Environmental studies director to retire

Professor Thomas M. Yuill, director of the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, will retire in late January.

A committee chaired by Professor Brent McCown has begun a national search for Yuill’s successor. A position description is available online at www.ohr.wisc.edu/. Applications and nominations are encouraged; they must be received by Nov. 30 to ensure consideration.

“It has been a real pleasure and privilege to have served as director for the past 10 years,” says Yuill. “This has been one of the most intellectually stimulating periods in my 34 years on the faculty.”

Under his guidance, the Nelson Institute launched exchange programs with universities in Canada, Mexico and several European countries, and broadened its research horizons through collaborative projects in North America, Latin America and Asia. Yuill also helped strengthen private giving, enabling the institute to create several endowed graduate fellowships, a named professorship and a multifaceted instruction/research/outreach program on sustainability.

He joined the faculty in 1968 as an assistant professor of veterinary science and wildlife ecology. An authority on viral and other infectious diseases in wildlife and domestic animals, he served 11 years as an associate dean in the School of Veterinary Medicine before his appointment as Nelson Institute director in 1993.

The Institute for Environmental Studies was created in 1970 to promote and enhance interdisciplinary environmental instruction, research and outreach. It was renamed last spring in honor of former Wisconsin governor and U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson, a lifelong champion of environmental stewardship and the founder of Earth Day.

Roughly 150 professors from more than 50 departments across campus are affiliated with the Nelson Institute, which administers several degree and certificate programs. The institute also houses three research centers and offers more than 100 courses in cooperation with the university’s schools and colleges.