Much of the following information was gleaned from University catalogs stored in Furman's library. Thanks to Dr. Glen Clayton and his assistant for doing the research needed to pull out these nuggets.
The earliest mention of biology as a distinct subject of study at Furman was in the 1887-88 catalog. Professor William F. Watson taught in the School of Chemistry and Biology, beginning in that year. However, no distinctly biology courses were listed until 1897. In the 1897-98 catalog, the following courses were listed for the first time:
I. Zoology. Living matter. Protoplasm. Histology. General Zoology. Vertebrate and invertebrate anatomy. Classification. Text-book: Holder's Zoology (probably Elements of Zoology, by Holder and Holder, published in the mid-1880s).
II. A course of lectures on Anatomy and Hygiene.
III. Human Physiology. General structure and mechanism of the body. Chemical composition and relative value of foods. Exercise. The preservation of health. Text-book: Martin's Human Body. (Perhaps The Human Body; An Account of its Structure and Activities and the Conditions of its Health Working
by Henry Newell Martin, published in 1890).
In 1911, Professor Buist offered two courses in "The School of Biology." They were titled Biology I (Botany) and Biology II (Zoology). In the 1911-1912 catalog, the following statement is found:
"The Biological Laboratory is equipped with compound and simple microscopes, dissecting instruments, etc. for the use of students taking courses in this school."
Elsewhere in this same catalog the fees are listed:
"For supplies and use of microscope, each half session is $3.00. breakage fee, each half session, $3.00, refundable less amount of breakage."
Fifty-five full-time faculty members have taught biology courses, according to catalogs and yearbooks:
Watson, William Franklin: 1887-1911, Physics and Chemistry. 1911-1914, Science
Buist, Geroge Alexander: 1908-1934, Chemistry
Wilkinson, George R.: 1920-1927, Biology (first listing as Biology; all following
listed as Biology)
Looper, James Burdine: 1923-1924
Pickens, Andrew Lee: 1924-1926
Riddle, Charles Dayton: 1926-1964
Ives, Sumner A.: 1926-1944
Easton, Charlotte: 1933-1945
Ritchie, Donald Dirk: 1934-1935
Richardson, Bruce: 1935-1938
Fisher, Paul Lewis: 1945-1975
Mullens, Nora Emily: 1945-1971
Graff, Paul Weidemeyer: 1945
Christenberry, George Andrew: 1946-1952
Williams, Louis Gressett: 1948-1957
Kirk, Daniel Eddins: 1950-1957
Withers, Walter L: 1953-1956
Jeffreys, Donald B.: 1955-1956
Rodgers, C. Leland: 1956-1988
Beard, Luther Stanford: 1958-1959
Darlington, Julian T.: 1959-1964
Riggin, George Thomas: 1959-1964
Pendergraph, Garland Edward: 1960-1961
Daniel, Charles, P.: 1962-1967
Kelly, Robert Withers: 1964-1988
Fairbanks, Gilbert W.: 1964-2000
Pielou, William P.: 1964-1991
Kerstetter, Rex Eugene: 1967-2000
Stratton, Lewis Palmer: 1967-2000
Smith, Gary C.: 1970-1976
Snyder, John Alan: 1971-present
Teska, William Reinhold: 1977-2000
Thompson, Laura K.: 1987-present
Worthen, Wade Bolton: 1988-present
Pollard, A. Joseph: 1988-present
Blaker, William Dennis: 1990-present
Kokkala, Irene: 1991-1998
Weidner, Karla Marie: 1992-1997
Goodman, Margaret: 1993-1994
Zettler, Lawrence William: 1994-1996
MacLeod, Michael Joseph: 1994-1995
Haney, Dennis Charles: 1996-present
Hudson, Steven James: 1997-2002
Wolff, Robert J.: 1997-1999
Turgeon, Victoria Lynn: 1998-present
Ryan, Travis: 2000-2001
Larson, Sandra Frances: 2000-2008
Lewis, Gregory Paul: 2000-present
Liao, Min-Ken: 2000-present
Perry, Travis: 2000-present
Chen, Nian: 2001-2002
Bowker, George: 2002-2003
Schammel, Christine: 2002-present (fulltime or adjunct)
Hestermann, Eli: 2003-present
Schisler, Nicholas: 2003-present
Shepherd, Hurley: 2006-2007
Mark Yates: 2007-present
David M. Hollis: 2008-present
The size of the Biology Department tenure-track faculty has grown from 5 in 1957 to the present 13 (compared to University student body: about 1250 in 1957 and 2600 in 2006).