Jackson Award

HARTLEY H. T. JACKSON AWARD for long and outstanding service to ASM

2024

The 2024 recipient of the Hartley H. T. Jackson award for service to the ASM is Dr. David G. Huckaby. Dr. Huckaby received his B.S. and M.S. degrees (1963, 1967) from Louisiana State University, and his Ph.D. (1973) from the University of Michigan. Since then, he has been on the faculty at California State University Long Beach, and a Research Associate in Mammalogy at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, California. His research interests and expertise focus on the systematics and taxonomy of mammals, particularly rodents. He has mentored six M.S. students at CSULB, four of whom later received a Ph.D. elsewhere. He retired fully in 2018, after 90 consecutive semesters of teaching, primarily mammalogy and vertebrate zoology.

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Dr. Huckaby has compiled some 47 committee-years of service for ASM and counting.  He works diligently and tirelessly on matters of importance to ASM and the science of mammalogy, but does not seek the spotlight to tout those accomplishments.  Dr. Huckaby is a long-standing member of the Nomenclature Committee and an active and highly valued member of the Biodiversity Committee.  But most of all, Dr. Huckaby’s name has become virtually synonymous with the ASM Mammal Images Library.

During Dr. Huckaby’s term as chair (2010 to present), the number of images in the Mammal Images Library has more than quadrupled, and the number of species included more than doubled.  But more important than just quantity, he has focused on quality: quality in terms of how well the image illustrates the focal species, of course, but also verifying the identification associated with each contributed slide, checking and maintaining accuracy of the taxonomy, closely aligning the library with the Mammal Diversity Database to include any changes or additions, and digitizing metadata.  The Mammal Image Library currently includes over 7,000 images of 2,300+ species, 930 genera, all orders, and all but two families, all meticulously vetted by the recipient, providing an invaluable resource for researchers and educators everywhere.

Dr. Huckaby has acted as both a committee member and a liaison linking the diversity database, nomenclature committee, and image library, providing a synergy that has benefitted all three.  For example, the recipient’s diligent curation of the Mammal Image Library has allowed a close harmonization with the Mammal Diversity Database, with cross-linkages between the two databases currently in the works. And the benefit of drawing in perspectives from the Nomenclature Committee when uncertainties arise in the MIL or MDD is obvious.

It is with great pleasure that ASM awards the 2024 Hartley H. T. Jackson Award to Dr. David G. Huckaby.  It is the dedication and professionality of members like Dr, Huckaby that keep ASM vital, evolving, and relevant.

1970-1979

• 1978—William B. Davis, Texas A&M University
• 1979—William H. Burt, University of Michigan

1980-1989

• 1980—Bryan P. Glass, Oklahoma State University
• 1981—No recipient
• 1982—No recipient
• 1983—J. Knox Jones, Jr., Texas Tech University
• 1984—Oliver P. Pearson, University of California, Berkeley
• 1985—Sydney Anderson, American Museum of Natural History
• 1986—Murray L. Johnson, Burke Memorial Washington State Museum
• 1987—Donald F. Hoffmeister, University of Illinois
• 1988—Karl F. Koopman, American Museum of Natural History
• 1989—No recipient

1990-1999

• 1990—Marie A. Lawrence, American Museum of Natural History
• 1991—John O. Whitaker, Jr., Indiana State University
• 1992—B. J. Verts, Oregon State University
• 1993—J. Mary Taylor, Cleveland Museum of Natural History
• 1994—Robert J. Baker, Texas Tech University
• 1995—James A. Lackey, State University of New York—Oswego
• 1996—Don E. Wilson, Smithsonian Institution
• 1997—Clyde Jones, Texas Tech University
• 1998—Gordon L. Kirkland, Jr., Shippensburg University
• 1999—Elmer C. Birney, Bell Museum of Natural History and University of Minnesota

2000-2009

• 2000—Richard W. Thorington, Jr., National Museum of Natural History
• 2001—Suzanne B. McLaren, Carnegie Museum of Natural History
• 2002—H. Duane Smith and Dahnelle Smith, Brigham Young University
• 2003—No recipient
• 2004—Hugh H. Genoways, University of Nebraska State Museum
• 2005—Alfred L. Gardner, U. S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
• 2006—David M. "Chip" Leslie, Jr., U. S. Geological Survey and Oklahoma State University
• 2007—Barbara H. Blake, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• 2008—Michael A. Mares, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and University of Oklahoma
• 2009—Glennis A. Kaufman, Kansas State University

2010+

• 2010—Thomas J. “Mac” McIntyre, National Marine Fisheries Service
• 2011—Matthew E. Hopton, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
• 2012—No recipient
• 2013—C. William Kilpatrick, University of Vermont
• 2014—Daniel K. Odell, Hubbs−SeaWorld Research Institute
• 2015—Joseph F. Merritt, Illinois Natural History Survey
• 2016—Alicia V. Linzey, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
• 2017—Viriginia Hayssen, Smith College
• 2018—Duane A. Schlitter, Carnegie Museum of Natural History
• 2019—Edward J. Heske, Illinois Natural History Survey & Museum of Southwestern Biology

2020+

• 2020—Elmer J. Finck, Fort Hays State University
• 2021—Meredith J. Hamilton, Oklahoma State University
• 2022—Robert Sikes, University of Arkansas Little Rock
• 2023—Robert Timm, University of Kansas
• 2024—David Huckaby, California State University, Long Beach
• 2025—Guy Cameron, University of Cincinnati

The Hartley H.T. Jackson Award was established in 1977 to recognize individuals who have given outstanding service to ASM.  The award is named in honor of Hartley Jackson (1881–1976), a man instrumental in founding the American Society of Mammalogists.  The first meeting was held in 1919, but Jackson had envisioned forming a society for the study of mammals since 1902, when he was in college.

Hartley was interested in birds and mammals from an early age, starting a bird collection when he was 11 and turning his attention to mammals when he was 14.  His first publication, at age 16, was a note on screech owls, and his next, as a student at Milton College, was on meadow voles of Wisconsin.  While in college, he saw the advantages of the organizations fostering ornithology, and he recognized the value of a society for mammalogists.  He discussed his idea with friends and later with colleagues, but they were not very encouraging.  Still, he carried his dream.

In 1910, after receiving a Master’s degree from University of Wisconsin, he was hired by the United States Biological Survey to work on their mammal collection; a career he was to follow for decades. He continued to talk about a society for mammalogists and thought of possible ways to make it happen; gradually some colleagues became interested.  However, it was not until December 1918 that there was any action, when the head of the Biological Survey, E. W. Nelson, appointed a committee to consider forming such a society and asked Hartley Jackson to chair it.  Hartley apparently convinced the committee, for not only did they decide it was a good idea to form an organization of mammalogists, but they went right to work on it, making a list of prospective members, gathering funds, and drafting rules and bylaws.  They worked feverishly for 3 months, with Hartley’s wife, Anna, helping with typing lists and documents (on a typewriter they rented for her).  By the end of March they had received more than 250 favorable responses, and in April 1919 they held their first meeting - with 60 of the charter members present.  ASM was born!