OPS 3-2
Appalachian Springboard: ESA co-founder Victor Shelford and his undergraduate experience at West Virginia University
Since ESA’s founding, ecologists have been aware of their academic pedigrees and have linked these people-to-people interactions to the historical development of ecological theory and practice. However, this emphasis on people obscures the influence of place on ecologists. In this poster, we examine interactions of people, place and time using the career of Victor Shelford and his connection to West Virginia University (WVU).
Victor Shelford was co-founder and first president of ESA. He received graduate training under Henry Cowles at the University of Chicago, but his studies there were influenced by an earlier experience at West Virginia University (WVU) from 1899-1901. Shelford followed his uncle, William Rumsey, who had moved to WVU in 1893 to help set up a new agricultural research station. Shelford’s work attracted the attention of WVU’s president, Jerome Raymond, who was the first administrator of the university to emphasize the importance of undergraduate research. When Raymond was invited to the University of Chicago, he secured a scholarship for Shelford, which ultimately connected Shelford to Cowles and to the study of tiger beetles. Shelford also observed major natural resource extraction in West Virginia, and this may have influenced his later founding of The Nature Conservancy.
Results/Conclusions
This case study of Victor Shelford’s undergraduate studies at WVU helps expand our knowledge of one of American ecology’s most influential persons. We can see his interest in comparative morphology and ecology of insects and perhaps his passion for preservation coming from his days as an undergraduate. This study also clarifies links that can be charted between place, professor and student. Long after his work at Chicago, Shelford’s experiences at WVU continued to influence his development as a professional ecologist and preservationist.