The test of time
Axtell reflects on 47 years of teaching at SIUE
Holly Meyer
Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: 50th Anniversary Special Edition
Biological Sciences Professor Ralph Axtell has taught at SIUE for 47 of its 50 years of existence.
Just three years shy of being at the birth of the university, Axtell is SIUE's longest working employee.
Axtell began teaching biological sciences at SIUE on the Alton campus - what was Shurtleff College and what is now the School of Dental Medicine. He said he taught one semester at the East St. Louis campus.
With a master's in botany and zoology and a doctorate in paleontology and zoology, Axtell has been interested in science almost his whole life.
His interest started when he was young and playing in an alleyway in Texas.
"For some reason or the other, we started picking up stuff, cardboard boxes, and underneath there were all of these snakes," Axtell said. "And, I got interested in finding out what these snakes were."
By the time he was in college, Axtell was capturing rattlesnakes with a snake catcher he fashioned himself.
As a part of his master's thesis, Axtell was the first to describe a lizard he had found that had never been identified before. Since then, Axtell has described a total of six lizards.
After earning his doctorate in 1958, Axtell eventually took the job at SIUE with a promise of a rapidly growing campus and doctoral program within the next decade.
When Axtell moved from Texas to Illinois in 1960, the Edwardsville campus was basically nonexistent.
Around 100 people owned the 2,660 acres of property that make up the Edwardsville campus. The core part of the campus was farmland owned by the Freund family, according to University Archivist Steve Kerber.
The owner of the Freund property was not exactly pleased the university planners were considering his property for a campus.
Kerber said Freund was upset by the frequent helicopter trips over his property by the planners of the university, saying helicopters disturbed the horses on the farm.
Axtell was one of the people offered a helicopter ride over the proposed site for the university.
Just three years shy of being at the birth of the university, Axtell is SIUE's longest working employee.
Axtell began teaching biological sciences at SIUE on the Alton campus - what was Shurtleff College and what is now the School of Dental Medicine. He said he taught one semester at the East St. Louis campus.
With a master's in botany and zoology and a doctorate in paleontology and zoology, Axtell has been interested in science almost his whole life.
His interest started when he was young and playing in an alleyway in Texas.
"For some reason or the other, we started picking up stuff, cardboard boxes, and underneath there were all of these snakes," Axtell said. "And, I got interested in finding out what these snakes were."
By the time he was in college, Axtell was capturing rattlesnakes with a snake catcher he fashioned himself.
As a part of his master's thesis, Axtell was the first to describe a lizard he had found that had never been identified before. Since then, Axtell has described a total of six lizards.
After earning his doctorate in 1958, Axtell eventually took the job at SIUE with a promise of a rapidly growing campus and doctoral program within the next decade.
When Axtell moved from Texas to Illinois in 1960, the Edwardsville campus was basically nonexistent.
Around 100 people owned the 2,660 acres of property that make up the Edwardsville campus. The core part of the campus was farmland owned by the Freund family, according to University Archivist Steve Kerber.
The owner of the Freund property was not exactly pleased the university planners were considering his property for a campus.
Kerber said Freund was upset by the frequent helicopter trips over his property by the planners of the university, saying helicopters disturbed the horses on the farm.
Axtell was one of the people offered a helicopter ride over the proposed site for the university.
Be the first to comment on this story