Nelson receives P.A. Mack Award

Nelson is no stranger to accolades. In 2000, he was named one of four “U.S. Professors of the Year” from a field of 500 outstanding faculty members nationwide by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in evolution and ecology, several interdisciplinary courses, including part of a three course liberal-arts cluster called “Knowing, Knowledge and Their Limits: Literature, Psychology and Biology” and a graduate course on “Alternative Approaches to Teaching College Biology.” He also has been a consulting editor for College Teaching and conducted NSF-funded Evolution and the Nature of Science Institutes for high school biology teachers to aid teachers in fostering higher-level critical thinking skills in their students.