Past Presidents Addresses
After their term is up, presidents of the ESA give a speech. Originally a “President’s Address,” this task later became a primary project of the outgoing Past President. Addresses are given at the Annual ESA Meeting one year after the president leaves office and two years after a president takes office. They are published in the ESA Bulletin the following December.
After their term is up, presidents of the ESA give a speech. Originally a “President’s Address,” this task later became a primary project of the outgoing Past President. Addresses are given at the Annual ESA Meeting one year after the president leaves office and two years after a president takes office. They are published in the ESA Bulletin the following December.
The Past Presidents Addresses provide interesting perspective on events of the times, whether addressing broad environmental concerns of society, or specific challenges of ESA. Because these became demanding on the time of Past Presidents, they were discontinued in 2000 by Kay Gross; she became the last Past President to prepare one. However, the ESA bylaws still state that “The Past President shall deliver an address to the membership at the Annual Meeting.”
The available speeches are listed in the table below. The year column reflects not the year the address was given but the year the individual began his or her term as President.
| Start | Name | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1916 | Victor Ernest Shelford | ||
| 1916 | Forrest Shreve | ||
| 1916 | William Morton Wheeler | ||
| 1917 | Ellsworth Huntington | ||
| 1917 | John William Harshberger | ||
| 1918 | Henry Chandler Cowles | ||
| 1918 | Robert Ervin Coker | ||
| 1919 | Barrington Moore | ||
| 1919 | Thomas Leroy Hankinson | ||
| 1920 | Charles Stuart Gager | ||
| 1920 | Barrington Moore | ||
| 1920 | Asa Orrin Weese | ||
| 1920 | George Elwood Nichols | ||
| 1921 | Stephen Alfred Forbes | ||
| 1921 | Edgar Nelson Transeau | ||
| 1922 | Forrest Shreve | ||
| 1922 | Henry Edward Crampton | ||
| 1923 | Charles Christopher Adams | ||
| 1923 | Gustav Adolph Pearson | ||
| 1924 | Edgar Nelson Transeau | ||
| 1924 | Warder Clyde Allee | ||
| 1925 | Arthur Sperry Pearse | ||
| 1925 | John Ernst Weaver | ||
| 1926 | John William Harshberger | ||
| 1926 | Raymond Carroll Osburn | ||
| 1927 | Chancey Juday | ||
| 1927 | William Skinner Cooper | ||
| 1928 | Homer Leroy Shantz | ||
| 1928 | Royal Norton Chapman | ||
| 1929 | Warder Clyde Allee | ||
| 1929 | George Plumer Burns | ||
| 1930 | John Ernst Weaver | ||
| 1930 | Walter Penn Taylor | ||
| 1931 | Asa Orrin Weese | ||
| 1931 | Alfred Edwards Emerson | ||
| 1931 | Francis Ramaley | ||
| 1932 | George Elwood Nichols | ||
| 1932 | Aaron Raymond Kienholz | ||
| 1932 | Joseph Grinnell | ||
| 1933 | Edwin Booth Powers | ||
| 1933 | Herbert Christian Hanson | ||
| 1934 | George Damon Fuller | ||
| 1934 | Arthur Gibson Vestal | ||
| 1934 | Paul Smith Welch | ||
| 1935 | Walter Penn Taylor | ||
| 1935 | Emma Lucy Braun | ||
| 1936 | William Skinner Cooper | ||
| 1936 | Orlando Park | ||
| 1936 | James George Needham | ||
| 1937 | Robert Ervin Coker | ||
| 1937 | Howard deForest | ||
| 1938 | Herbert Christian Hanson | ||
| 1938 | Lee Raymond Dice | ||
| 1939 | Charles Taylor Vorhies | ||
| 1939 | William John Hamilton Jr. | ||
