KNOXVILLE — Dr. Susan Riechert is this year’s recipient of the University of Tennessee’s L. R. Hesler Award.
The award, named for the long-time UT professor and administrator, is given by the UT National Alumni Association for outstanding teaching and research and concern for students.
Riechert is a UT Distinguished Service Professor in ecology and evolutionary biology and is recognized for her research on spiders.
Hesler was a botanist, long-time head of the botany department and former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. After Hesler’s death, former students, colleagues and friends established the award in his honor.
Riechert came to UT in 1973 after receiving her doctoral degree in zoology at the University of Wisconsin. She was a visiting professor at the University of Sussex in 1981-82 and a visiting scholar at the University of California-Berkeley in 1986.