SOU’s Christianson honored as AAAS Fellow
NEWS BRIEF
(Ashland, Ore.) — Roger Christianson, an emeritus professor of biology at Southern Oregon University, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science – a prestigious honor that is bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.
He was recognized for his “exemplary service as the AAAS Pacific Division leader since 2002.” Christianson was originally elected to a three-year term as the Pacific Division’s executive director and has served in that role for the past 15 years.
“It has been an honor to represent SOU to AAAS members in the Western United States while serving as executive director of the Pacific Division,” he said. “I was truly humbled upon finding out that my name had been put forward for election to AAAS Fellow.
“I share this honor with all of my colleagues at SOU and trust that this reflects well on the quality of faculty, staff and programs at SOU.”
Christianson is one of 396 AAAS members nationwide who were honored this year as Fellows. He is one of just nine 2017 AAAS Fellows in Oregon, and the only one outside of the University of Oregon (with six) and Oregon State University (with two).
Christianson coordinated and taught in SOU’s General Biology Program for non-majors from 1980 until he took emeritus status (retirement from active teaching) in 2014. He served as chair of the Biology Department from 1996 to 2003.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in cellular and organismal biology, and his master’s degree and Ph.D. in biology, all from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science, which has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science publication. The AAAS was founded in 1848 and currently has more than 120,000 members.
Those who were named as Fellows this year will be presented official certificates and gold-and-blue rosette pins during the 2018 AAAS Annual Meeting on Feb. 17 in Austin, Texas. They will be formally announced in the AAAS News & Notes section of the Nov. 24 issue of the journal Science.
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