Biographical Text
Professor Emerita of Biology Marie Leach Hicks (March 30, 1928-) was born in Vacaville, California. She graduated from Appalachian State University with a B.S. degree (1963) in biology and general science and an M.A. degree in biology, with a minor in junior college teaching (1964). She was a member of Beta Beta Beta Biology Society and the Alpha Chi Honor Society. Hicks received a graduate fellowship for one year at Appalachian State University and attended the University of Tennessee on a two-year scholarship from the National Aeronautics Space Administration. Graduating cum laude, she received a Ph.D. degree in botany, with a minor in geology, from the University of Tennessee (1972). Professor Hicks began her teaching career as a graduate assistant at Appalachian State University (1963-64). From 1964 to 1966, she taught biology, botany, zoology, and comparative anatomy at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina. In 1967, she coordinated the science program for the Walker County Department of Education in Lafayette, Georgia, and was the science demonstration teacher for twenty-one county schools. From 1969 to 1970, Dr. Hicks taught botany, ecology, plant morphology, and taxonomy at Randolph-Macon Women's College, Lynchburg, Virginia. Her appointment to Appalachian State University came in 1973, and she was tenured in March of 1979. Dr. Hicks has been professionally affiliated with the International Association of Plant Taxonomists, the American Bryological Society, the Southern Appalachian Botanical Club, the American Fern Society, and the Association of Southeastern Biologists. Her research activities have included the preparation of a list of the flora of Stone Mountain, North Carolina; work on an illustrated manual of liverworts of western North Carolina; and making collections to add to the distribution records of the "Vascular Flora of North Carolina." Hicks' publications have included: • "Range Extension for Buxbaumia Minakatae" Bryologist (1969) • "Studies of the Oil Bodies in Some Southern Appalachian Leafy Liverworts" ASU Bulletin (1973) • "Marginal Gemmae in Frullania Eboracencis" Bryologist (1974) • "Some Interesting Bryophytes from Stone Mountain State Park, North Carolina" ASU Bulletin (1976) • "Lophozia heterocolpa, New Disjunct for North Carolina" Bryologist (1976) • "Quadrat Studies of Hymenophyllaceae Populations and Their Bryophytic Associates in the Southern Appalachians" ASU Bulletin (1979) • "Liverworts of the Mountains of North Carolina." Center for Instructional Development, Appalachian State University (1983) • "Megaceros (Anthocerotae) in the Southern Appalachians" ASU Bulletin (1984) • "Geographic Affinities of Some North Queensland Liverworts" Jour. Aust. Sys. Bot. Soc. (1987) • "Some Rare, Endemic and Disjunct Liverworts in North Carolina." Castanea (1989) • "Rare Liverworts of Southern Appalachian Mountain Peaks." In USDI National Park Service Abstracts of the 15th Annual Science Meeting, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Southeastern Region, Department of the Interior, 1989. • "Porella Wataugenisis (Sufi.) Home in the Southern Appalachians." Castanea (1990) • Seapania in Queensland, Australia." Journ. Hattori Botanical Lab (1992) • "A New Species of Cronisia Berkely (Corsiniaceae) from Mexico." Tropical Bryology (1993) Dr. Hicks retired from Appalachian State University in 1991 and was awarded emerita status in June 1991. She currently serves on the editorial committee for the Flora of North America and is participating in the Conservation States Survey for North Carolina. She has four children, Marie (April 10, 1949-), Jessica (January 27, 1955-), John (July 4, 1957-), and Lucinda (October 13, 1965-). Sources: Appalachian State University files. -Dr. Richard Howe
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