active research department. I personally owe much to Terry. I believe it was his guidance and energy that helped create my loyalties to UCO and made me a much better faculty member. (Dr. Jenna Hellack, editor)
By Dr. William Caire
"Here, smell this bat. What do you think it smells like? Wild grapes?" I still wonder today what Terry must have thought when we went to the field together when I first arrived at UCO. It was a trip to Lake Tenkiller and I was checking a cave for endangered species of bats. The only bat I found was a small eastern pipistrelle that always smelled like wild grapes to me. I knew he was a botanist so I was curious about what he would say. Needless to say, he did not say wild grapes. I can still see the expression on his face when I shoved the bat toward his nose. That was over 20 years ago. One day about ten years later, he called me into the microbiology lab and before I knew it he had shoved a petri dish up to my nose and was quizzing me. "What does that smell like to you?" Yeah! ---It smelled just like wild grapes. That was when we both realized that the unique odors I was using to ID bats within caves were probably due to the bacteria on their skins. Later this idea led to Donna Zanowiak's masters thesis under Terry's direction--- External Bacteria on Myotis velifer, the Cave Bat.
After completing a B.S. at East Central State University in Ada, Terry did his Master's work under the direction of Dr. George Goodman at OU. Anyone who ever met George Goodman, one of the most outstanding and respected classical plant taxonomists in Oklahoma, will understand where Terry developed some of his attention to detail and his love of botany.
I first met Terry at North Texas State University when he was working on his Ph.D. in botany. His dissertation involved the vegetation of the Cross-Timbers regions of Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas. After I left North Texas, I did not see Terry again until I was interviewing for a position here at UCO in 1976. As I sat in Howell Hall waiting to visit with a professor, Terry came bustling around the corner with his typical hurried but determined gait and I remember both of us looking at each other in a surprised way. We spent several minutes amusingly reflecting on the unusual professors we had shared at North Texas. Little did we realize that we had joined that cadre of "unusual" professors! I remember our hiring several graduate students to help us search for mole crickets along a highway for the Department of Transportation. I remember him ending up in the emergency room after a cave I took him to "bit" him on the leg. He even spent time in buffalo wallows. Yes, I think all biology professors eventually join the "club" of unusuality but isn't it fun for all of us who have done it. Moreover, all these stories from his field experiences have helped make his teaching interesting to students.
He served the Department as Chairman for eleven years and then the College as Assistant Dean for four years. Terry above all was and still is an excellent teacher. His twenty-seven years at UCO began in 1967, the same year that Bob Bogenshutz, Kent Wilson and Peggy Guthrie also started teaching in the Biology Department. In 1968, he was drafted into the Army and spent his time in the service doing physiological research. After the Army he completed his Ph.D., taught for a year at Cameron University in Lawton, and returned to UCO in 1974 where he taught a variety of different classes through the years: General Biology, Botany, Plant Ecology, Introduction to Biological Research, Microbiology, Plant Taxonomy. I have always been convinced that his heart is in teaching. He genuinely cared about bettering education at UCO and worked hard at trying to improve it at all levels. Why else would he have served on so many committees (Ha).
All through these years, Terry and his wife Carol raised two fine boys, Andy and Brad. They have now made Carol and Terry grandparents. Therefore, I guess if there ever was a good reason to retire, then it would have to be for having more time for the grandchildren. But Terry really isn't retiring. That would be very hard to imagine--his leaving teaching completely. Terry will be back with us as an adjunct. The teaching will now be even more fun with no more committee work. Terry will have more time to smell the roses, or should I say the bats! I will not have to say goodbye to a friend.
In this section we spotlight two of our full-time faculty. This spring we want you to meet Dr. Troy Baird who joined the UCO faculty in 1989, and Ms Geneen Lannom who joined the UCO faculty in 1998.
