Presidents
In the Society’s early decades, the President was elected annually to serve for one calendar year. By 1950, the annual meeting had settled into mid-year dates and was no longer held in late December. Therefore, beginning in 1968, the term of office was changed to run from one annual meeting, currently held in August, to the next. The President serves on the Governing Board.
Beginning in 1995, ESA began electing a President-Elect rather than a President and Vice-President. The person elected would then take office at the following annual meeting, serve for one year, then become Past-president, effectively creating a three-year term of office.
Living Past Presidents collectively continue to serve as an informal committee, and take on various roles.
For the Past President’s Addresses, see here.
Our Twitter series of little known facts about past ESA presidents is presented here.
Start | End | Name | Last name | Link | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1916 | 1916 | Victor Ernest Shelford | Shelford | ||
1917 | 1917 | Ellsworth Huntington | Huntington | ||
1918 | 1918 | Henry Chandler Cowles | Cowles | ||
1919 | 1919 | Barrington Moore | Moore | ||
1920 | 1920 | Barrington Moore | Moore | ||
1921 | 1921 | Stephen Alfred Forbes | Forbes | ||
1922 | 1922 | Forrest Shreve | Shreve | ||
1923 | 1923 | Charles Christopher Adams | Adams | ||
1924 | 1924 | Edgar Nelson Transeau | Transeau | ||
1925 | 1925 | Arthur Sperry Pearse | Pearse | ||
1926 | 1926 | John William Harshberger | Harshberger | ||
1927 | 1927 | Chancey Juday | Juday | ||
1928 | 1928 | Homer Leroy Shantz | Shantz | ||
1929 | 1929 | Warder Clyde Allee | Allee | ||
1930 | 1930 | John Ernst Weaver | Weaver | ||
1931 | 1931 | Asa Orrin Weese | Weese | ||
1932 | 1932 | George Elwood Nichols | Nichols | ||
1933 | 1933 | Edwin Booth Powers | Powers | ||
1934 | 1934 | George Damon Fuller | Fuller | ||
1935 | 1935 | Walter Penn Taylor | Taylor | ||
1936 | 1936 | William Skinner Cooper | Cooper | ||
1937 | 1937 | Robert Ervin Coker | Coker | ||
1938 | 1938 | Herbert Christian Hanson | Hanson | ||
1939 | 1939 | Charles Taylor Vorhies | Vorhies | ||
1940 | 1940 | Francis Ramaley | Ramaley | ||
1941 | 1941 | Alfred Edwards Emerson | Emerson | ||
1942 | 1942 | Clarence Ferdinand Korstian | Korstian | ||
1943 | 1943 | Orlando Park | Park | ||
1944 | 1944 | Robert Fiske Griggs | Griggs | ||
1945 | 1945 | Alfred Clarence Redfield | Redfield | ||
1946 | 1946 | John Mulvaney Aikman | Aikman | ||
1947 | 1947 | Rand Aldo Leopold | Leopold | ||
1948 | 1948 | Paul Bigelow Sears | Sears | ||
1949 | 1949 | Zeno Payne Metcalf | Metcalf | ||
1950 | 1950 | Emma Lucy Braun | Braun | ||
1951 | 1951 | Samuel Charles Kendeigh | Kendeigh | ||
1952 | 1952 | Frank Caleb Gates | Gates | Pres bio | |
1953 | 1953 | Lee Raymond Dice | Dice | Pres bio | |
1954 | 1954 | John Ernest Potzger | Potzger | Pres bio | |
1955 | 1955 | William John Hamilton Jr. | Hamilton | Pres bio | |
1956 | 1956 | Henry John Oosting | Oosting | Pres bio | |
1957 | 1957 | William Albert Dreyer | Dreyer | Pres bio | |
1958 | 1958 | Stanley Adair Cain | Cain | Pres bio | |
1959 | 1959 | Thomas Park | Park | Pres bio | An Ecologist's View. ESA Bulletin 42(1):4-10 |
1960 | 1960 | Charles Edward Olmsted | Olmsted | Pres bio | |
1961 | 1961 | Arthur Davis Hasler | Hasler | Pres bio | |
1962 | 1962 | Murray Fife Buell | Buell | Pres bio | |
1963 | 1963 | William Franklin Blair | Blair | Pres bio | |
1964 | 1964 | John Frederick Reed | Reed | Pres bio | |
1965 | 1965 | Eugene Pleasants Odum | Odum | Pres bio | |
1966 | 1966 | Bostwick Hawley Ketchum | Ketchum | Pres bio | |
1967 | 1967 | Rexford F. Daubenmire | Daubenmire | Pres bio | |
1968 | 1968 | LaMont Cook Cole | Cole | Pres bio | |
1968 | 1969 | John Edward Cantlon | Cantlon | Pres bio | |
1969 | 1970 | Edward Smith Deevey Jr. | Deevey | Pres bio | |
1970 | 1971 | Frederick Herbert Bormann | Bormann | Pres bio | |
1971 | 1972 | Stanley Irving Auerbach | Auerbach | Pres bio | |
1972 | 1973 | Robert Baxter Platt | Platt | Pres bio | |
1973 | 1974 | Frederick Edward Smith | Smith | Pres bio | |
1974 | 1975 | Richard Samuel Miller | Miller | Pres bio | |
