Sharkey named director of cross-college biology program

Once a member of a campus committee that recommended an office for cross-campus biology programs, Thomas Sharkey now will lead that effort as director of the new Institute for Cross-College Biology Education.

In announcing the decision, Provost Peter Spear says, “I am confident that Tom will provide outstanding leadership and support in working with the schools and colleges to help improve the quality of cross-college undergraduate biology education.”

A proponent of improving undergraduate biology education since he arrived at UW–Madison in 1987, Sharkey, a botany professor, has worked with students, faculty, staff and administrators over the years to explore how the educational needs of students could be better met.

He has chaired a number of committees exploring curriculum issues in the biological sciences, ultimately resulting in the quadrupling of introductory biology courses, the biology advising office and the intercollege biology major, which Sharkey co-chaired until 2003. He also has co-chaired the Administrative Council for Academic Advising, chaired the University Committee and, for the last 11 years, has directed the Biotron — a research center that simulates different climate conditions.

“Tom has extensive experience with cross-college biology teaching and with shared governance on campus,” notes Spear. “He has a track record of accomplishment in catalyzing cross-college initiatives, such as the cross-college biology major, and he also is a highly respected scientist.”

But one of the jobs Sharkey says he has enjoyed the most is working with and advising undergraduate students. “The students who come here are some of the leaders of the next generation, and we need to do everything we can to catalyze their development,” he says.

With that goal in mind, Sharkey will lead ICBE, an administrative organization established last November to bring cross-college undergraduate biology programs under one roof to enhance students’ educational opportunities in the biological sciences.

In addition to coordinating and overseeing cross-campus biology courses and intercollege majors — all of which have no single departmental home — the institute will work with already existing programs, now brought together under the ICBE umbrella. This will provide academic assistance to students and to enhance curriculum development, instruction and outreach.

“The institute will really give a presence to undergraduate biology,” says Sharkey, who begins his directorship position June 1. “It will give students, staff and faculty a place to go or call when they have a question about biology on campus.”

Sharkey has years of involvement as a researcher, professor, admin-istrator, adviser and advocate of enhancing undergraduate biology education. He plans to continue working directly with students, because he believes much can be gained from their insight and participation in shaping academic policy.

Sharkey received his bachelor’s degree in general science (1974) and his doctoral degree in botany and plant pathology (1980) from Michigan State University. Before coming to UW–Madison, he served as the associate director of the Biological Sciences Center of the Desert Research Institute. As ICBE director, he succeeds Millard Susman, an emeritus professor of genetics who is the institute’s initial and interim director.