I was born and raised in the Southern California suburbs, east of Los Angeles in the shadows of the San Bernardino Mountains. My father, John, is a Southern California native. He has a degree in photography from Arts Center College in Los Angeles. My mother, Shirley, was raised in the Sacramento River delta, and was attending the University of California, Berkeley, when she met my father. After they were married, my parents moved to New York for two years where Dad worked as an assistant for Philippe Halsman taking pictures of politicians and celebrities such as then senator JFK, and Liz Taylor. They then returned to California, and Dad went to work for General Dynamics as one of a team of photographers that shot pictures of the test flights of the early experimental rocket aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base. Mom returned to college when I was seven to earn her bachelors and masters degrees and a teaching credential. She then taught the first grade for 20 years in my hometown of Pomona. I have an older sister, Kathy who is a nurse in Phoenix, and a younger brother, Stacy, who is a geologist in Southern California. My parents instilled in us from my earliest memory the great value of education, self-motivation, and hard work. I had a rich childhood, filled with family trips where we always learned
After graduating Pomona H.S. I went off to college in San Diego, first to the University of California and then to San Diego State University. At SDSU, I majored in Zoology, learned to scuba dive and take pictures underwater, worked as a volunteer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography Aquarium Museum and the Department of Herpetology of the San Diego Natural History Museum. These were all early experiences that piqued my interest in becoming a scientist. While at SDSU I also fell in love with the TA of my physiological psychology class. Teresa and I were married two years later, and she will have tolerated me for 21 years this August!! We both graduated SDSU in 1978, Teresa with a degree in psychology, me in zoology. I then entered the masters program at SDSU where I studied anti-predatory behavior in the aquatic African clawed frogs that had been introduced into Southern California. While studying for my masters, I worked for an environmental firm studying the effects of the San Onofre nuclear generating station on California marine fishes, doing a wide variety of laboratory and fieldwork. I finished my masters degree in 1980 and then for the next two years was employed as a research tech doing EM and light histology in the Neuroscience Department at the UCSD medical school while Teresa completed her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology. During those two years, after work I would rush to the Physiological Research Lab at Scripps Institution of Oceanography where one of my faculty advisors at SDSU, Jeff Graham, had recently taken a faculty position. Jeff was responsible for "throwing gasoline" on my early spark for research, writing, and publication. In the beginning, I thought that I was just helping with experiments on the physiology and behavior of air-breathing fishes. One day Jeff told me to go home and write down what we had been doing to begin a Methods section for a paper. I went home and did just that, with great excitement. Two days later I brought Jeff a Methods section, hand written, of course. We promptly sat down and rewrote it. I was amazed at how Jeff took what I had written, deleted half of the words, rearranged those remaining, and made it say so much more. That was my first lesson in writing for publication. By the time we were finished, there were three Graham & Baird air-breathing papers, and I had also published one from my masters thesis. From that time onward, I was hooked on becoming a research scientist, and began looking for a Ph.D. program.
I decided to go to the University of Houston because they had a marine science program and a new "hot-shot" ecologist (lets call him Steven) working on the behavior of sex-changing coral reef fishes. We separated from our families in California (one of the hardest things we’ve ever done) and moved to Galveston Texas where the UH Marine Science Program was located. Steve had great plans for a research program on reef fishes in the Central American country of Belize (formerly British Honduras). Unfortunately for him, he never got it off the ground, and along the way alienated so many people that he was headed for a negative tenure decision. Preemptively, however, Steve quit in the middle of the night, and left. I learned all of this after the fact because I was already on Log Cay, Glover’s Reef, 40 miles off the southern coast of Belize conducting field studies on fishes. We had been there working for about 3 months when some students and a professor, Robin Liley, from the University of British Columbia came out to the island on the supply boat. Robin had traveled through Galveston on the way, staying with Hoffman. For several months it seems that they had been planning collaborative studies on the hormonal basis of sex change in reef fishes. Upon meeting me, Robin explained that Steve wanted me to "show them the ropes on the reef", and would join us in two weeks. Robin also delivered to me a letter from Hoffman, in which Steve wrote that he had quit his position at UH and could no longer serve as my advisor. He never explained where he was headed, but it was clear that he was not coming to Glovers and was not going to collaborate with Robin. After a couple of days, I showed Robin the letter. As unsettling as it was to lose my advisor, that was also the beginning of my association with Robin Liley, who soon agreed to take me on as a Ph.D. student at the University of British Columbia.