1975 | 1976 | Forest Walden Stearns | Stearns | no bio published | Urban Ecology--Opportunity or Tar Pit? ESA Bulletin 59(1):7-9 (excerpt) |
1976 | 1977 | Frank Benjamin Golley | Golley | Pres bio | |
1977 | 1978 | George Masters Woodwell | Woodwell | Pres bio | Ecology 1979. ESA Bulletin 60(4):190-195 |
1978 | 1979 | William Dwight Billings | Billings | Pres bio | American Deserts and Their Mountains: An Ecological Frontier. ESA Bulletin 61(4):203-209 |
1979 | 1980 | Robert Treat Paine | Paine | Pres bio | Truth in Ecology. ESA Bulletin 62(4):256-258 |
1980 | 1981 | Arthur Wells Cooper | Cooper | Pres bio | Why Doesn't Anyone Listen to Ecologists And What Can ESA Do about It? ESA Bulletin 63(4):348-356 |
1981 | 1982 | Gene Elden Likens | Likens | Pres bio | A Priority for Ecological Research. ESA Bulletin 64(4):234-243 |
1982 | 1983 | Lawrence Carroll Bliss | Bliss | Pres bio | Ecologists Need to Increase Their Involvement in Society. ESA Bulletin 65(4):439-444 |
1983 | 1984 | Francis Cope Evans | Evans | Pres bio | In Praise of Natural History. ESA Bulletin 66(4):455-460 |
1984 | 1985 | Paul Gillan Risser | Risser | Pres bio | Ecological Literacy. ESA Bulletin 67(4):264-270 |
1985 | 1986 | Richard Bruce Root | Root | Pres bio | The Challenge of Increasing Information and Specialization. ESA Bulletin 68(5):538-543 |
1986 | 1987 | Jean Harmon Langenheim | Langenheim | Pres bio | The Path and Progress of American Women Ecologists. ESA Bulletin 69(4):184-197 |
1987 | 1988 | Margaret Bryan Davis | Davis | Pres bio | Insights from Paleoecology on Global Change. ESA Bulletin 70(4):222-228 |
1988 | 1989 | Harold A. Mooney | Mooney | Pres bio | Toward the Study of the Earth's Metabolism. ESA Bulletin 71(4):221-228 |
1989 | 1990 | Dennis Hal Knight | Knight | Pres bio | Congressional Incentives for Landscape Research. ESA Bulletin 72(4):195-203 |
1990 | 1991 | Simon Asher Levin | Levin | Pres bio | Sustaining Ecological Research. ESA Bulletin 73(4):213-218 |
1991 | 1992 | H. Ronald Pulliam | Pulliam | Pres bio | Human Population Growth and the Carrying Capacity Concept. ESA Bulletin 75(3):141-157 |
1992 | 1993 | Jane Lubchenco | Lubchenco | Pres bio | |
1993 | 1994 | Jerry Forest Franklin | Franklin | Pres bio | |
1994 | 1995 | Judy Lynn Meyer | Meyer | Pres bio | Beyond Gloom and Doom: Ecology for the Future. ESA Bulletin 77(4):199-205 |
1995 | 1996 | Gordon Howell Orians | Orians | no bio published | Human Behavioral Ecology: 140 Years without Darwin Is Too Long. ESA Bulletin 79(1):15-28 |
1996 | 1997 | James Hemphill Brown | Brown | Pres bio | |
1997 | 1998 | James A. MacMahon | MacMahon | Pres bio | |
1998 | 1999 | Katherine Lynn Gross | Gross | Pres bio | It's a Good Time to Get Involved: Perspectives on the ESA, from Aldo Leopold to Today. ESA Bulletin 82(2):112-118 |
1999 | 2000 | Diana Harrison Wall | Wall | Pres bio | |
2000 | 2001 | Stephen Russell Carpenter | Carpenter | Pres bio | |
2001 | 2002 | Pamela Anne Matson | Matson | Pres bio | |
2002 | 2003 | Ann Marie Bartuska | Bartuska | Pres bio | |
2003 | 2004 | William Harrison Schlesinger | Schlesinger | Pres bio | |
2004 | 2005 | Jerry Michael Melillo | Melillo | ||
2005 | 2006 | Nancy Beth Grimm | Grimm | ||
2006 | 2007 | Alan Paul Covich | Covich | ||
2007 | 2008 | Norman LeRoy Christensen Jr. | Christensen | ||
2008 | 2009 | Alison Gail Power | Power | ||
2009 | 2010 | Mary Eleanor Power | Power | ||
2010 | 2011 | Francis Stuart Chapin III | Chapin | ||
2011 | 2012 | Steward T.A. Pickett | Pickett | ||
2012 | 2013 | Scott L. Collins | Collins | ||
2013 | 2014 | Jill Spann Baron | Baron | ||
2014 | 2015 | David William Inouye | Inouye | ||
2015 | 2016 | Monica Turner | Turner | ||
2016 | 2017 | David Lodge | Lodge | Pres bio | |
2017 | 2018 | Richard Pouyat | Pouyat | ||
2018 | 2019 | Laura F. Huenneke | Huenneke | ||
2019 | 2020 | Osvaldo Sala | Sala | ||
2020 | 2021 | Kathleen Weathers | Weathers | ||
2021 | 2022 | Dennis Ojima | Ojima | Announcement | |
2022 | 2023 | Sharon K. Collinge | Collinge | Announcement | |
2023 | 2024 | Shahid Naeem | Naeem | Announcement | |
2024 | 2025 | Stephanie E. Hampton | Hampton | Announcement | |
2024 | 2025 | Peter M. Groffman | Groffman | Announcement |
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