JOHN E. WARNOCK RESEARCH AWARD

John Warnock became a member of the WIU Biology Department in 1964 as an assistant professor, eventually becoming a full professor. Among his new duties was to take over the graduate students of Dr. Henry Sather, a biologist who had just been promoted as the first graduate dean at WIU. During John’s career, he mentored and guided 39 students to finish requirements for their master’s degrees, with some of these students going on to attain their Ph.D. degrees.
John went on field trips out west with grad students for his first several summers at Western. Eventually he became the Director of the Alice L. Kibbee Biological Field Station on the Mississippi River during the summers. Graduate students were enrolled in these classes, and as a part of his mentoring process, many of these grad students participated in the study of local areas, some of which became part of the nature conservancy holdings. Skills they learned during these studies introduced them to future job opportunities. Among the areas studied were the Ferster Woods, the Alice L. Kibbe Field Station, the Massasauga Prairie, and the Revis Hill Prarie. Some of these were taken into the Illinois Nature Conservancy.
In 1984, John received the prestigious Oakleaf Award from The Nature Conservancy as the driving force behind the protection of the Cedar Glen Eagle Roost. When he passed away in October 2017, the Warnock Family decided that setting up a fund for Biology graduate students with the WIU Foundation was what John would have wanted.

CRITERIA:
 Graduate student
 Biology major
 Research expenses relating to the student’s area of study within the department