May 23-24, 2002

 

ITEM 115-2003-R0502��������������� Authorization to Confer the Title of Professor Emeritus of Fish and Wildlife Management upon Robert G. White; Montana State University-Bozeman���������������

 

THAT:� ������������������������������������ Robert G. White, Ph.D., Professor of Fish and Wildlife, merits the commendation of the Board of Regents of the Montana University System and has earned the title of Professor Emeritus of Fish and Wildlife Management in recognition of his excellent teaching and research throughout his career at Montana State University-Bozeman.

EXPLANATION:� ��������������������� Dr. White retired as Leader of the Montana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit and Adjunct Professor Fish and Wildlife Management on January 3, 2002, a position he held since June 1980.� He was promoted from Adjunct Associate Professor to Adjunct Professor on July 1, 1986.� During his tenure at MSU-Bozeman he taught graduate courses in Fisheries Management and Stream Ecology and assisted in numerous undergraduate classes.� He obtained over one million dollars in funding and supervised training and research of 41 M.S. and Ph.D. students who now occupy a variety of fisheries administrative and biologist positions throughout the United States.� He served as a member of the thesis committee of over 100 other graduate students and often represented the Graduate School on Ph.D. committees in other departments. He authored more than 60 refereed journal and technical publications.� He participated in numerous departmental and university committees.� For example, he was chair of the search committee for the tenure track fisheries management position in the Biology Department (now Ecology) and was appointed by the Vice President for Research to the University Water Committee.� He was appointed to the Governors Whirling Disease Science Task Force.� He had excellent working relationships with Grants and Contracts, the Graduate School, the office of the Vice President for Research, and the Biology/Ecology Department.�� He worked closely with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and testified before legislative committees and in-stream flow hearings on their behalf.� He was very active and respected in the fisheries profession.� In 1981, he served as President of the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society.� In 1985, he was elected into the officer ranks of the American Fisheries Society (AFS), and served as its President in 1989.� The AFS is the largest and oldest fisheries society in the world with a membership of approximately 11,000 from North America and throughout the world.� This is the highest professional rank attainable in the fisheries profession.� He served on dozens of AFS committees at the state, regional and society level.� He served as co-editor of the North American Journal of Fisheries Management.� He was the invited plenary speaker at many conferences, both in the United States and Internationally.� He served on departmental review committees for other universities and was often solicited for input into tenure review for fisheries faculty at other universities.