| 1939 | Stanley Adair Cain | ||
| 1939 | Clarence Ferdinand Korstian | ||
| 1940 | Francis Ramaley | ||
| 1940 | Orlando Park | ||
| 1941 | Alfred Edwards Emerson | ||
| 1941 | Royal Eastman Shanks | ||
| 1941 | Royal Eastman Shanks | ||
| 1941 | Benjamin Carroll Tharp | ||
| 1942 | Clarence Ferdinand Korstian | ||
| 1942 | William Albert Dreyer | ||
| 1942 | Claude Ephraim ZoBell | ||
| 1943 | Orlando Park | ||
| 1943 | Stanley Adair Cain | ||
| 1943 | Paul Bigelow Sears | ||
| 1944 | George Matthew Reed | ||
| 1944 | Robert Fiske Griggs | ||
| 1944 | Henry John Oosting | ||
| 1944 | Alfred Clarence Redfield | ||
| 1945 | Henry Knute Svenson | ||
| 1945 | Alfred Clarence Redfield | ||
| 1945 | John Mulvaney Aikman | ||
| 1946 | John Mulvaney Aikman | ||
| 1946 | Rand Aldo Leopold | ||
| 1947 | (Brooklyn Botanic Garden) | ||
| 1947 | Rand Aldo Leopold | ||
| 1947 | Paul Bigelow Sears | ||
| 1948 | Exie Duncan (employee of BBG) | ||
| 1948 | Howard E. Brewer | ||
| 1948 | Gordon Alexander | ||
| 1948 | Charles Edward Olmsted | ||
| 1948 | Carl L. Hubbs | ||
| 1948 | Paul Bigelow Sears | ||
| 1948 | William Augustus Castle | ||
| 1948 | William Albert Dreyer | ||
| 1949 | Zeno Payne Metcalf | ||
| 1949 | Charles Edward Olmsted | ||
| 1950 | Royal E. Shanks | ||
| 1950 | Bostwick Hawley Ketchum | ||
| 1950 | Emma Lucy Braun | ||
| 1950 | William Theodore Penfound | ||
| 1950 | Reginald VanTrump Truitt | ||
| 1951 | Angus M. Woodbury | ||
| 1951 | John Ernest Potzger | ||
| 1951 | Samuel Charles Kendeigh | ||
| 1951 | Murray Fife Buell | ||
| 1951 | Frederick Harold Test | ||
| 1951 | Frederick William Albertson | ||
| 1952 | Henry Ives Baldwin | ||
| 1952 | J.R. Adams | ||
| 1952 | Frank Caleb Gates | ||
| 1952 | David Edward Davis | ||
| 1953 | Lee Raymond Dice | ||
| 1953 | Stanley Adair Cain | ||
| 1954 | Henry John Oosting | ||
| 1954 | Aaron John Sharp | ||
| 1954 | Ezra Henry Moss | ||
| 1954 | John Ernest Potzger | ||
| 1954 | John Frederick Reed | ||
| 1954 | Samuel Eddy | ||
| 1955 | Reed Winget Fautin | ||
| 1955 | Stanley Adair Cain | ||
| 1955 | William John Hamilton Jr. | ||
| 1955 | Alexander Carlton Hodson | ||
| 1955 | Murray Fife Buell | ||
| 1956 | Henry John Oosting | ||
| 1956 | William Franklin Blair | ||
| 1957 | Eugene Pleasants Odum | ||
| 1957 | John H. Davis | ||
| 1957 | William Albert Dreyer | ||
| 1957 | John Stiles Dendy | ||
| 1957 | William Theodore Penfound | ||
| 1958 | Clarence James Goodnight | ||
| 1958 | Lincoln Ellison | ||
| 1958 | Edward Everett Dale | ||
| 1958 | Stanley Adair Cain | ||
| 1958 | John Edward Cantlon | ||
| 1958 | Frank William Preston | ||
| 1959 | John Rankin | ||
| 1959 | Thomas Park | Ok St U, Oklahoma; August 1960 | An Ecologist's View. ESA Bulletin 42(1):4-10 |
| 1959 | Kirby Lee Hays | ||
| 1960 | Rexford F. Daubenmire | ||
| 1960 | Charles Edward Olmsted | ||
| 1960 | Aaron John Sharp | ||
| 1960 | William Dwight Billings | ||
| 1961 | Arthur Davis Hasler | ||
| 1961 | Edward Smith Deevey Jr. | ||
| 1962 | Adolph Marvin Stebler | ||
| 1962 | Murray Fife Buell | ||
| 1962 | Paul Guy Pearson | ||
| 1962 | Bostwick Hawley Ketchum | ||
| 1963 | Paul Shultz Martin | ||
| 1963 | William Franklin Blair | ||
| 1963 | Lora Mangum Shields | ||
| 1964 | George Daniel Grice Jr. | ||
| 1964 | John Frederick Reed | ||
| 1964 | Ralph Walter Kelting | ||
