By Sharon Dowdy
University of
Georgia
University of Georgia entomologist Joseph McHugh was among the six UGA faculty members honored Tuesday, Oct. 7 in Athens, Ga., during the annual D.W. Brooks Lecture and Faculty Awards for Excellence ceremony.
Presented by the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the Brooks awards are in honor and memory of Gold Kist Inc. founder D.W. Brooks. A CAES alumnus, Brooks advised seven U.S. presidents on agriculture and trade issues. Although he died in 1999, his promotion of agriculture lives on through the Brooks awards.
McHugh received the D.W. Brooks Award for Excellence in Teaching. Other 2008 honorees include Kathy Baldwin, public service extension; Michael Strand, research; Jeanna Wilson, extension; Tim Williams, global programs; and Clifton Baile, distinguished professor.
A member of the UGA CAES teaching faculty since 1995, McHugh is active in the instructional activities of the department and currently chairs the Undergraduate Affairs Committee. He is faculty advisor to the H.O. Lund Entomology Club and departmental representative on the CAES Curriculum Committee.
McHugh teaches college level courses like insect taxonomy and principles of systematics. He has been the main advisor for 12 graduate students, served on the advisory committees for 35 additional students and has been an advisor or thesis reader for several honors program students. He also mentors undergraduate interns in his laboratory on the main UGA campus in Athens.
McHugh has been awarded the H. H. Ross Outstanding Teaching Award and is a three-time winner of the H. O. Lund Outstanding Faculty Award. In 2006, he won the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Southeastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America. In 2007, he was honored with the national ESA Distinguished Teaching Award.
In addition to his teaching responsibilities, McHugh has served professional societies in various roles. In 2000, he served as president of the UGA Chapter of Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society. In 2001, he chaired the Evolution, Systematics and Morphology Section of the Entomological Society of America. He has served on the editorial boards of the Thomas Say Monograph Series and the Journal of Entomological Science.
McHugh maintains an active research program on the systematics of Coleoptera (beetles). For the past two years, he has been the president of The Coleopterists Society.
His external funding history includes grants with significant instructional components. USDA funding allowed McHugh to develop the Virtual Roach Project, a new tool for teaching arthropod anatomy. The Cerylonid Series PEET Project, funded by the National Science Foundation, stimulates systematics research and develops taxonomic expertise on poorly known organisms. This is accomplished through the training of graduate and undergraduate students.
McHugh has produced 40 book chapters and refereed journal articles, many in collaboration with his students. In addition to his teaching and research accomplishments, he serves as curator of the Arthropod Collection at the Georgia Museum of Natural History.
(Sharon Dowdy is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)