That is how we came to move to UBC in Vancouver, where I completed my Ph.D. For my doctoral research, Teresa and I spent two more five-month stays at Glovers Reef, studying sand tilefish and razorfish while living on a small coral cay covered with palm trees, iguanas, and hermit crabs. We logged thousands of hours in the water collecting data on these interesting fishes, and have published several papers about them. During our time in Belize, we lived emersed in a wondrous natural environment where each day revealed something fascinating. It was also extremely hard work, both physically and mentally. The living conditions were very primitive. There were never more than a dozen other people on the island. We had only hurricane lanterns for light, well water for washing, and we spearfished every day to feed ourselves. We survived shark attack, food and water shortages, and being stranded with no way off the island. We lived along side and came to know and love the native Belizeans who always treated us like family. Our time in Belize was a defining experience in our lives that taught us self-reliance and total trust of one another.
From Vancouver, we moved to the Oregon Coast. I accepted a "post-doctoral" research position at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport Oregon which is a NOAA laboratory with strong ties to Oregon State University. There I studied the reproductive biology of walleye pollock which is a commercially important species (fish & chips) that the U.S. government agencies throw oodles of money toward researching. Frankly, it was the best-funded research that I’ve ever been involved with, but also the least interesting. We lived outside of a very small town (1,500 people) named Waldport, practically on the beach. Don’t get too excited though. Sure it was beautiful, but it’s also very cold!! If you fall in the drink, you die of hypothermia in five minutes.
I returned to UBC to defend my doctoral thesis in 1989, and then started looking for faculty positions, hopefully someplace warmer. We moved to Edmond in July 1989 to begin my new position as the behavioral ecologist/ herpetologist in the Department of Biology. I quickly discovered a passion for teaching, especially when I can convey my own excitement for doing science to beginning students. In Oklahoma I was fortunate to find locally a new study organism, the eastern collared lizard, with which to establish a program of field behavioral studies. Now ten years into it, our work on collared lizards has produced numerous papers, successful masters’ projects for Chris Sloan and Dusti Timanus, the on-going masters research of Drew Schwartz, and fruitful collaboration with John Hranitz, Paul Stone, and colleagues at OSU. Teresa has also found great success working as a child psychologist for the Oklahoma State Department of Health. She has served as the director of the Edmond Child Guidance Center, has implemented several innovative family support programs, and served as a member of the crisis response teams to both the Oklahoma City bombing and the tornadoes of last spring. Work aside, we both have many interests that keep us going non-stop. Teresa plays competitive tennis at the 4.5 level, and I play in basketball tournaments of "old guys". We stay very close to our families making frequent trips to California and Arizona to remain current with the busy lives of our 10 nieces and nephews, and our young grandniece and nephew. We are passionate football fans as one nephew, Johnny McWilliams, played tight end for three years for the USC Trojans, four years for the NFL Arizona Cardinals, and is now testing the free agent market and will sign with another team soon. We continue to satisfy our love of the tropics by making diving and photography trips to various locales, including Maui, Mexico, and several places in the Caribbean, most recently the island of Bonaire. I look forward to many more interesting and productive years at UCO, doing what I love to do: teaching and doing science.
I grew up in Houston and was raised as a "big-city" girl. I developed an interest in biology after deer hunting with my father at the age of 10. He allowed me to help him field dress a buck and when I didn’t recoil and retreat as had my mother; he pointed out the internal structures including a ruminant digestive system. I found it completely fascinating and was hooked! I went off to Texas Tech University with the idea of studying Pre-Vet Medicine but changed to Range and Wildlife Management. I was one of only a few female students in a college (Agriculture) with no female faculty. Before graduation I completed the requirements for a broad field science teaching certificate to add to my BS in Range and Wildlife Management. I finished in 1975 as my husband was finishing a second Bachelor’s degree.
