Thompson believes that the excellent intellectual climate of the Department of Biological Sciences at Illinois State has made it possible for him to combine his love of research with the pleasure of supervising an outstanding group of highly talented and motivated graduate and undergraduate students. He is most grateful for the support, help, and encouragement that he has received from his colleagues and students, past and present.
Thompson grew up in the 1950s near Dayton, Ohio, where he and his friends, largely beyond adult supervision, explored the countryside’s streams, woodlots, and fields. He decided to become an ecologist after attending summer camp in North Carolina. With his love of the outdoors and his desire to study birds, he joined the U.S. Air Force immediately after high school. While in the Air Force, Thompson was sent to language-training school at Indiana University. He followed with a tour of duty in which he wound up in assignment on a remote island in the Bearing Sea, where he spent his spare time traveling with local Eskimos and studying the island’s bird life. Upon leaving the Air Force, he enrolled in the Department of Zoology at Indiana University earning his B.A. (1967), M.A. (1970), and Ph.D. (1971).
The Arts and Sciences Lecture Series was established in 1968 as a means of honoring Arts and Sciences faculty members. It is a peer-determined award that recognizes the significant national and international reputation of a scholar and/or teacher in the College. Being chosen by one’s peers to be the Arts and Sciences Lecturer is, alongside the Dean’s Award, the highest honor that the College of Arts and Sciences can bestow on one of its faculty.