| 1964 | LaMont Cook Cole | ||
| 1965 | Calvin McMillan | ||
| 1965 | Eugene Pleasants Odum | ||
| 1965 | Stanley Irving Auerbach | ||
| 1965 | John Edward Cantlon | ||
| 1966 | Frank John Vernberg | ||
| 1966 | Bostwick Hawley Ketchum | ||
| 1966 | Robert Baxter Platt | ||
| 1967 | Lawrence Carroll Bliss | ||
| 1967 | Rexford F. Daubenmire | ||
| 1967 | William Clark Ashby | ||
| 1967 | George Masters Woodwell | ||
| 1968 | William Dwight Billings | ||
| 1968 | Lawrence Richards Pomeroy | ||
| 1968 | Frederick Edward Smith | ||
| 1968 | LaMont Cook Cole | ||
| 1968 | John Edward Cantlon | U Vt, Vermont; August 1970 | |
| 1968 | George Sprugel Jr. | ||
| 1968 | Pierre Dansereau | ||
| 1969 | William Clark Ashby | ||
| 1969 | Robert Harding Whittaker | ||
| 1969 | Edward Smith Deevey Jr. | ||
| 1969 | Shelby Delos Gerking | ||
| 1969 | Paul Guy Pearson | ||
| 1970 | Robert George Wetzel | ||
| 1970 | Frederick Herbert Bormann | Minneapolis, Minnesota; August 1972 | |
| 1970 | William Albert Niering | ||
| 1970 | Robert Harding Whittaker | ||
| 1971 | Martyn Mathews Caldwell | ||
| 1971 | Stanley Irving Auerbach | U Ma, Massachusetts; June 1973 | |
| 1971 | J. Frank McCormick | ||
| 1971 | Forest Walden Stearns | ||
| 1972 | Charles Remington Goldman | ||
| 1972 | Robert Baxter Platt | Tempe, Arizona; June 1974 | |
| 1972 | Forest Walden Stearns | ||
| 1972 | Frank Benjamin Golley | ||
| 1973 | Ralph Edward Good | ||
| 1973 | Josephine K. Doherty | ||
| 1973 | Frederick Edward Smith | Corvallis, Oregon; August 1975 | |
| 1973 | Charles Remington Goldman | ||
| 1974 | David Edward Reichle | ||
| 1974 | Richard Samuel Miller | New Orleans, Louisiana; June 1976 | |
| 1974 | Arthur Wells Cooper | ||
| 1975 | Rebecca Reyburn Sharitz | ||
| 1975 | Forest Walden Stearns | East Lansing, Michigan; August 1977 | Urban Ecology--Opportunity or Tar Pit? ESA Bulletin 59(1):7-9 (excerpt) |
| 1975 | Edward John Kormondy | ||
| 1975 | Paul Guy Pearson | ||
| 1975 | Gordon Howell Orians | ||
| 1976 | Neil F. Hadley | ||
| 1976 | Frank Benjamin Golley | Athens, Georgia; August 1978 | |
| 1976 | Lawrence Carroll Bliss | ||
| 1977 | Frances Crews James | ||
| 1977 | George Masters Woodwell | Stillwater, Oklahoma; August 1979 | Ecology 1979. ESA Bulletin 60(4):190-195 |
| 1977 | Lawrence Carroll Bliss | ||
| 1977 | Robert Treat Paine | ||
| 1978 | Kenneth William Cummins | ||
| 1978 | William Dwight Billings | Tucson, Arizona; August 1980 | American Deserts and Their Mountains: An Ecological Frontier. ESA Bulletin 61(4):203-209 |
| 1978 | Paul Gillan Risser | ||
| 1978 | Gene Elden Likens | ||
| 1979 | Duncan Theunissen Patten | ||
| 1979 | Patricia Ann Werner | ||
| 1979 | Robert Treat Paine | Bloomington, Indiana; August 1981 | Truth in Ecology. ESA Bulletin 62(4):256-258 |
| 1979 | Richard Bruce Root | ||
| 1980 | William Anthony Laycock | ||
| 1980 | Arthur Wells Cooper | State College, Pennsylvania; August 1982 | Why Doesn't Anyone Listen to Ecologists And What Can ESA Do about It? ESA Bulletin 63(4):348-356 |
| 1980 | Jean Harmon Langenheim | ||
| 1981 | John Anthony Wiens | ||
| 1981 | Gene Elden Likens | Grand Forks, North Dakota; August 1983 | A Priority for Ecological Research. ESA Bulletin 64(4):234-243 |
| 1981 | Robert Patrick McIntosh | ||
| 1981 | William A. Reiners | ||
| 1981 | Ralph Edward Good | ||