My first teaching assignment was in a junior high school in Odessa, Texas where I learned quickly to either "sink or swim" as a teacher. The students had little interest in becoming educated. To say it was a challenging first year for a teacher would be an understatement. We moved to Midland where I taught 9th Physical Science and 8th grade Earth Science for a total of 12 years with two short "breaks" when both of my children were born. Five of those years were spent teaching the introductory level classes of students with a wide variety of educational challenges. Some were learning disabled, some had chronic absenteeism with major family problems and some were straight from Mexico and spoke no English.
In 1991, I decided to pursue a master’s degree in Biology from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. I was able to teach General Biology labs as an adjunct while working on my research in the field of Retinal Biology. I worked closely with Dr. Don Allen whose research included the retinal physiology of albino rainbow trout obtained from a hatchery in Utah. My research was done on the Red Shiner, a minnow found in a pond right on the UTPB campus. I did a study on the temperature effects on the minnow’s rod outer segment length and visual sensitivity. This involved one group of fish obtained at different seasons when the temperature of the pond varied and another group of fish brought into the lab and kept at different temperatures. I finished my master’s thesis in 1995 and continued as a full time lecturer at UTPB. Besides General Biology I and II, I taught Human Physiology, Invertebrate Zoology and biology based nutrition course called Contemporary Human Health.
My husband, Robert, was transferred to Oklahoma City in the summer of 1998. I came to UCO and found the Biology department in need of someone to coordinate and teach General Biology lab sections. The position was made full time for the fall of 1999. I teach one lecture section and three lab sections as well as carrying out the duties and responsibilities of General Biology Lab Coordinator.
Marisa, my daughter, stayed in Texas where she attends Angelo State University and is studying nursing. My son, Cody, is 14 and attends Edmond North High School. We were hesitant and unsure about moving after so many years in West Texas but we have found the area rich in beautiful scenery and full of friendly people who have made us feel so welcome in Oklahoma.
Barthell, J. F., Robin W. Thorp, A. M. Wenner, and J.M. Randall. 2000. Yellow star-thistle, gumplant, and feral honeybees on Santa Cruz Island: A case of invaders assisting invaders. Pages 269-273. In D.R. Browne, K.L. Mitchell and H.W. Chaney (eds.), Fifth California Islands Symposium. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, California.
Bass, D. 2000. Freshwater invertebrates In D. Robinson (ed.). Natural History of Nevis Nevis Historical and Conservation Society, Ithaca Press, New York.
Bidlack, J. E., J. E. Vaughan, and C. L. Dewald. 1999. Forage quality of 10 eastern gamagrass [Tripsacum dactyloides (L.) L.] genotypes. J. Range Manage. 52: 661-665.
Cross, K.M. and J. M. Hranitz. 2000. Bufo americanus (American toad) endoparasite. Herpetological Review 31: 39.
Hranitz, J. M. and T.A. Baird. 2000. Effective population size and genetic structure in a population of collared lizards, Crotaphytus collaris, in central Oklahoma. Copeia. 2000: 786-791.
Guzmõn, G., and C.L. Ovrebo. 2000. New observations on sclerodermataceous fungi. Mycologia 92 (1): 174-179.
Peterson, C.C. and P.A. Stone. 2000. Physiological capacity for estivation of the Sonoran mud turtle, Kinosternon sonoriense. Copeia 2000 (3). 684-700.
Thorp, R.W., A. M. Wenner, and J.F. Barthell. 2000. Pollen and nectar resource overlap among bees on Santa Cruz Island. Pages 261-268. In D.R. Browne, K.L. Mitchell and H.W. Chaney (eds.), Fifth California Islands Symposium. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, California.
Wenner, A.M., R.W. Thorp and J.F. Barthell. 2000. Removal of European honeybees from Santa Cruz Island ecosystem. Pages 256-260. In D.R. Browne, K.L. Mitchell and H.W. Chaney (eds.), Fifth California Islands Symposium. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, California.
