Fonds UAA Fonds 0018 - Department of Entomology fonds

The Department of Entomology was formed in 1922 in the Faculty of Agriculture. The department remained in the Faculty of Agriculture until its merger with the Departments of Botany, Genetics, Microbiology and Zoology into the Department of Biological Sciences in the Faculty of Science.

"In addition to teaching the application of scientific principles to the solution of agriculture and forestry problems, and through research, the acquiring of new knowledge ... the Department covers the major fields of entomology [and is] especially mindful of the importance of a strong program of graduate study" (PACCR, 1987). Among the aspects of insect biology studied are morphology, development, physiology, genetics, biochemistry, insect/plant relationships and population biology.

Heads: 1922-1954 Edgar Harold Strickland; 1954-1969 Brian Hocking.

Chairs: 1969-1974 Brian Hocking; 1974-1984 George Eugene Ball; 1984-1989 Beverley K. Mitchell; 1989-1994 Ronald H. Gooding.

George Eugene Ball was born in Detroit, Michigan on 25 September 1926. His parents were Eugene and Mary Ball. Ball completed his early education in Detroit at St. Theresa Primary School and Catholic Central High School. He also was a member of the Boy Scouts in his childhood and contributed it to one of the factors that led him to a career in entomology.

He entered Cornell University for his undergraduate degree, only completing one year before entering the military during the Second World War. Ball enlisted in the Marine Corps in September 1944, just before his eighteenth birthday with his father’s permission. He took part hi the Battle of Okinawa and was also posted in Tientsin, China. For his service Ball was awarded the Purple Heart, a Presidential Unit Citation for the Okinawan Campaign, the Asiatic-Pacific Theater Medal, and the Victory Medal.

Following his military served in 1946 he returned to Cornell University to complete his undergraduate degree. In 1950 he completed his Masters in Science also from Cornell. While at Cornell, then doctoral student Kay Fetherston, whom he married in 1949. They had two sons, Eric and Stephen. Ball completed his Ph.D. in Cornell before taking a position at the University of Alberta (U of A) in the Department of Entomology in 1954. Ball would be a professor at the U of A for 38 years, including 10 years as the Chairman of the Department of Entomology. During his time as a professor he taught both undergraduate and graduate level courses, later in his career focusing on Insect Systematics.

Throughout his career Ball took part in field work, leading to traveling. He also published over 130 publications and edited 5 books in his career. Ball also worked to identify numerous species of beetles, for which he had a vast knowledge of.

Ball was also an active member of entomological societies and organizations. He acted as President of the Entomological Society of Alberta ( 1957-1958), the Coleopterists Society (1972-1973), and the Entomological Society of Canada (1981-1982). He served as a founding member of the Biological Survey of Canada and was Chair of the Scientific Committee.

Ball retired in 1992, however continued to work as taxonomist and Emeritus Curator of the E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum. In 2017, Ball remarried Carol Paetz, following the passing of his first wife in 2014. Ball passed away on 12 January, 2019 in Edmonton, Alberta.

Ronald H. Gooding was born on 18 October 1936 and grew up in Edmonton, Alberta. He earned a BSc from the University of Alberta (1957), an MA from Rice University, and a ScD from Johns Hopkins.

Gooding began working in the Department of Entomology at the University of Alberta in 1966, where he worked as a professor for the rest of his career. Gooding was involved with the merger of the Departments of Entomology and Zoology and the creation of the Department of Biological Sciences. He served as Department Chair in 1989-1994. He was given the title of professor emeritus in 2002.

Gooding’s research interests included the biochemistry and physiology of haematophagous insects, especially tsetse flies, about which he undertook a long term study. As well, he was involved with the Entomological Society of Canada and the Entomological Society of Alberta.

Gooding had one son with his wife Sheila. He passed away on 29 December 2019.

Beverly K. Mitchell studied at the University of New Brunswick, earning BSC and PhD degrees. In 1975, he joined the Department of Entomology, now part of the Department of Biological Sciences, at the University of Alberta. Mitchell was the Chair of the Department of Entomology from 1984-1989. In 2011, he retired and earned the title of professor emeritus.

The Department of Entomology was founded in 1922 by E.H. Strickland. Entomology courses were originally held by the Department of Entomology in the Faculty of Agriculture and remained that way for a long time; in 1994, Entomology merged with the Department of Zoology in the Faculty of Science, and immediately following that, the new Department of Zoology merged with the Departments of Botany, Genetics, and Microbiology to form the Department of Biological Sciences. The Department of Entomology existed for seventy-two years with the help of five Department Chairs, and lives on within the Department of Biological Sciences.