| 1982 | Jane Lubchenco | ||
| 1982 | Lawrence Carroll Bliss | Fort Collins, Colorado; August 1984 | Ecologists Need to Increase Their Involvement in Society. ESA Bulletin 65(4):439-444 |
| 1982 | Richard T.T. Forman | ||
| 1983 | Rebecca Reyburn Sharitz | ||
| 1983 | Francis Cope Evans | Minneapolis, Minnesota; June 1985 | In Praise of Natural History. ESA Bulletin 66(4):455-460 |
| 1983 | Dennis Hal Knight | ||
| 1984 | Norma Lee Fowler | ||
| 1984 | Paul Gillan Risser | Syracuse, New York; August 1986 | Ecological Literacy. ESA Bulletin 67(4):264-270 |
| 1984 | Paul Alfred Colinvaux | ||
| 1984 | Harold A. Mooney | ||
| 1985 | Peter Feinsinger | ||
| 1985 | Richard Bruce Root | Columbus, Ohio; August 1987 | The Challenge of Increasing Information and Specialization. ESA Bulletin 68(5):538-543 |
| 1985 | Earl Edward Werner | ||
| 1986 | Patrice A. Morrow | ||
| 1986 | Jean Harmon Langenheim | Davis, California, August 1988 | The Path and Progress of American Women Ecologists. ESA Bulletin 69(4):184-197 |
| 1986 | Hazel Roach Delcourt | ||
| 1986 | H. Ronald Pulliam | ||
| 1987 | Warren Gene Abrahamson III | ||
| 1987 | Margaret Bryan Davis | Toronto, Canada, August 1989 | Insights from Paleoecology on Global Change. ESA Bulletin 70(4):222-228 |
| 1987 | Rebecca Reyburn Sharitz | ||
| 1987 | James Hemphill Brown | ||
| 1988 | Joseph Travis | ||
| 1988 | Harold A. Mooney | Snowbird, Utah, August 1990 | Toward the Study of the Earth's Metabolism. ESA Bulletin 71(4):221-228 |
| 1988 | Jane Lubchenco | ||
| 1989 | William E. Neill | ||
| 1989 | Dennis Hal Knight | San Antonio, Texas, August 1991 | Congressional Incentives for Landscape Research. ESA Bulletin 72(4):195-203 |
| 1989 | Barbara Lee Bentley | ||
| 1990 | Jessica Gurevitch | ||
| 1990 | Simon Asher Levin | Honolulu, Hawaii, August 1992 | Sustaining Ecological Research. ESA Bulletin 73(4):213-218 |
| 1990 | Louis Frank Pitelka | ||
| 1990 | Rebecca Reyburn Sharitz | ||
| 1991 | Julie Denslow | ||
| 1991 | H. Ronald Pulliam | Madison, Wisconsin; August 1993 | Human Population Growth and the Carrying Capacity Concept. ESA Bulletin 75(3):141-157 |
| 1991 | Judy Lynn Meyer | ||
| 1992 | Francis Stuart Chapin III | ||
| 1992 | Jane Lubchenco | Knoxville, Tennessee; August 1994 | |
| 1992 | Robert Krug Peet | ||
| 1993 | Mary Eleanor Power | ||
| 1993 | Jerry Forest Franklin | Snowbird, Utah, August 1995 | |
| 1993 | Patrice A. Morrow | ||
| 1994 | Susan P. Harrison | ||
| 1994 | Judy Lynn Meyer | Providence, Rhode Island; August 1996 | Beyond Gloom and Doom: Ecology for the Future. ESA Bulletin 77(4):199-205 |
| 1994 | Robert Knight Colwell | ||
| 1995 | Virgina House Dale | ||
| 1995 | Gordon Howell Orians | Albuquerque, New Mexico; August 1997 | Human Behavioral Ecology: 140 Years without Darwin Is Too Long. ESA Bulletin 79(1):15-28 |
| 1995 | Nancy J. Huntly | ||
| 1995 | Alan R. Berkowitz | ||
| 1995 | Louis Frank Pitelka | ||
| 1995 | Anthony C. Janetos | ||
| 1995 | Steward T.A. Pickett | ||
| 1996 | Laura F. Huenneke | ||
| 1996 | Nelson George Hairston, Jr. | ||
| 1996 | James Hemphill Brown | Baltimore, Maryland; August 1998 | |
| 1996 | William Harrison Schlesinger | ||
| 1996 | Ann Marie Bartuska | ||
| 1997 | Jill Spann Baron | ||
| 1997 | James A. MacMahon | Spokane, Washington; August 1999 | |
| 1998 | Ariel E. Lugo | ||
