Auburn University has announced the retirement of former Clinton-McClure Professor B. Graeme Lockaby, who served as the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment (CFWE) associate dean of research from 2003 to 2020 and interim dean from 2014 to 2015.
B. Graeme Lockaby is shown at a recent competition with one of his prize-winning beagles.
Lockaby is an expert in floodplain biogeochemistry and ecology, water quality and environmental health. While a faculty member, he taught graduate research methods and forest biogeochemistry.
During his 37-year service to Auburn University, Lockaby was recognized for several notable appointments, accomplishments and awards, including the EPA Gulf Guardian Science Award and the National Wetlands Science and Research Award from the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, D.C., in 2003. He was also honored with the W.H. Patrick Lectureship in Wetland Soils from the Soil Science Society of America in 2011.
As an administrator, Lockaby was also recognized as the recipient of the President’s Collaboration Award for his work related to the establishment of the Center for Forest Sustainability through Auburn’s Peaks of Excellence Program, which later became known as the Center for Environmental Studies at the Urban-Rural Interface, of which he served as director until his retirement. Funds received by the center through the Peaks of Excellence program were leveraged to hire five new faculty members, which enabled what was then the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences to permanently expand and diversify within non-traditional disciplines such as geospatial sciences, watershed sciences and natural resources management.
Lockaby was also recognized in 2006 as an Outstanding Graduate Faculty Member by Auburn, having served as a major professor to 30 graduate students during his tenure, including 12 doctoral students. As a researcher and scholar, Lockaby authored 121 refereed journal articles and eight book chapters and was awarded $10.7 million in extramural funding.
He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in forestry from Clemson University and a doctorate in forest soils from Mississippi State University in 1981.
Awarded Professor Emeritus status by the university, Lockaby will retire to his home state of South Carolina.
“We applaud Dr. Lockaby for his many years of service and contributions to Auburn University and the CFWE,” said Janaki Alavalapati, the Emmett F. Thompson Dean of the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment.
