Taylor Steeves

Master Teacher Award - Fall 1990

Taylor A. Steeves, a native of Massachusetts, USA, came to the University of Saskatchewan in 1959 after completing his formal education at the University of Massachusetts, Harvard University and the University of Manchester and holding postdoctoral and junior faculty positions at Harvard.

His field of specialization is plant structure and development but his teaching responsibilities in the Department of Biology have included general biology, the anatomy, development and evolution of plants and economic botany. His research has focused on several aspects of plant development with particular emphasis on the application of experimental methods and he has directed a number of graduate students in this field.

He is co-author of a text on plant development and also of an introductory botany text. In 1990 the University of Saskatchewan honoured him as a Master Teacher and in 1992 awarded him the degree of Doctor of Science in recognition of his research.

He served as Head of the Department of Biology from 1976 to 1981 and as Acting Head in 1987-88 and was named Rawson Professor in 1985. He was the Editor of the Botanical Gazette from 1968 to 1974 and Editor of the Canadian Journal of Botany from 1979 to 1988. He has chaired the NSERC Grant Selection Committee on Scientific Publications and the NRC Advisory Board on Scientific and Engineering Communications. He has been an active member of the Canadian Botanical Association since its inception and served as its President in 1973. That association awarded him its Lawson Medal in 1978 and Mary E. Elliott Award in 1990 and made him an honourary Life Member in 1994. In 1996 the Botanical Society of America elected him a Corresponding Member. In 1981 the College of Emmanuel St. Chad awarded him with an honourary Doctor of Canon Law degree in recognition of his service to the College and in 1998 he received an honourary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Guelph. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada since 1971. He retired from the University of Saskatchewan in 1994 and is now Professor Emeritus of Biology.