Conner among small cohort of 2022 Outstanding Faculty Award honorees

Jeffrey K. Conner, professor of plant biology in Michigan State University’s College of Natural Science, resident faculty researcher at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, and former interim director at KBS, has been honored with a 2022 William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award.

The all-university award, which recognizes faculty for comprehensive and sustained records of scholarly excellence in research or creative activities, instruction and outreach, is given to no more than 10 individuals each year. Nominations for the award are based on teaching; advising; research; publications; art exhibitions; concert performances; committee work; public service including extension, outreach and work with government agencies and industry; or a combination of these activities.

The first recipient of the William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award—called the Distinguished Faculty Award until 2013-14—was honored in 1952.

Jeffrey K. Conner

Conner is an internationally recognized expert in plant ecology and evolution, specifically the role of natural selection on species adaptation in a changing or variable environment, the speed of evolutionary change in natural populations, and the various constraints on the course or outcomes of evolution. Additionally, Conner has performed seminal work on the role of floral traits on fitness in wild radish, an agricultural weed; and on milkweed, host plant of the iconic monarch butterfly. He has also studied the impact of herbivory on the interactions of plants with their pollinators.

Conner has 90 publications, including a premiere textbook on ecological genetics, A Primer of Ecological Genetics. He has held editorships at eight journals, reviewed manuscripts for more than 30 journals, and served on multiple national and international grant review panels.

Conner is an exceptional professional guide, with 24 graduate students and postdoctoral research associates mentored in his lab, along with more than 200 undergraduates; 25 of these undergraduates were from underrepresented minority groups and seven of these 25 now hold a Ph.D. in a STEM field. Dr. Conner has served on 47 graduate committees. The College of Natural Science has recognized the excellence of Conner’s mentoring with its Outstanding Graduate Advisor Award in 2003 and its Junior Faculty Mentoring Award in 2018. The college awarded him its Outstanding Faculty Award in 2021.

Dedicated to students and the broader academic community

Conner’s commitment to helping students learn is evident in his textbook, which contains, according to one of his colleagues, the best explanation of the mathematical and statistical approaches used in ecological genetics available. Another colleague drew attention to his “clear introduction to foundational principles in evolution [that] serves to illustrate his ability to communicate complex topics concisely [and] with clarity.”

Conner is dedicated to helping his academic community and has served as interim director of the Kellogg Biological Station, has been a member of numerous department and college advisory committees, and has served on many faculty search committees. He has served the greater scientific community through leadership positions in the Ecological Society of America and as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also is president-elect of the American Society of Naturalists; his term as ASN president begins in 2023.

Read the original article, published in MSU Today.

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