| 1998 | Robin Chazdon | ||
| 1998 | Katherine Lynn Gross | Snowbird, Utah; August 2000 | It's a Good Time to Get Involved: Perspectives on the ESA, from Aldo Leopold to Today. ESA Bulletin 82(2):112-118 |
| 1998 | Lisa J. Graumlich | ||
| 1998 | James Samuel Clark | ||
| 1999 | Rodolfo Dirzo | ||
| 1999 | Diana Harrison Wall | ||
| 1999 | Timothy Duane Schowalter | ||
| 2000 | James Roman Gosz | ||
| 2000 | Julie Denslow | ||
| 2000 | Stephen Russell Carpenter | ||
| 2000 | Carol Ann Brewer | ||
| 2001 | Sharon Kay Collinge | ||
| 2001 | Pamela Anne Matson | ||
| 2001 | Jill Spann Baron | ||
| 2002 | Osvaldo Esteban Sala | ||
| 2002 | Edward A. Johnson | ||
| 2002 | Ann Marie Bartuska | ||
| 2002 | Norman LeRoy Christensen Jr. | ||
| 2002 | Alison Gail Power | ||
| 2003 | Margaret Ann Palmer | ||
| 2003 | William Harrison Schlesinger | ||
| 2004 | Shahid Naeem | ||
| 2004 | P. Dee Boersma | ||
| 2004 | Jerry Michael Melillo | ||
| 2004 | David William Inouye | ||
| 2004 | Gaius Robert Shaver | ||
| 2005 | Dennis Shoji Ojima | ||
| 2005 | Nancy Beth Grimm | ||
| 2005 | William J. Parton | ||
| 2005 | Richard Vincent Pouyat | ||
| 2006 | Jayne Belknap | ||
| 2006 | Juan Armesto | ||
| 2006 | Alan Paul Covich | ||
| 2006 | Margaret D. Lowman | ||
| 2007 | Ann P. Kinzig | ||
| 2007 | Norman LeRoy Christensen Jr. | ||
| 2007 | Robert B. Jackson | ||
| 2008 | Emily H. Stanley | ||
| 2008 | Josh Schimel | ||
| 2008 | Alison Gail Power | ||
| 2008 | Laura F. Huenneke | ||
| 2009 | Debra Peters | ||
| 2009 | Mary Eleanor Power | ||
| 2010 | Andrea H. Lloyd | ||
| 2010 | Lisa Graumlich | ||
| 2010 | Francis Stuart Chapin III | ||
| 2010 | Charles D. Canham | ||
| 2011 | Mimi E. Lam | ||
| 2011 | Steward T.A. Pickett | ||
| 2011 | Leslie A. Real | ||
| 2011 | Sharon K. Collinge | ||
| 2011 | Deborah Goldberg | ||
| 2012 | Michelle C. Mack | ||
| 2012 | Stephen T. Jackson | ||
| 2012 | Scott L. Collins | ||
| 2012 | Julie Reynolds | ||
| 2013 | Carmen Cid | ||
| 2013 | Jill Spann Baron | ||
| 2013 | Valerie Eviner | ||
| 2014 | Ana Elisa Perez-Quintero | ||
| 2014 | Leah R. Gerber | ||
| 2014 | David William Inouye | ||
| 2014 | Evan H. DeLucia | ||
| 2014 | Scott L. Collins | ||
| 2015 | Kathryn Cottingham | ||
| 2015 | Monica Turner | ||
| 2015 | Nalini Nadkarni | ||
| 2015 | Frank Davis | ||
| 2016 | Sharon Hall | ||
| 2016 | Emily Cloyd | ||
| 2016 | David Lodge | ||
| 2016 | Jessica Gurevitch | ||
| 2016 | Jayne Belnap | ||
| 2017 | Gillian Bowser | ||
| 2017 | Richard Pouyat | ||
| 2018 | Laura F. Huenneke | ||
| 2018 | Pamela Templer | ||
| 2018 | Manual Morales | ||
| 2018 | Kathleen Treseder | ||
| 2019 | Osvaldo Sala | ||
| 2019 | Diane Pataki | ||
| 2022 | Diane Pataki | ||
| 2019 | Jacquelyn Gill | ||
| 2020 | Kathleen Weathers | ||
| 2020 | Laura Petes | ||
| 2022 | Laura Petes | ||
| 2020 | Jeannine Cavender-Bares | ||
| 2020 | Zoe Cardon | ||
| 2020 | Sasha Reed | ||
| 2021 | Dennis Ojima | ||
| 2021 | Carmen R. Cid | ||
| 2022 | Carmen R. Cid | ||
| 2021 | Jennifer Funk | ||
| 2022 | Emilio Bruna | ||
| 2022 | Jay T. Lennon | ||
| 2022 | Kelly Ramirez | ||
| 2022 | Sharon K. Collinge | ||
| 2023 | Shahid Naeem | ||
| 2024 | Stephanie E. Hampton | ||
| 2023 | James Rattling Leaf, Sr | ||
| 2025 | Peter M. Groffman | ||
| 2024 | Angee Doerr | ||
| 2024 | Alex Moore | ||
| 2024 | Yude Pan |