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Today's Featured Biography
Butch Dronen
Howdy from the Dronens in Texas. We hope this update finds you and yours happy, healthy and safe.
Well, let’s see; as a number of us did, I attended Olympic Jr. College in Bremerton after graduating from SHS. Nancy Brooks, finished her nursing degree in 1966, we were married (1967), and moved to Cheney, Washington, where I finished my Bachelor’s degree (1968). Nancy worked as a nurse in Cheney at a local nursing home; while I was a teaching assistant in biology and worked at a janitorial job. Just prior to my graduation from Eastern, Nancy and I had our first child, Philip (I say “Nancy and I”; Nancy did all the work, and certainly bore the brunt of the pain).
We remained in Cheney another two years to finish a Master of Science (1970); at which time Nancy had our second son, Douglas (notice a pattern here: 1 degree = 1 kid; 2 degrees = 2 kids).
Anyway, we were fortunate to get to spend two really great summers (1970 & 1971) at the University of Michigan Biological Station at Douglas Lake, Michigan; the first year taking classes and the second teaching. In August of 1970, we moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where I finished a Ph.D. in 1974, and (you know this is coming right; and I’m suppose to be a biologist) Nancy gave me a beautiful little girl, Roberta, just before graduation. Fortunately, I did not go on for any more degrees, so we only have the three children. Nancy again worked as a nurse during our stay in Las Cruces; first at the hospital and later in a doctor’s office. New Mexico State University (NMSU) has a very neat tradition of honoring one of the wives (or husbands) of a graduating Ph. D. student who worked to help their spouse through school. At my graduation, Nancy was awarded a PHT (Putting Hubby Through) degree. One of the few times I managed to surprise my wife. While at New Mexico State, I had the opportunity to be involved in some marine research in the Gulf of California, so during 1970-1972, I spent my inter-semester time at the University of Arizona Facility at Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico.
In the spring of 1974, I started a Post Doc at New Mexico State University in which, I taught and served as Director of the Invertebrate Section of the Desert Biome Project. In the summer, I remained head of the Desert Biome Invertebrate Research Initiative, and was honored to be named Editor of the Desert Biome Annual Report.
The job market was very tight for new graduates at the time of my graduation from NMSU, but I was extremely lucky, and had the unusual good fortune to be offered three jobs. We decided to go to Texas A&M University (TAMU) in College Station; and apparently, we liked it there, as despite opportunities to leave, we are still here. Nancy worked as a nurse for a number of years in College Station, but some 10 years ago, we decided that she would retire and stay at home to be more of a part of our kids’ and our grandkids’ lives. Yes, grandkids. We have all three of our children living from a few blocks to a mile or so from us. Phil has 4 daughters; Doug has a girl friend that he has been going with for several years now, but is still not married; and Roberta is married and has a son.
While a faculty member here at TAMU, Nancy and I have had some very fulfilling and exciting opportunities. I was named an Invited Research Scientist by the Academy of Sciences of the People's Republic of China, and spent time in China in 1987. In 1997, I was invited by Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt to help set up a research program in the Red Sea, so Nancy and I lived there for a short time. In 1998, I was asked to serve as an invited scientist at the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia, Laboratorio de Ecologia del Bentos, Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico and participate in their marine research efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2003, I was an invited scientist in Systematics, Ecology & Molecular Biology at the Natural History Museum, London, UK, where Nancy and I lived for a time. During April of that same year, we were afforded the opportunity to visit a number of universities and museums in the rest of Europe, where we spent a month or so traveling from place to place. In 2004, I served as an invited scientist at the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology, the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska.
For the present, we are in College Station, where I teach, serve as an editor of an international journal (Zootaxa), and carry on my research. In 2010, I will be 65 and could retire, but I really enjoy my job, and I expect I will remain active in teaching and research for some time yet.
Well, that is the short version of life since high school for us, but over the years, my time with you all at SHS will always be one of my most memorable times.
Thanks, Butch
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