CURRICULUM VITAE
BARBARA ANN CONNER SAVITZKY
PRESENT POSITION
Associate Professor
Department of Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Science
Christopher Newport University
HIGHER EDUCATION
University of Tennessee, Knoxville: BA (1968), Psychology
University of Tennessee, Knoxville: PhD (1989): Life Sciences, Ethology
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Lab Manager: 1982-1983; Reptile Ethology Laboratory, University of Tennessee
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Teaching: 1983-1985; Departments of Psychology, Biology, and Continuing Education, University of Tennessee
Research Assistant: January-March, 1984; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Barro Colorado Island, Panama
Research Associate: 1988-1989; Old Dominion University Research Foundation for the Department of Biological Sciences.
Substitute Teacher: 1989-1990; Norfolk Public Schools, Norfolk, VA
Program Coordinator and Curriculum Writer: July, 1989-October, 1989; Virginia Zoological Society, Norfolk, VA
Tutor: November, 1989-June 1990; On Location Education, Inc., New York, NY
FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS
National Institutes of Health Traineeship (Life Sciences, Ethology, University of Tennessee): 1985-1986; university fees and general support
National Institutes of Health Traineeship (University of Tennessee Life Sciences, University of Tennessee): 1987; $200.00, support for research and $140.00 for travel to meeting
Faculty Development Grants, Christopher Newport University: 1990 and 1993; $400.00 and $600.00, support for travel with presentation and support for research respectively
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Nongame Division: 1992; $10,000.00, "Movement Patterns, Age Structure, and Life History in Virginia Populations of the Canebrake Rattlesnake, Crotalus horridus atricaudatus," Co-principal investigator, Alan H. Savitzky.
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Nongame Program:1993; above grant renewed, $17,000.00.
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Nongame Program: 1994; above grant renewed, $22,500.00.
Naval Security Group Activity Northwest, Chesapeake, VA: 1995-1997; $62,452 (Research Associate, A.H. Savitzky Principal Investigator); partially renewed for 1998.
United States Fish and Wildlife Service: 1997; $7719, “Suvey of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Ft. Monroe, including Big Bethel Reservoir”.
Faculty Summer Research Grant, Christopher Newport University: $2800
COLLEGE TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Teaching Assistant in Animal Behavior (Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee): lecture and labs
General Biology (Department of Biology, University of Tennessee): lectures and labs; (Department of Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Science, Christopher Newport University): lectures and labs for majors and nonmajors
Anatomy and Physiology for Nurses (Department of Continuing Education, University of Tennessee): labs; (Christopher Newport University): lectures and labs
Sociobiology and Ethology (Departments of Psychology and Zoology, University of Tennessee): lectures
Physiological Psychology (University of Tennessee): team taught lectures and labs
Natural History of the Vertebrates (Christopher Newport University): lectures and labs
Herpetology (Christopher Newport University): lectures and labs
Biogeography (Christopher Newport University): graduate and undergraduate, lectures
General Ecology (Christopher Newport University): team-taught undergraduate, lectures and labs
Senior Seminar (Christopher Newport University): advisor and instructor
Biological Conservation (Christopher Newport University): graduate and undergraduate, lectures
Ecological Methods (Christopher Newport University): team-taught graduate, lectures and labs
Genetics & Evolution (Christopher Newport University): graduate, lectures and labs, via Internet
Terrestrial Ecology (Christopher Newport University): team-taught graduate, lectures and labs
Urban Wildlife (Christopher Newport University): graduate, lectures
PRESENTATIONS AT NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS
1982. Species and sex differences in substrate preference and tongue flick rate in three sympatric species of water snakes. Joint annual meeting of the Herpetologists' League (HL) and the Society for the study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR), Meredith College, Raleigh, NC.
1985. Chemoreception in the green iguana: field and laboratory studies (Co-authored with G.M. Burghardt). Fourth International Conference on Chemical Signals in Vertebrates, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY.
1986. Social behavior in neonate snakes. Annual meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH): Snake Behavior and Ecology Symposium (co-authored with J.M. Schwartz); University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C, Canada.
1988. Piscivory in Agkistrodon piscivorus, the cottonmouth. Joint annual meeting of HL, SSAR, and ASIH, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
1989. Habitat use during foraging in the natricine snake Nerodia r. rhombifera. First World Congress of Herpetology, University of Kent, Canterbury, England. (poster presentation)
1991. Ontogenetic changes in the predatory behavior of the diamondback watersnake, Nerodia rhombifer. Joint annual meeting of SSAR and HL, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
1993. Overwintering ecology of Crotalus horridus (Viperidae:Crotalinae) in southeastern Virginia. Joint annual meeting of ASIH and HL, University of Texas, Austin, TX. (co-authored with and read by A.H. Savitzky).
1994. Movement patterns of the canebrake rattlesnake, Crotalus horridus (Viperidae: Crotalinae), in southeastern Virginia, USA. Second World Congress of Herpetology, Adelaide, Australia. (poster presentation co-authored with A.H. Savitzky).
1994. Movement patterns and habitat association of copperhead snakes (Agkistrodon controtrix) in southeastern Virginia. Annual meeting of SSAR, University of Georgia, Athens, GA.(co-authored with C.E. Petersen and A.H. Savitzky; C.E. Petersen first author and presenter).
