ESCI Faculty Receive Collegiate Honors
Every year the College of Science and Engineering awards eight different Collegiate Awards honoring professors who have excelled in teaching, research, or service. This year, two of those awards were received by Earth & Environmental Sciences Faculty. Professor Donna Whitney received the 2025 George W. Taylor Award, Leadership Award, and Professor David Fox received the 2025 George W. Taylor/CSE Alumni Society Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Professor Donna Whitney
Professor Whitney was given the Taylor Leadership Award for her extraordinary record of service that has played a critical role in enhancing all aspects of academic life for students, faculty and staff, both within and beyond, the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, CSE and the University more broadly. Her decade-long tenure as Head of the School of Earth Sciences was marked by transformative accomplishments with profound impact on our department and the wider scientific community.
One of her many notable achievements was the pivotal role she played in the renovation of Tate Hall, now our department's cutting-edge home. This state-of-the-art facility has significantly enhanced our research and teaching capabilities. The enormity of this task, which took place over a number of years, is difficult to accurately convey. Whitney participated in all aspects of this transformation, working tirelessly with architects, engineers, and perhaps the most difficult of all, the faculty, to see to it that our long-awaited space would meet all of our needs. To do this while maintaining excellence in teaching and research, and while simultaneously performing a multitude of other service-oriented tasks within the department, college and university, is a true feat, and a testament to her capabilities. More recently, Professor Whitney served as Vice President (2022-2023) and President (2023-2024) of the Mineralogical Society of America, enhancing, as she does, the reputation in research and service of this world-class professional organization.
Whitney's unwavering commitment to fostering an inclusive and diverse community within our department (both as Department Chair and faculty colleague) has created an environment where collaboration thrives, and all members feel valued. Under her guidance, the department's 7.12 statement was comprehensively revised and improved, ensuring our faculty evaluation processes remain current and aligned with the field's evolving needs. Moreover, her tireless work in establishing an External Advisory Committee has been enormously successful, enhancing communication between the department and the local professional Earth Science community, while better preparing students for careers in geotechnical industries. Her work with others to establish an Environmental Geoscience major has been an enormous success, for which she deserves great credit.
Professor David Fox
Professor David Fox received the Taylor Award for Distinguished Teaching in recognition of his profound contributions to education over his nearly 25 years in the department. David has developed and taught a number of new courses, which cover the evolution of life on earth (ESCI 1007 From Microbes to Mammoths (w/Bailey), 2202 Earth History, 4102W Vertebrate Paleontology, and 4103W Fossil Record & Evolution of Mammals. He regularly teaches courses in field geology (3890 Field Methods and 3911 Field Geology), which are central to any Earth & Environmental Science Program. Students describe David as: “engaging”, “passionate”, and “clear.” They laud his use of humor and storytelling to soften difficult concepts. They are excited to come to class and motivated to learn more.
David has also impacted education beyond his incredible contributions to formal classroom and field teaching. During his 7 years as Director of Undergraduate Studies, he oversaw the implementation of a new curriculum, instituted policies that improved advising of our undergraduates, instituted a career roundtable which has since evolved into a career fair, and instituted the writing component of our Writing Intensive courses. During his 5 years as Director of Graduate Studies, he instituted yearly graduate student reviews and standardized testing procedures. Fox has served ten years (and counting) as a member of the Council of Liberal Education, and notably co-wrote the “Race, Power, and Justice in the United States” theme designation now required of all University undergraduates. Beyond all of these contributions, Fox has mentored or co-mentored more than 40 graduate and undergraduate students.