BioNotes
Flag Football
Quilting
Walking Stick Collection
The Yerger Lectures
Yo, Chuck!
Every week since July of 1972, the Department of Biological Science has issued a listing of lectures, seminars, and other events occurring that week that might be of interest to members of the department. At times, it has also included announcements of scientific meetings, positions available, faculty awards, and even weddings and births.
Originally, BioNotes was produced on paper and was mimeographed or photocopied for distribution to all members of the department. By late 1995, when BioNotes went all-electronic, over 350 copies were being distributed each week.
Since the mid-1990's, BioNotes has been distributed only by e-mail. Each week's listing is sent out on the preceding Friday afternoon, but past, present, and future issues are posted on the department's website, under "Current and Notable," for viewing anytime. Issues older than those on the website are available on request.
The present e-mail distribution list includes all members of the department, plus about 130 other people who have expressed interest. Anyone may ask to be added to the list.
Annually since 2002, the straw hats of Ecology and Evolution and the white coats of Molecular and Cell Biology have met on the flag-football field. At stake is the giant beaker-like object known as the Chairman's Cup.
The first such project was that commemorating the birth (May 30, 1991) of Tander Lee Simberloff, first daughter of then faculty member Daniel Simberloff and his wife Mary Tebo. Well in advance, friends and colleagues were invited to contribute 9-inch squares to be assembled into the quilt top. Most participants had no experience in the process, and no restrictions were placed on color, pattern, or theme, so the result was an eclectic assortment of fabric images, traditional quilting patterns, and original combinations like woven ribbons and fabric paint. Tom and Alice chose coordinating fabrics to form the borders, backing, and edges; Tom assembled the top and stretched the top, batting, and backing on his home-made quilting frame; and Alice chalk-marked miles of lines, in decorative patterns, around and through the squares and borders to guide the stitchers. Finally, on April 28, 1991, everyone involved assembled at the Miller/Winn home for an old-fashioned quilting bee. Some brought musical instruments, others food, and eight people at a time took turns sitting around the frame, hand-stitching through all the layers along the chalked lines. For most, it was a first experience of quilting. When all the lines within convenient reach of the edge had been stitched, the sides were rolled inward, giving the stitchers access to more central portions. When all the decorative stitching was complete, Tom and Alice bound the edges with matching fabric, and the finished quilt was presented to the proud parents. Tander's quilt was even exhibited at the fall 1991 quilt show at the Museum of Florida History.
Since that first project, members of the department have produced many such quilts, of varying sizes, some color-coordinated and others "free style." One particularly large example was that marking the retirement of Professor France C. James in 2003, to which many of her former students also contributed. (See the quilt top. See it with people for scale (participants in "FranFair," April 2003); that's Fran in the white sweatshirt near the lower left corner of the quilt.)
Because they illustrate the characteristics of so many different tree species, the walking sticks were used at one time by the department's faculty as a teaching aid in botany classes. The department's collection comprises over 40 walking sticks, and it is thought that Dr. Bellamy originally made over 100 (listing of sticks and the materials they are made of). According to Dr. Bellamy's grandson, a department alumnus and Tallahassee physician, friends would often send Dr. Bellamy tree limbs, from which he would fashion sticks for the collection. Sometimes only scraps of wood were available, and Dr. Bellamy would glue them together to make composites.
Dr. Bellamy received his A.B. from Moores Hill College (later Evansville University), Evansville, Indiana, in 1910. He received his M.A. in 1913 and his Ph.D. in 1917, both from Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts. A Phi Kappa Phi member, Dr. Belamy worked at Moores Hill College (1910-1912); Emory and Henry College, Emory, Virginia (1931-1915); and McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois (1917-1918), before coming to FSU. In addition to making walking sticks, Dr. Bellamy was also well known for his quilt making. He died in 1975 at the age of 85.
In 1967, Florida State University named the Bellamy building, which currently houses the Department of Sociology and several others, in honor of his many years of service, dedication, and commitment to the university. A plaque in that building's lobby describes him as a "defender of academic freedom" and a "student and friend of man and nature."
Dr. Akin is the benefactor of a similar endowment in the name of Dr. Robert B. Short, who chose to establish the Robert B. Short Scholarship in Zoology, first awarded in 1997.
Past Yerger Lectures
Although Dr. Ptacek has since moved on to greater things, the tradition continues, and since 1999, the annual party has been expanded to include as well the "birthday" of the young Shumard oak behind Conradi, which was planted that year as a sapling within a few days of Darwin's birthday. It gets its own separate cake, of course.