Teacher of the Year 2003-2004
Name: Francis E. "Jack" Putz
Department: Botany
College: Liberal Arts & Sciences
Rank: Professor
Years at UF: 21
Year and Institution of Ph.D.: 1982 - Cornell University
Jack joined the UF faculty after teaching high school biology in Wisconsin, college-level biology in Malaysia (Peace Corps), and various undergraduate and community courses while doing his graduate work at Cornell. While at UF he was on the faculty of 12 courses offered by the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) in Costa Rica and taught field courses in Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. His teaching portfolio at UF has evolved over the past decades, but in addition to his regular courses in botany and ecology, he regularly team-teaches courses in the College of Law and the School of Forest Resources and Conservation. While maintaining an active conservation biology research program, he tries to remain current in teaching techniques. To a great extent, his approach to undergraduate instruction is reflected in the laboratory manuals he wrote for his undergraduate botany and plant ecology courses. His main graduate course, Ecosystems of Florida, is even more field-oriented, with field trips nearly every weekend during which students conduct independent mini-research projects on topics ranging from the plant biomechanics in spring runs to studies on fire ecology during controlled burns that the students help to manage.
