History

History of Odum

2016

2016

Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases approved.
The Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases, housed in the Odum School, takes advantage of UGA’s strengths in disease ecology and computational ecology, bringing together faculty and students from across campus to tackle some of the most challenging problems in the global fight against infectious diseases.

2015

2015

A.B. degree in Ecology approved.

 

Students in the Bachelor of Arts program participate in a Maymester course that takes them across the state to learn about the environmental issues facing Georgia and meet the people working to solve them.

 

Ph.D. in Ecology with concentration in Infectious Diseases Across Scales approved.

2011

2011

Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Integrative Conservation approved, with participation from the Odum School of Ecology, the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, and the departments of anthropology and geography.
Rebeca de Jesus-Crespo was the first graduate of the ICON doctoral program, receiving her PhD in Integrative Conservation and Ecology in 2015. She worked with coffee farmers in Costa Rica to study the impacts on streams of the Rainforest Alliance’s Certification Program, which is intended to ensure environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

2008

2008

Ecology undergraduate minor established.

2007

2007

Institute of Ecology splits off from the College of Environment and Design and becomes the Odum School of Ecology, with John Gittleman serving as dean.

 

2006

2006-2007

Prof. Alan P. Covich serves as president of the Ecological Society of America.

2006

2006

John Gittleman becomes director of the Institute of Ecology.

2005

2005

River Basin Science and Policy Center renamed River Basin Center.

 

2003

2003

Alan Covich becomes director of the Institute of Ecology.

2002

2002

Eugene P. Odum dies on Aug. 10, at home in his garden.
Dr. Eugene Odum director emeritus of ecology at the University of Georgia. Photo taken 08/23/93. (University Communications / University of Georgia, Rick O’Quinn) 99.

2001

2001

Institute of Ecology merges with School of Environmental Design to form the College of Environment and Design with Jack Crowley as dean.

2000

2000

River Basin Science and Policy Center established.
The River Basin Science and Policy Center is established, led by Judy Meyer and James Kundell (pictured above).

1997

1997

Ron Carroll becomes director of the Institute of Ecology.

1996

1996

M.S. degree in Ecology approved.

1995

1995

The first Institute of Ecology Graduate Student Symposium is organized by Janice Sand, Liz Kramer, Bob Hall, and Anne Dix.
Professor Lawrence Pomeroy with the winners of the 1996 Graduate Student Symposium awards for best presentations. GSS was founded as an outlet for graduate students to give oral presentations in preparation for national and international meetings. After participants started winning presentation awards at national meetings, other academic units at the university soon followed suit by establishing their own student symposia. GSS has grown from a handful of presentations on rotary slide trays to two full days of talks by graduate students at all levels, an undergraduate poster session and a keynote address by a prominent alumnus/a.
B.S. degree in Ecology approved.

1994

1994-1995

Prof. Judy Meyer serves as president of the Ecological Society of America.

1994

1994

Gary Barrett becomes director of the Institute of Ecology.

Environmental Ethics Certificate Program established for undergraduate students.

1993

1993

Institute of Ecology becomes a degree-granting academic unit as part of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
UGA institutes the Environmental Literacy requirement for undergraduates.

1991

1991

M.S. in Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development degree program and certificate program approved

1991

1991-1992

Ronald Pulliam serves as president of the Ecological Society of America.

1987

1987

Eugene Odum and his brother H.T. receive the Crafoord Prize in Ecology from the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, Stockholm.
Ronald Pulliam becomes director of the Institute of Ecology.
Ron Pulliam, University of Georgia Institute of Ecology.

1985

1985

David C. Coleman delivers the first Odum Lecture.

1984

1984

Odum retires from the University of Georgia.
Frank Golley becomes director of the Institute of Ecology.

1983

1983

Environmental Ethics Certificate Program established for graduate students at UGA.

1980

1980

First course for an undergraduate interdisciplinary major in environmental studies approved.
The Coweeta research program becomes UGA’s first National Science Foundation Long-term Ecological Research site.

1977

1977

New wing added to Ecology building; Interior Secretary Cecil Andres speaks at dedication ceremony.
Interior Secretary Cecil Andres, Eugene Odum, UGA President Fred Davison and Frank Golley.
Interior Secretary Cecil Andres, Eugene Odum, UGA President Fred Davison and Frank Golley at the dedication ceremony for the new Ecology wing on Oct. 12, 1977. Photo provided by Odum librarian Terry Camp.

 

Odum receives the John and Alice Tyler Ecology Award and establishes the Ecology endowment with its proceeds.

1977

1976-1977

Frank Golley serves as president of the Ecological Society of America.

