DR. GARY L. STRINGER is the Mayme and Tom Scott Professorship in Teaching Excellence.

Stringer is a professor of geology and has served as a department head in both the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education and Human Development. His professional career began as a paleontologist for Exxon at their cooperate headquarters in Houston, Texas. Dr. Stringer has held a variety of positions in the scientific setting as well as in the educational profession. He has taught geology and science education at ULM for over 20 years and has served as a major advisor for numerous students at the doctoral and masters level.

Stringer's major research interests are and have been in the paleontological, archeological, and biological study of fish otoliths (earstones) and in the study of earth science curriculum, especially in the area of experiments, classroom activities, and field trips. Over 60 articles, chapters in books, CD-ROMs, and abstracts have been published on these topics. Publications include several articles in major journals such as Science, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Antiquity, Bulletins of American Paleontology, and Contributions to Tertiary and Quaternary Geology. Collaboration with international scientists on the study of fossil fishes has included paleontologists in England, Belgium, Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, the West Indies, and Russia.

Reviews have been completed for eight European science journals including Palaeovertebrata, Geobios, Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia, Canadian Journal of Earth Science, Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, and Bulletin Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique. In addition to publishing, over 65 professional presentations have been made in the area of paleontology and science education at numerous conferences and conventions at the international, national, regional, and state levels. In the last 15 years, he has obtained grants from 14 different funding agencies totaling over $2 million.

Stringer is very active in both professional and community service. He belongs to twenty professional societies including the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology; Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society; Geological Society of America, Tertiary Research Group; Paleontological Research Institution; and numerous science education groups such as the National Association of Geoscience Teachers and the National Earth Science Teachers Association. He has served as an officer in five professional organizations at the state and national level. At the local level, he has done hundreds of presentations for elementary and secondary schools on earth science topics such as rocks, minerals, archeology, fossils, and dinosaurs.

The Mayme and Tom Scott Professorship in Teaching Excellence endowment was established to encourage and reward excellence in teaching, learning and research at ULM.