David Hillier, professor of biology, joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) in 1971 and 30 years later has not lost his love for being in the field with his students.

"One of my passions has been working in the field and sharing my knowledge of plant communities," said Hillier. "The greatest thing about my years at UWSP has been the opportunity to work with so many great students and biological colleagues."

During retirement, Dave is eager to "go places where people don�t go," but his wife Margaret would like to visit places that attract people too. They certainly will be doing some traveling, especially to high altitudes and high latitudes if the alpine ecologist has his way.

Hillier has only been overseas once, but that trip left a strong impression. At the end of 1997, he visited Tanzania and Mount Kilimanjaro on a trip led by fellow faculty member, Hans Schabel, and the dream of exotic travel has been strong ever since. Wherever they go, the Hilliers intend to keep their home in Plover and maintain their ties to the community and the university.

Although he is field oriented, Hillier has not shunned the technology wave in the sciences. In 1998 he was instrumental in establishing a UW System botanical images Web site. BotWeb is a collaborative effort of botanists and computer experts from UWSP and five other UW System schools aimed at promoting education about plants everywhere.

"Computers have transformed my discipline, " said Hillier. "And a lot of the excitement of my academic life has come from trying to use them effectively in the classroom."

A Wyoming native, Hillier received a bachelor�s degree from Haverford College and a doctorate in botany from Duke University. Prior to joining UWSP, he taught at Erskine College in Due West, S.C.

In 1985 he set out to learn enough to be useful to his peers in applying computers to science instruction. A year later, he took sabbatical leave to study at Oregon State University to develop microcomputer simulations for an ecological curriculum. That experience led directly into computer retraining at UWSP in 1987 and great involvement in academic computing ever since. Last year he was honored by his colleagues with the biology department service award.

Hillier is a member of the Ecological Society of America, Society of Sigma Xi (scientific research society), the Botanical Club of Wisconsin and the Audubon and Wilderness societies.

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