Campus Connection

Scholarship honors Biology Professor David Howard

During the past 15 years, if you saw a professor in a bright Hawaiian shirt in Cowley Hall, it was probably David Howard. The beloved biology professor who died Feb. 19, after a long battle with renal cell carcinoma, will be remembered for his curriculum innovation and leadership. Colleagues in the Biology Department in conjunction with his family have established a scholarship endowment to honor him and help keep the talented cell biologist and microscopist’s spirit alive. Biology Professor Jennifer A. Miskowski, a colleague and friend, says Howard was known for dropping everything for both students and colleagues. “He had endless patience with students whether they were advisees, students in his courses, or research students in his own lab or the labs of others,” she says. Along with being the department’s leading microscopist, Miskowski says Howard partnered with Biology colleagues and other College of Science and Health faculty on scholarly projects. “I think multiple publications that list him as author have been submitted and/or accepted even since his passing, and these are all due to his collaborative nature,” she notes. Miskowski says one of Howard’s biggest impacts on campus was acquiring more than $1 million in grants to purchase cutting-edge microscopes for the imaging center, along with many student-grade microscopes for teaching labs. The former department chair also revised the cell biology lecture and lab course, and designed and taught an upper-level microscopy course. He pioneered active learning endeavors to make his courses more exciting and understandable. Most recently, he led  the department’s assessment efforts. The David R. Howard endowed scholarship is designed to recognize a student with promise. The award will not focus on the highest GPA, but rather reward a student who may have had a difficult semester and is working hard to succeed in his/her academic career. The recipient must meet the following criteria:

• be enrolled full-time at UWL with a major in science and preference to a biology major
• be a sophomore or junior
• have a cumulative GPA of less than 3.3
• preference given to an applicant who is a child of an educator

To contribute a one-time gift, send a check designated to the Howard Scholarship to the UWL Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 1148, La Crosse, WI 54602-1148. To pledge for more than a year, contact the UWL Foundation at 608.782.6803.