Baird, T.A., Hews, D.K., Timanus*, D.K. and Abell, A.J. A test of the relative plasticity hypothesis in territorial and nonterritorial male collared lizards. 47th Annual Meeting Southwestern Association of Naturalists, Denton, TX. April 2000.
Bass, D. Freshwater macroinvertebrates of Montserrat. North American Benthological Society Annual Meeting. May 2000.
Bidlack, J. E., S.C. Rao, R. D. Williams*, D. Elmendorf, M. Sung*, and V. Barabash*. Weed control in pigeon peas. 52nd Annual Meeting Southern Weed Science Society. January 1999.
Michael S. Foster* and David L. Elmendorf. Aerobic heterotrophic bacteria from Gothite, a heavy metal contaminated waste residue. 15th Annual International Conference on Contaminated Soils and Water. University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA. October 1999.
Hranitz, J.M. Size-biased, female mate choice in a population of the American toad infected by a trematode. Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology, January 2000.
Ovrebo, C. L. The Agaricales of Barro Colorado Island Panama. Poster. Symposium on Tropical Mycology, British Mycological Society, Liverpool, England, April 2000.
Ovrebo, C.L. and Brian P. Akers. An interesting Lepiotoid fungus from Costa Rica. Poster. Symposium on Tropical Mycology, British Mycological Society, Liverpool, England, April 2000.
* Student or former student at UCO. UCO biology faculty in bold.
James Bidlack was recognized with an honorary membership in the Mortar Board National Senior Honor Society March 21, 2000.
The University of Central Oklahoma has a new incentive program to support faculty in their creative and research efforts. Award recipients from the Department of Biology were Drs. Troy Baird, John Barthell, Jim Bidlack, William Caire, Dennis Frisby, Peggy Guthrie, and John Hranitz.Faculty professional activity:
Dr. Bass has begun a two-year term (starting January 2000) as President of the Oklahoma Academy of Science. He also went on a collecting
trip to St. Kitts and Nevis (Caribbean islands) in January 2000. He was collecting aquatic invertebrates from freshwater streams and ponds.
During Spring Break, Dr. Bass took his Marine Biology Class on a trip to the Texas Coast. Dr. Bass, Dr. Hellack and Mr. Marvin Mays along with 17 students traveled to the Big Thicket and Port Aransas area in Texas.
Drs., John Barthell, and Troy Baird, John Hranitz, and Paul Stone along with graduate students Angela Reap* Amy Estep* Drew Schwartz* and one undergraduate student Paige Hill* went to the 47th Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Association of Naturalists, Denton, TX. April 2000. They presented papers (see student and faculty presentations).
Dr. David Elmendorf along with graduate student Jay Hua*, and undergraduate student Alan DeArman* attended the Annual meeting of the Missouri Valley Branch of the American Society for Microbiology. Kansas City, MO. May 2000. Dr. Elmendorf judged student presentations at the meeting.
Dr. David Elmendorf, Haruki Marks*, Allan DeArman*, and Emmi Hise* attended the 100th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, Los Angeles, CA. May 2000. They presented Posters (see student and faculty presentations).
Dr. David Elmendorf and Alan DeArman* attended Research Day, Oklahoma State Capitol, Oklahoma City, OK. April 2000. (See student and faculty presentations).
Dr. David Elmendorf attended the 15th Annual International Conference on Contaminated Soils and Water. Amherst, MA. October 1999 (See student and faculty presentations for poster).
Dr. Jenna Hellack attended the 41st Annual Drosophila Research Conference held in Pittsburgh, Penn. She traveled with Dr. James N. Thompson Jr. from the Department of Zoology, University of Oklahoma. She and Dr. Thompson are editors of the journal Drosophila Information Service.
Dr. Clark Ovrebo attended the Symposium on Tropical Mycology, British Mycological Society, Liverpool, England held in April 2000. He presented two posters (see faculty presentations). He collected fungi on Barro Colorado Island, Panama through the month of May 2000.
Dr. Reginald O. Hocker died December 21, 1999 of complications due to Alzheimer’s disease. The following was written by his son James R. Hocker.
