Archived News | Return to News Center

February 17, 2012

ULM emeritus professor recognized by American Fisheries Society

University of Louisiana at Monroe Emeritus Professor of Biology Dr. Neil H. Douglas received the Outstanding Achievement Award of the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society in Biloxi, Miss.

Colleagues and former students from a wide variety of federal, state, and academic institutions supported Douglas' nomination for the award.

Douglas received the award for his half-century of contributions to southern ichthyology, as a field biologist, researcher, mentor, teacher, and curator.

Douglas is the author of "Freshwater Fishes of Louisiana" and founder/emeritus director of the ULM Museum of Zoology, which was renamed the Neil H. Douglas Collection of Fishes in his honor in 2010.

The Neil H. Douglas Collection of Fishes will commemorate its golden anniversary this year.

It was started in the summer of 1962 with field collections of fishes, reptiles and mammals made in Oklahoma by Douglas prior to beginning his appointment as a professor in the ULM Department of Biology.

The modest collection was initially used to teach courses in vertebrate biology, but grew over the years into a research collection of world renown.

Specimens were added from class field trips, student research projects, historic museum material, collaborative research with other agencies, and donations from other collectors.

The Douglas fish collection is now recognized as the largest regional fish collection in North America, and the third largest university-based fish collection in the world.

The collection is part of the ULM Museum of Natural History's vast holdings of invertebrate, vertebrate, geological, botanical, and Native American material.

Museum research collections and special exhibits, housed at Sandel Hall, are open daily to scientists and the general public.

More about The American Fisheries Society:

The American Fisheries Society is the world's largest and oldest organization of scientists dedicated to research, management and conservation of fishes.

The Southern Division of the AFS presents its Outstanding Achievement Award to individuals who have accomplished monumental works, imaginative and successful programs in fish conservation education, important faunal and ecological discoveries, and research beneficial to mankind.

PLEASE NOTE: Some links and e-mail addresses in these archived news stories may no longer work, and some content may include events which are no longer relevent, or reference individuals and/or organizations no longer associated with ULM.