1975

1975

Odum and his brother H.T. receive the Prix de l’Institut de la Vie.
Odum is elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Scientists.
Dr. Eugene Odum presented the Pepperdine University Tyler Ecology Award by President Jimmy Carter.

1974

1974

Ecology building completed, funded by $1,000,000 National Science Foundation grant matched by state funds.

“The first building designed for the study of ecology in this country. Its purpose is to create an environment where research disciplines are encouraged to exchange ecological ideas and knowledge.” Morris Hall & Peter Norris, Arthitects.

1972

1972

First Ph.D. degree in ecology awarded at UGA.

1971

1971

Ecology Ph.D. program approved; administered by a cross-disciplinary “Faculty of Ecology.”

 

1970

1970

Odum is elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the first UGA faculty member to be so honored.
Institute of Ecology students hold a teach-in to celebrate the first Earth Day at UGA.

Georgia’s Coastal Marshlands Protection Act, is adopted, after Eugene Odum and Institute of Ecology students spearhead efforts to educate Georgians about the value of the state’s saltmarsh ecosystems.

1967

1967

Institute of Radiation Ecology becomes Institute of Ecology; Gene Odum is director, Frank Golley is executive director.
Institute of Ecology offices are originally located in the Rock House, also known as Lumpkin House.
UGA participation in research at the U.S.F.S. Coweeta Hydrological Research Laboratory in Otto, North Carolina, begins.
Ecology research at the Coweeta LTER includes studies of stream food webs, land use change, impacts of warming on species composition.

1965

1965

Odum serves as president of the Ecological Society of America.

1962

1962

On-site research station established at Savannah River Site with Frank Golley as director; later becomes Savannah River Ecology Laboratory.
First experimental mesocosm research conducted at HorseShoe Bend Experimental Research site in Athens.

 

1958

1958

The Institute of Radiation Ecology, based on research conducted at the Savannah River Site, is established at UGA.

1956

1956

Odum and his brother Howard T. Odum receive the Mercer Award from the Ecological Society of America for “Trophic Structure and Productivity of a Windward Coral Reef Community on Eniwetok Atoll.”
In 1956, The Georgia Mercer Award was given to both Eugene and Howard Odum for their paper “Trophic Structure and Productivity of a Windward Coral Reef Community on Eniwetok Atoll.” Dr. Howard T. Odum (right) receives the award from Dr. Logan Wilson (left).
President O.C. Aderhold (left), University of Georgia, presents Dr. Eugene P. Odum the George Mercer Award.

1953

1954

Odum establishes the Georgia Marine Biological Laboratory (later the UGA Marine Institute) on Sapelo Island, Georgia.
Above: Early staff of the Marine Biological Laboratory on Sapelo Island. Left to right: Lawrence Pomeroy, …, Eugene Odum, … Right: The Maine Institute building today.

1953

1953

Odum publishes Fundamentals of Ecology, the first ecology textbook. Fundamentals would go on to be published in more than a dozen languages and five editions, still in use today.

1951

1951

Odum begins ecological inventories at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina.
The staff of SREL, spring 1966. Back row, left to right: Jim Mayenschein, Jim Williams, Helen Morrisset, Robert Beyers, Dave Coleman, Carl Monk, Frank Golley, Ron Blessing, J.B. Gentry, Dick Wiegert. Front row: Sarah Collie, Ann Parrott, Fran Beverly, Ann Loyal.

1950

1950

Odum is named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

1948

1948

Odum’s suggestion that ecology be part of core curriculum in biology rejected by faculty “on the basis that the subject had no basic principles.” Odum begins writing Fundamentals of Ecology in response.

1940

1940

Odum is hired as an instructor in the department of zoology at the University of Georgia.
Besides his faculty duties, Eugene Odum served as the UGA tennis coach in the 1940s.

1939

1939-1940

Odum serves as the first resident naturalist at the Edmund Niles Huyck Preserve in Rensselaerville, New York.

1939

1939

Odum receives a Ph.D. in zoology with a major in ecology from the University of Illinois.

1936

1936

Odum receives an A.M. degree from the University of North Carolina in zoology.

1934

1934

Odum graduates from the University of North Carolina with an A.B. degree in zoology and minor in botany.
E. Odum and D. Forester, horseshoe doubles champions
E. Odum and D. Forester, horseshoe doubles champions, quaker Run State Park, Allegheny School Natural History, Summer 1933. Photo taken by A.A. Saunders.

1913

1913

Eugene Pleasants Odum is born on Sept. 17, 1913 in Newport, New Hampshire.

 

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