Jeff Beck
Exemplary contributions in teaching and advising of range management students at the undergraduate level has netted a teaching award for a University of Wyoming wildlife habitat restoration ecologist.
Jeff Beck, UW Department of Ecosystem Science and Management assistant professor, received the Range Science Education Council’s Early Career Undergraduate Teaching Award at the recent 2013 Society for Range Management Honor and Student Awards Ceremony in Oklahoma City, Okla.
"It was an honor, absolutely an honor to be recognized by them," says Beck, who is in the UW College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. "It was also equally satisfying to earn the award because the person who won the career teaching award was one of my mentors, Karen Launchbaugh, professor of rangeland ecology and management at the University of Idaho. Right after I received my award, they announced hers.”
The Early Career Undergraduate Teaching Award is sponsored by the RSEC and SRM. The award is given to range science instructors who have taught less than 10 years.
John Tanaka, head of the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, nominated Beck.
“Jeff is a rare find in the academic ranks these days,” Tanaka says. “His course evaluations are on par with some of the best-experienced instructors that we have on our faculty, a few of which have received the RSEC Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award as well as the top University of Wyoming teaching awards.”
A native of Bountiful, Utah, Beck received a Ph.D. in forestry wildlife and range sciences from the University of Idaho and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in wildlife and rangeland resources from Brigham Young University.
He began at UW as a post-doctoral scientist in 2005 in the Department of Zoology and Physiology then joined the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management faculty in 2007.