Dr. Reginald O. Hocker – From Farm-boy to Professor
Dr. Reginald Hocker began as a CSU (now UCO) faculty member in 1956. Dr. Hocker graduated from University High School in Norman, Oklahoma. He attended the University of Oklahoma in Norman and obtained his BS and MS in Botany. He later earned his Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. He served in WWII at New Guinea and was part of the Philippines liberation force. His reserve unit was called to action during the Cuban Missile crisis and for the return of POWs from Vietnam.
Teaching at CSU was his first "real" job. He was always excited to see the realization of understanding as it appeared on the faces of his students. He always believed a sound education begins with an instructor who was interested in his subject.: "Students shouldn’t just memorize information to achieve a specific grade, they should be able to understand scientific principles and apply them to everyday life."
Dr. Hocker was always fascinated by the biology and science applications of everyday life, from anthropology to jewelry making. His children grew up in a world where there was always an answer to any question they could ask. Their father always knew some fact about any subject or, he would help them find information to satisfy their questions. Dr. Hocker always managed to march to the beat of his own drummer and lived a life of moral expectations. He lived and worked for his family and supported any endeavor which would further their education in life. The only expectations for his children were of moral correctness and that life should follow a path leading toward self-sufficient happiness and accomplishments.
Dr. Hocker retired and faced a difficult struggle in the late 1980’s as the caregiver to his wife who suffered from Alzheimers. In the most recent years Dr. Hocker also developed the disease and was provided care by his children. Dr. Hocker remained a man of simple composure and needs. His love and fascination with life, and living things, never diminished even as Alzheimer’s slowly progressed. He died due to complications of Alzheimer’s disease on December 21, 1999.
Pre-med./ Health Profession Club
The University of Central Oklahoma’s Pre-Med/Health Professions Club has served the students of UCO for 9 years. The membership this year consists of over sixty students. The club meets the first and third Tuesday of each month. Meetings are designed to bring speakers in to benefit the students in their future careers in medicine. At the beginning of the fall semester each year OU and OSU Medical Schools send representatives to speak to the students. The meetings provide students with information on education requirements, volunteer experience needed, and the specifics on the application process required by medical schools. We had many wonderful speakers come this year. One of the most memorable speakers was a DO intern who was serving at St. Anthony Hospital. He spoke many words of wisdom to our students as he told them of his trials and joys of making it into medical school and staying motivated. The other speakers who came ranged from podiatrists, dentists, Sabolich, Cleveland Chiropractic, Physician’s Assistant School, and OSU Vet. School. The members of the Pre-Med Club were also able to attend tours to OU and OSU Medical Schools.
Members are also active in the area of volunteer work at various hospitals and around the community. This year the Pre-med/Health professions club joined with the College of Mathematics and Science in their first Career Fair, open to all UCO students. The club participated in the annual President’s Christmas Party, and hosted five children. Fifteen members participated in this event. The Club sponsored a two weekend review courses for the MCAT, DAT, and GRE. UCO faculty reviewed the students, and Kaplan gave a practice exam. The club ended the year with a bake sale at the Earth Day Festivities. The money raised went to the Audobon Society.
The Pre-med/Health Professions Club elected their officers for the School year 2000-2001. They are:
Chris Cook*- President, Ben Lowry*- Vice President, Christina Mason* - Secretary, and Chris Lowrey*- Treasurer.
