The Valdosta State University Department of Biology will present its 34th annual Clyde Eugene Connell Visiting Lecture Program at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 10, in the Jerry and Kay Jennett Lecture Hall, Room 1111. Admission is free of charge and open to the public.
 
Dr. Reed F. Noss will discuss his perspective on the competing value systems in modern conservation. He is a provost distinguished research professor and Davis-Shine professor of conservation biology at the University of Central Florida, president of the Florida Institute for Conservation Science, and elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
 
“In academia, the measure of your work is how much you publish and how often other people cite what you publish,” said Dr. Joshua S. Reece, assistant professor in the Department of Biology. “Dr. Noss is among the most elite scientists. His career has spanned more than 30 years of extremely high productivity. We at VSU are extremely lucky to be able to host such a renowned scientist.”
 
Noss earned a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Dayton in 1975, a Master of Science in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1979, and a Doctor of Philosophy in wildlife ecology and conservation from the University of Florida in 1988.
 
He served as president and a co-founding member of the Society for Conservation Biology from 1999 to 2011; president of the North America Regional Section of the Society for Conservation Biology from 2006 to 2008; editor-in-chief of the Society for Conservation Biology’s flagship journal, Conservation Biology, from 1993 to 1997; and vice chairman of the National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee. He has testified before the United States Congress on numerous occasions and served on many boards and advisory panels, including the Board of Governors of the Society for Conservation Biology, the Board of Trustees of the Florida chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Acquisition and Restoration Council.
 
The author of more than 300 publications and seven books, Noss is one of the top 500 most highly-cited authors of all disciplines worldwide. His eighth book, Fire Ecology of Florida and the Southeastern Coastal Plain, is currently in production.