Dr. John Gittleman, UGA Foundation Professor and founding dean of the Odum School of Ecology, has announced that he will be stepping down from his post as Dean and rejoining the faculty at the end of the 2020-2021 academic year.
In 2007, Dr. Gittleman became the founding dean of the world’s first stand-alone school dedicated to the field of ecology after joining UGA as the director of what was then called the Institute of Ecology. At the Odum School, Dr. Gittleman was responsible for launching a new bachelor of arts degree program, highlighting an interdisciplinary approach to the study of ecology. Under his leadership, students and faculty have been widely recognized for their research, and have contributed significantly to the UGA campus as a whole. Odum students were responsible for launching the University’s Gameday Recycling Program and worked to create the University’s Office of Sustainability. The Odum School also began the Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases under Dr. Gittleman’s guidance, participating significantly at the UGA Center for Research and Education at Wormsloe.
Dr. Gittleman’s contributions extend beyond campus. He served on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2008 to 2013, and he currently works as a voting, elected member of the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education.