Benke Selected as Blackmon-Moody Outstanding Professor at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Dr. Arthur C. Benke, a professor of biological sciences at The University of Alabama whose latest book has won national honors, is the winner of the University’s Blackmon-Moody Outstanding Professor Award.

Benke will be honored in a ceremony at the UA President’s Mansion Oct. 15.

This award is presented annually to a University of Alabama faculty member who is judged by a selection committee to have made extraordinary contributions that reflect credit on the individual, on his or her field of study, on students, and on the University.

“You have brought distinction and recognition to yourself and The University of Alabama in numerous ways,” wrote UA President Robert E. Witt in notifying Benke of the award. “You are a most deserving winner of the Blackmon-Moody Outstanding Professor Award.”

The honor was created by Frederick Moody Blackmon of Montgomery to honor the memory of his grandmother, Sarah McCorkle Moody of Tuscaloosa.

A freshwater ecologist in the College of Arts and Sciences, Benke has taught at UA for 22 years, and his “Rivers of North America,” which he co-edited with Dr. Colbert Cushing, won the 2005 Award for Excellence (Best Book in Geology and Geography) by the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers and was selected as one of the 30 “Best Reference 2005” by Library Journal.

The book, a 1,168-page comprehensive guide to North America’s rivers, details 218 of the continent’s rivers and promotes the stewardship of our fresh water. Published by Elsevier/Academic Press, with a foreword by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., president of Waterkeeper Alliance, “Rivers of North America” provides readers with a single source of information on North America’s major river basins.

Benke joined UA in 1984.

“Dr. Benke had a major role in building the graduate program in aquatic biology at The University of Alabama,” wrote Dr. Martha Powell, professor and chair of biological sciences, in a nomination in support of the award.

“He served as coordinator of the aquatic biology program for 16 years during which the aquatic faculty size roughly doubled, graduate student enrollment and degrees increased greatly, and grants/publications increased substantially,” Powell wrote. “His research on the ecology of streams, rivers and wetlands has had direct and practical impact, such as demonstrating that human modification of rivers, such as wood removal and channelization, can have devastating effects on the diversity and productivity of river ecosystems.”

Prior to coming to UA, Benke taught at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has published widely in scientific journals and books and has served on the editorial boards of the journals Ecology, Freshwater Biology and the Journal of North American Benthological Society, or NABS. He is also a past president of NABS.

Benke earned his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and his master’s and doctorate from the University of Georgia. He served on scientific advisory committees for American Rivers and the Kissimmee River Restoration Evaluation Program.

For more information on Benke’s latest book, see http://uanews.ua.edu/anews2005/oct05/river102405