1995. Movement patterns and habitat associations of Crotalus horridus in southeastern Virginia (Co-authored with A.H. Savitzky). Invited paper in Symposium on Eastern Rattlesnakes at the annual meeting of the Society of the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles at Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
1997. The Ontogeny of Foraging in Natricine Snakes (Co-author was G.M. Burghardt). Invited talk in the Neonatalogy of Reptiles Symposium at the Third World Congress of Herpetology in Prague, Czech Republic, August 9, 1997
1997. Movements and Ecology of the Canebrake Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) at two Sites in Southeastern Virginia, USA: Third World Congress of Herpetology, Third World Congress of Herpetology in Prague, Czech Republic, August 5, 1997
1997. Movements and Ecology of the Canebrake Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) in Relation to Forest Clearing in the Historic Dismal Swamp and Surrounding Areas: Third Dismal Swamp Symposium, Jan. 7, 1997 (co-author with A.H. Savitzky and C.E. Petersen; A.H. Savitzky was the presenter)
2002. Organization of the Elastic Fibers of the Vocal Sac Musculature of Neotropical Frogs: Joint meeting of the Ameridan Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Hepetologists’ League, and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles in Kansas City, MO, July 3-8, 2002. (A.H. Savitzky and A.S. Rand were the first two authors.)
PUBLICATIONS AND TECHNICAL REPORTS
1984. Species and sex differences in substrate preference and tongue flick rate in three sympatric species of water snakes (Nerodia). J. Comp. Psych. 98:358-367. (G.M. Burghardt and D.S. York, 2nd and 3rd authors).
1986. Exploratory tongue flicking by green iguanas in laboratory and field. In Duvall, D., D. Muller-Schwarze, and R.M. Silverstein (Eds.), Chemical signals in Vertebrates, Vol. 4. Plenum Press, New York. pp.305-321. (G.M. Burghardt, 1st author, H. Frank, 3rd author).
1992. Laboratory studies on piscivory in an opportunistic pitviper, the cottonmouth, Agkistrodon piscivorus. In Campbell, J.A. and E.D. Brodie, Jr. (Eds.), The Biology of the Pitvipers. Selva Press, Tyler, TX. pp.347-368.
1993. Movement Patterns and Habitat Use in the Canebrake Rattlesnake, Crotalus horridus atricaudatus. Technical report submitted to Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Nongame Program. (co-authored with A.H. Savitzky; A.H. Savitzky 1st author). Third World Congress of Herpetology in Prague, Czech Republic, August 9, 1997
1994. Movement Patterns and Habitat Use in the Canebrake Rattlesnake, Crotalus horridus atricaudatus. Technical report submitted to Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Nongame Program. (co-authored with A.H. Savitzky; A.H. Savitzky 1st author).
1998. Survey of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Ft. Monroe, including Big Bethel Reservoir. Technical report submitted to the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Service., February, 1998. Report was in turn incorporated into the technical report, Biological Diversity Survey of the Flora and Fauna of Fort Monroe and Bethel Reservoir written by the USFWS and submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency in April, 1998.
2000. Ontogeny of Predatory Behavior in the Aquatic Specialist Snake, Nerodia rhombifer, during the First Year of Life. (Coauthor is G.M. Burghardt.) Herpetological Monographs.
2001. Range extension of the Mississippi Map Turtle to Lake Maury, Newport News, Va. (Co-author is Joseph Mitchell.) Herpetological Review.
2003. Range extension of the Brahminy Blind Snake, Rhamphotyphlops braminus. Herpetological Review.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Co-associate editor of Herpetology (with A.H. Savitzky) for The American Midland Naturalist, 1991-1994.
Grants in Herpetology Committee, Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, 1994-1998.
Councilor, the Herpetologists’ League 1996-1999.
Nominating Committee, Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, 1997.
Reviewer for National Science Foundation, Herpetologica, Herpetological Review, Journal of Herpetology
Member of Canebrake Recovery Team, Virginia State Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Nongame Program 1995-present.
Member of Herpetological Taxa Committee, Virginia State Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Nongame Program 1997-present.
Member of the Grafton Ponds Natural Area Preserve Management Planning Advisory Team, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation 1996-1998.
Member of the Wildlife Management Plan Committee, City of Hampton, Feb. 1998-1999. Editor of the Wildlife Management Plan.
Member of International Herpetological Committee of the World Congress of Herpetology, 2002- present.
Member of Board of Directors, Hampton Land Conservancy , 2001-present. Committee membership, including chairmanship of various university and departmental committees at Christopher Newport University since 1992.
Member of Faculty Senate at Christopher Newport University Fall, 1999-Spring, 2001; Executive Committee of Faculty Senate Fall, 2000-Spring, 2001.
Judge for student presentations at national meetings of scientific societies, local science fairs, and at the Governor’s Magnet School for Science.
Talks, presentations, animal identification, and herpetological advice to the public and regional natural history museums, societies, and parks.
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS
Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society
Virginia Herpetological Society
American Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Herpetologists’ League
Society for Conservation Biology
Animal Behavior Society
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
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