Administrative History
1922-1954 Edgar H. Strickland
1954-1973 Brian Hocking
1973-1978 George E. Ball
1978-1979 Ronald H. Gooding (Acting Chair)
1979-1984 George E. Ball
1984-1989 Beverly K. Mitchell
1989-1994 Ronald H. Gooding

The first professor of the Department of Entomology, and Department Chair from 1922-1954, was Edgar Harold Strickland (1889-1962). He was born in England, and after graduating from a Carnegie scholarship to Harvard, he arrived in Lethbridge in 1913, where he established the Dominion Entomological Lab by himself in the attic of a sheep barn. He fought and was wounded in World War I, and then was recruited to the University of Alberta by Dr. Howes, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture. Strickland initially taught all courses and labs alone. Though unfit for overseas service in World War II, he took military leave from the university and served as Commanding Officer at the Army Basic Training Unit at Wetaskiwin, obtaining the rank of Colonel. He returned at the end of the war, and then set up and ran a veteran rehabilitation program which also provided affordable housing for students and professors. Consequently, he was made honorary president of CURMA (Canadian University Returned Men Association). He was an avid collector of insects, which led to the formation of the E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum, which houses approximately one million specimens. His broad research involved every major pest species in the Canadian prairies and offered cheap and practical recommendations for application. Strickland was, unsurprisingly, the first President of the Entomological Society of Alberta. The University of Alberta continues to honour this great man with the Annual Strickland Memorial Lecture.

Brian Hocking (1914-1974) was the next Department Chair from 1954-1973. He was appointed by Strickland in 1946 to assist him as a professor, and he became Department Chair in 1954. Originally from England like Strickland, he was an entomologist in the Indian Army during World War II, did research with the World Health Organization in Burma on insect-borne diseases, and was an international authority on insect flight and the behaviour and control of blackflies and mosquitoes. During his time at the University of Alberta, he supervised thirty graduate theses. In 1965, he became the first editor of the Quaestiones Entomologicae, a memorial publication in honour of Strickland featuring long-form research. He became President of the Entomological Society of Alberta in 1967 and won the gold medal of the Entomological Society of Canada in 1973.

George E. Ball (b. 1926) was the Department Chair from 1973-1978, and then again from 1979-1984. From 1944-1945, between his M.S. and his Ph. D at Cornell, he served in the United States Marines and received the Purple Heart and the Victory Medal. He began teaching at the University of Alberta in 1954, became a full professor in 1965, and was Department Chair for almost ten years. He advised forty Ph.D. students during his tenure, and became the editor for Quaestiones Entomologicae (which was discontinued in 1990) after Hocking. A world expert on Mexican Carabidae (ground) beetles with over forty years of field work, he was an Entomological Society of America Fellow and an honorary member of the Entomological Societies of Alberta and Canada.
Beverley King Mitchell (b. 1946) was the Department of Entomology’s Chair from 1984-1989. Originally from New Brunswick, he started at the University of Alberta as an assistant professor in 1975 and was a full professor by 1987. His research focused on insect sensory physiology, insect-plant interactions, chemoreception, feeding behaviour, and tsetse fly behaviour. He served as assistant editor of the Bulletin of the Entomological Society of Canada and also as the President of the Entomological Society of Alberta in 1987.

The last Department Chair was Ronald H. Gooding (b. 1936). He, like Strickland, started in Lethbridge as a summer assistant at the Lethbridge Research Station from 1956-1958. Gooding came to the University of Alberta in 1966 to teach medical and veterinary entomology, insect behaviour, and tsetse fly genetics. He was chair from 1978-1979 and from 1989 to the Department’s end in 1994. He also served as the President and Vice-President of the Entomological Society of Alberta and the Director-at-Large of the Entomological Society of Canada. His current research interests are to explore the possibilities for genetic control of tsetse flies.

In addition to teaching the application of scientific principles to the solution of agriculture and forestry problems, and through research, the acquiring of new knowledge ... the Department covers the major fields of entomology [and is] especially mindful of the importance of a strong program of graduate study (PACCR, 1987). Among the aspects of insect biology studied are morphology, development, physiology, genetics, biochemistry, insect/plant relationships and population biology. Heads: 1922-1954 Edgar Harold Strickland; 1954-1969 Brian Hocking. Chairs: 1969-1974 Brian Hocking; 1974-1984 George Eugene Ball; 1984-1989 Beverley K. Mitchell; 1989- Ronald H. Gooding.