GALVA, IL –Isaac Stewart, associate professor of biology at Black Hawk College, has been given the National Association of Biology Teachers award.
The two-year college award for the engaged teaching of biology is given to a faculty member who demonstrates the impact of their “professional commitment on a wider student population (beyond the students in their classroom).”
“My favorite irony is that I received notification of this award while out in the field leading a group of adventure field trip attendees exploring the biodiversity of my field sites where I conduct my insect survey research,” Stewart said.
“I think this exemplifies my view of teaching in that there is nothing more valuable than the immersive experience to help learners grow,” he said.
Stewart, an entomologist specializing in bumble bee diversity and decline in the United States, has taught at the East Campus since 2015.
He has worked with his biology students to study the bee population at Illiniwek Forest Preserve in Hampton, Ill., and supervised his students’ research at Green River Lowland preserve in Lee County, Ill. Since 2020, he and his students have conducted insect surveys at the preserve.
“Every field season yields new, fascinating versions of what the invertebrate world has to offer,” he said.
He gives community presentations about less well-known insect species that make valuable contributions to thriving ecosystems in some unusual ways.
Stewart also is a board member of the Illinois Audubon Society.
Stewart has always been fascinated with insects, exhausting every book his local library had on the creatures and seizing every opportunity to learn as much as possible. Growing up in Dixon, there also was no shortage of opportunities to work on prairie recreation efforts at Nachusa Grasslands and the Green River State Wildlife Area.
As a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Dept. of Entomology, he spent his undergraduate and graduate careers working on a variety of research projects focused on bumble bee diversity and decline across the United States.
