James (Jim) Utter is known for his studies of the behavioral ecology of birds, work with rare turtles, study of a rare woodland lily, and work with migratory birds in the Great Swamp, a watershed nestled in the Harlem Valley that covers more than 6,000 acres in New York's eastern Putnam and Dutchess counties as well as Sherman, Conn.

A native of Oneonta, N.Y., he earned his bachelor's degree in secondary science education at SUNY Oneonta and his PhD at Rutgers University. He became a founding faculty member at Purchase College in 1971, where he helped develop a program in the newly emerging field of environmental science. His teaching and research has focused on ecology, animal behavior, and conservation, with a primary emphasis on wetlands and their inhabitants.

Utter has promoted conservation education and action in the Great Swamp watershed for more than 20 years and has served as the chair of Friends of the Great Swamp (FrOGS) since 2001.

• Protecting the Hudson Valley's Great Swamp, Hudson Valley Magazine, August 2014
• 355 Acres Preserved in the Great Swamp, Poughkeepsie Journal, March 16, 2014
• Just Beyond New York's Suburbs, A Genuine Swamp, The New York Times, June 30, 2006
• Environment: Besieged Bayou, The New York Times, June 20, 2004

Professor Ehrman received her Bachelor of Science from Queens College, City University of New York, in 1956. She holds an MS (1957) and a PhD in genetics (1959) from Columbia University. While at Columbia, she studied with and worked in the lab of Theodosius Dobzhansky, the pioneering geneticist and evolutionary biologist. In 1989, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science by the City University of New York .

• Member of the faculty, Barnard College, 1956–1958.
• Postdoctoral fellow in genetics, Columbia University, 1959–1961.
• Member of the faculty, Purchase College, State University of New York, since 1970. Distinguished professor of biology since 1995.
• Member, special study section, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, 1979–1980.
• Visiting distinguished professor, University of Miami, Coral Gables, 1981.
  Visiting lecturer, University Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, 1987.
• Coordinator, panelist workshops, programs in field. Member panels, National Institutes of Health, since 2003.
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (Research Support award Merck/American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2001), Institute Society Ethics and Life Sciences.

Memberships

Member, American Association of University Women (life), American Society Naturalists (president 1990), Behavior Genetics Association (president 1978, Dobzhansky award for lifetime research 1988), Society for Study of Evolution (executive council 1986), Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi.

She is the co-author, with Stephanie McCann, of the Kaplan Medical Anatomy Flashcards (2009; second edition 2013) and Fetal Pig Coloring Book: A Laboratory Manual (2007).

Dr. Tillotson received her BS in biology from the University of Dubuque and her PhD in biochemistry from Michigan State University.