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Reed W. Fautin acquired a deep
appreciation and respect for wildlife and pristine land as a result of a
childhood lived on homesteads and farms. He received his bachelor’s degree from
Brigham Young University and both his master’s and doctorate degrees from the
University of Illinois. Pursuing his professional career in the Rocky Mountain
Region was Fautin’s greatest desire, so the offer to join the faculty at the
University of Wyoming was met with great enthusiasm.
Fautin arrived on the UW campus in the spring of 1946,
and the first course he taught was terrestrial field biology at UW Science Camp.
Throughout his career Fautin enjoyed all of his academic duties, but he found
special pleasure in teaching at the science camp, which he did until his |
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retirement in 1973. “I first met Reed Fautin in 1956 at the UW Science
Camp,” says Professor Emeritus Donald W. Boyd, Department of Geology and
Geophysics. “It was my first summer on the camp staff, whereas Reed was a
10-year veteran. It was apparent that he had become a mainstay of the operation.
He was a key member of the small team of biology professors who combined with
Sam Knight’s geology group to offer a diversified menu of summer field courses
based at the facility above Centennial.”
A dedicated educator with high expectations for himself
and those with whom he associated, Fautin supervised nearly 30 graduate students
and touched the lives of countless undergraduates. Former student Ann Mullens
Boelter notes, “I was always very impressed with Dr. Fautin’s dedication to the
field of zoology and to teaching. His classes were carefully prepared, thorough,
and fair. This professionalism, combined with an infectious enthusiasm for the
subjects he taught, made his classes stimulating and enjoyable.”
“Genial and pipe-smoking, Dr. Fautin was the best of
companions out in the field,” recalls former student Dorcas MacClintock. “His
students’ profound observation would be met with a smiling, ‘you bet’cha.’ As a
teacher, he was demanding. At the end of the summer camp session, a paper on the
four weeks’ survey of ecological communities was due. A few of us labored well
into the night to turn in what to each of us then seemed as daunting as a
graduate thesis.”
Fautin was respected in his field and published
numerous scientific works and collected many specimens, particularly of birds,
for the Department of Zoology and Physiology. He served as director of the
Wildlife Conservation and Management Program between 1949 and 1973. Fautin was a
member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American
Institute of Biological Science, the Colorado-Wyoming Academy of Science, the
Ecological Society of America, and the Wildlife Society, and Sigma Xi (the
scientific research society).
In 1958, Fautin moved his family to Kabul, Afghanistan,
to participate in the University of Wyoming US-AID Program, a project aimed at
providing technological skills, knowledge, and equipment to poor nations
throughout the world. For two years, Fautin served as advisor to the dean of the
Kabul College of Agriculture and Engineering. This experience deeply enriched
Fautin and his family.
Fautin and his wife June had three children Daphne,
Donna, and Charlie. Upon his death in 1983, Fautin’s family, friends,
colleagues, and former students endowed a scholarship in his memory, which is
awarded annually by the Department of Zoology and Physiology to students who
demonstrate a passion for learning and field science . |
2006