College of Education Professor Receives Award   

for Contributions to

Botanical Education

College of Education Professor James Wandersee (pictured left) was awarded the 2007 Charles Edwin Bessey Award by the Botanical Society of America. He received the award for lifetime contributions to botanical education at the Joint Congress on Plant Biology and Botany in Chicago in July. At the same conference, Wandersee organized a course on “Innovations in College Teaching” and presented two research papers.

During the last 40 years, Wandersee has improved life science teaching while conducting and publishing botanical education research for the past 25 years. He manages and studies three acres at LSU AgCenter’s Burden Research Center. He also developed a quarter-mile trail with 25 teaching stations for families who visit the Barton Arboretum. The trail has been modeled in all 50 states and parts of Europe and has been recognized for its teaching stewardship value. He is the 2006-09 elected Chair of the Teaching Section of the Botanical Society of America and a Lifetime Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in the Biological Sciences section.