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University of Oklahoma |
Oklahoma State University |
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| Dustin Baker | James Elliot | Steven Finley | Terry Moslander |
| Visal Pok | Katherine Medina-Moxley | Robin Lewis | Dan Rogers |
| Dan Rogers | Terry Moslander | Kacey Wallace | |
| James Miller | Mirela Dujmovie’-Carter | ||
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University of Oklahoma |
Midwestern: Arizona COM Kirksville-COM MO |
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| Pete Moore | Nathan Shaphard | Kecia Smette | |
| Lindsay Smith | Jeff Broermann | ||
| David Miller | Elis Paparisto |
St. Anthony Summer Pre-Med. intern Program |
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| Britt Billins | Christopher Cook | ||
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OUHSC College of Dentistry |
George Washington University |
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| Tiffany Gonzalez | Brooke McNair | Monica V. Gonzales | |
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University of Minnesota, Duluth Campus |
UCO Medical Technology Program Clinical Year |
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| Jeffrey Morris | Salena Cox | Carrie Kopesesky | |
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OUHSC Physician’s Associate Program |
OSU College of Veterinary Medicine |
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| Cynthia Chtay | Joanna Hart | Brian Jones | |
| Joanna Hart | Chris James | ||
| Julie Kitchen | Joni Ammons |
Pediatric Oncology Education Program S. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital,Memphis, TN |
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OU College of Pharmacy |
Maria Shue | ||
| Kelsey Martens | Kendra McConnell | ||
| Gretchen Williams | Kristin Williams |
UT at Dallas, Dept of Chemistry, Graduate School |
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| David A Davis | Brian Mitchell | Ming-Hui Yang | |
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Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine |
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| Michael de Gregorio | |||
DeArman*, A.M., E.F. Hise*, J.E. Bidlack, and D.L. Elmendorf. Poster. Humic acid as a soil amendment and its effects on soil microbial populations. 100th General meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, Los Angeles, CA May 2000.
DeArman*, A.M. and D.L. Elmendorf. Poster. Humic acid as a soil amendment. Research Day, Oklahoma State Capitol, Oklahoma City. April 2000.
Estep, A.D*. and J.M. Hranitz. Population genetic structure of the cricket frog, Acris crepitans. Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology, January 2000.
Estep, A.D*. and J.M. Hranitz. Variation in wariness of Oklahoma cricket frogs. 47th Annual Meeting Southwestern Association of Naturalists, Denton, TX. April 2000.
Mark*, H. and D.L. Elmendorf. Poster. Lead tolerance in aerobic, heterotrophic bacteria isolated from a heavy metal contaminated waste. 100th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, Los Angeles, CA. May 2000.
Reap*, A. L., J.F. Barthell, and J.M. Hranitz. Low genetic diversity of the solitary wasp, Trypoxylon tridentatum. 47th Annual Meeting Southwestern Association of Naturalists, Denton, TX. April 2000.
Schwartz*, A.M. and T.A. Baird. Preliminary studies on the role of experience in the territorial behavior of adult male collared lizards, 47th Annual Meeting Southwestern Association of Naturalists, Denton, TX. April 2000.
Annual departmental awards
Julie Kitchen* was named the Outstanding Graduating Biology Senior. Julie graduated in May with a Biology degree. She has been accepted into the OUHSC Physician’s Associate Program. She was President of the Pre-Med./Health Professions Club this year. Julie was also named the Outstanding Graduating Senior from the College of Mathematics and Science.
Tina Wilkerson* was named the Outstanding Biology Education Graduating Senior. Tina did her student teaching at Summit Middle School in Edmond. She has maintained a 4.0 GPA while at UCO. She hopes to find a teaching position near Edmond.
Dusti Timanus* is the Outstanding Biology Graduate Student. Dusti completed the MS in Biology this past December earning a perfect 4.0 GPA in her course work. She has published three papers, given numerous presentations at local, state and national meetings. Her area of concentration is lizard behavior.
Tevi Meek* received the Ethel Derrick Zoology Award. Tevi is a member of the UCO varsity Basketball Team, and is sophomore biology major with a 4.0 GPA. Her career goal is to be a physician’s assistant.
Paige Hill * was given the Lothar Hornuff Field Biology Award. Paige plans to either enter graduate school in the fall or become a member of the Peace Corps. Paige had been doing research on the ecology of freshwater turtles. She has presented her research at the Oklahoma Academy of Science, the Regional Universities Research Day (She was selected as the outstanding Poster from a UCO student) and the Council for Undergraduate Research Posters on the Hill, in Washington, D.C.
