San Diego State Ecologist Is Named to Aldo Leopold Chair

Joy Zedler, a biologist from San Diego State University, will join the faculty in spring 1998 as the Aldo Leopold Chair in Restoration Ecology, a new position that will build on the intellectual spirit and example of Leopold.

The new position was created last year as a joint pursuit of the botany department and the UW Arboretum to further Leopold’s extensive legacy. A former UW–Madison professor, Leopold founded the Department of Wildlife Management here and was a member of the first Arboretum committee. His work profoundly influenced 20th-century approaches to conservation.

Zedler, an expert on restoring wetland ecosystems, will pursue basic and applied research on restoration ecology. She will teach and train graduate students in the botany department while conducting a research program at the Arboretum. As the Leopold professor, she will serve as a campus-wide leader in teaching and research related to restoration ecology.

Zedler earned her Ph.D. from UW–Madison in botany in 1968. She has been a faculty member at SDSU since 1969, and also directed the university’s Coastal and Marine Institute and Pacific Estuarine Research Laboratory.

Joy’s husband, Paul Zedler, chairman of the ecology program area at San Diego State University, will also join the faculty as a tenured professor in the Institute for Environmental Studies and the Arboretum. A Wisconsin native, Zedler is a Ph.D. graduate of UW–Madison in 1968 and a former Arboretum botanist.

Paul Zedler is an expert in the study of extreme events and disturbances, such as fires, on natural systems. He also studies approaches preserving rare and endangered species.