Contact: Kay Fike Jones
An April 9 banquet honoring the man who created Mississippi State's wildlife and fisheries department also will serve to introduce the first recipient of the university scholarship bearing his name.
"Dale H. Arner: A Living Legacy" will both pay tribute to the man who has served wildlife resources and the wildlife profession for more than 50 years and to announce the first Arner Endowed Scholar. The reservation deadline is March 29; tickets, $25 each.
The public program begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Plymouth Bluff Center on the west bank of the Tombigbee River near Columbus.
Arner is internationally recognized for his research on rights-of-way habitat ecology and management and beaver control and habitat management.
The scholarship was created to support students who demonstrate high achievement, are active involvement in wildlife and fisheries organizations, research and related activities and have demonstrated leadership ability in the field.
Arner's career began in 1949 after graduating from Pennsylvania State University. He spent five years as a wildlife biologist for the Maryland Game and Inland Fish Commission, while earning his master's degree in zoology from Penn State. In 1959, he received the first doctorate awarded in wildlife ecology and management from Auburn University.
He joined the MSU zoology department in 1962 after working for several years as a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Soil Conservation Service in Alabama.
In 1968, Arner moved the department to the newly expanded School of Forest Resources and created the department of wildlife and fisheries. He remained professor and department head until his retirement in 1987.
For more information, contact Charles Weatherly at (601) 325-3471 or Keith Gaskin, 325-3815.