President’s Partners Spring Award Banquet
Lindsay Smith * and Chris Cook* received Kirkpatrick Service Awards of $500 each.
Chris Cook* and Julie Kitchen* received Rothbaum Academic Awards of $500 each.
Brixey, David (BS 1997) and Jennie (Smart) Brixey (BS 1997). David and Jennie live in Galveston Texas where David is in his second year of teaching 7th grade science. Jennie is currently in her second year of graduate school at The University of Houston-Clearlake in Environmental Science. Her thesis research is on a 1000-acre coastal prairie. The research is funded by a grant from U.S. Fish and Wildlife. She is doing a vegetation analysis for the beginning of a seven-year study on how to restore coastal prairie. David and Jennie met in Dr. Bidlack’s Plant Physiology class and married one year later on the beach in Galveston Texas.
Dobry, Chris (BS 1996). He is in his fourth year at Barry University School of Pediatric Medicine, FL. He has started his first externship month in Long Island New York. Things are going well. He likes the hospital and the people, but not the cost of living.
Elmer, Aaron (BS 1994, MS 1997). Aaron has passed his written comprehensive examinations required for a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology at Washington State University.
Husky, Paula (Dills) (a former student). Paula who lives in Davenport, Iowa is applying to Ultrasound School.
Lacy, Ken (BS 1985). Ken is a Major in the United States Air Force. He is an F-16 Instructor Pilot at Luke Air Force Base AZ.
Meek, Casey (BS 1995, MS 1997). Casey has for the second year in a row won a third place poster award in cotton physiology at the Beltwide Cotton Conference. The meeting was held in January in San Antonio Texas. Casey has received the 1999-2000 Spooner Scholar Award from the Agronomy Department at the University of Arkansas. She will use her award to visit scientists working on water relations at Utah State University.
Neller, Eric (BS 1999). Eric is working in research at the OUHSC. He plans to marry Corey Smith (UCO grad in political Science) this summer. Corey is in her first year of law school. They plan to live in Moore OK after their marriage.
Olson, Dr. Paul (BS 1989, MS 1993). Paul completed his doctorate degree in Botany at the University of Oklahoma in January 2000. He is currently a post-doctoral student at the University of Colorado at Fort Collins, Colorado.
Padgett-McCue (Sabolich), Amy (BS 1996). Amy is working in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department at the OU Health Sciences Center. She works for Dr. Paul DeAngelis on the Pasturella multocida gene. The lab is interested in Hyaluronan and its’ synthesis in cell membranes. She recently sequenced the gene. Amy married John McCue in May of last year. John is a pilot for American Eagle Airlines and is a certified flight instructor. Amy received her pilot certification in October of 1998 and is working on instrument, commercial and multi-engine licenses. Her daughter Caity loves to go flying with them.
Stafford, Bruce (a former student) has a DO degree from OSU and will join the family practice residency program at the University of Oklahoma in Tulsa. This will be a three year program.
Sung, Mei-Chen (MS 1999). Mei-Chen has been awarded a teaching and research assistantship in the Environmental Engineering Program at Oklahoma State University.
Swink, Travis (BS 1992). Travis is a second year resident in Family Medicine at Great Plains Family Practice. Travis has a four-year-old son Winston. His wife Sharon Swink is self-employed as a Corporate Coach.
Thompson (Clark), Laura (BS 1999). Laura is working for CH2 Hill Environmental Company, Del City, OK.
Bioluminescence is now a part of the Biology Department web site. Back issues are easily accessed at http://204.154.117.95/biodream/bionewletter-1.html.
You can get a mailing of the newsletter by contacting any of the following: Dr. Peggy Guthrie (pguthrie@ucok.edu), Dr. Jenna Hellack (jhellack@ucok.edu), Dr. John Barthell (Jbarthell@ucok.edu), or the UCO Alumni Association (http: www.ucok.edu). We enjoy hearing from our former students and we would like to share your experiences with other alumni. This newsletter is printed and mailed by the UCO Alumni Association. We greatly appreciate their assistance.
Faculty grants
and awards
