{"id":161352,"date":"2025-09-17T10:41:52","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T14:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=161352"},"modified":"2025-09-17T10:41:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T14:41:52","slug":"2024-25-frederick-a-white-distinguished-professor-of-professional-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2025\/09\/17\/2024-25-frederick-a-white-distinguished-professor-of-professional-service\/","title":{"rendered":"2024\u201325 Frederick A. White Distinguished Professor of Professional Service"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Volker Bahn, associate professor of biological sciences.<\/p><\/div>\n

Volker Bahn, Ph.D., associate professor of biological sciences, has made a lasting impact on Wright State University through his commitment to the environment, university service and academic leadership.<\/p>\n

For his wide-ranging contributions \u2014 from preserving the Wright State woods to serving in faculty governance and supporting global science \u2014 Bahn has been named the 2024\u201325 Frederick A. White Distinguished Professor of Professional Service.<\/p>\n

In his 17 years at Wright State, Bahn has distinguished himself through consistent excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. His work engages people across disciplines and communities, from local students to international researchers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough his professional service, Volker engages diverse peoples at many levels of community and academia, ranging from the local community to the global scientific community,\u201d said Jeffrey Peters, Ph.D., professor and associate chair of the Department of Biological Sciences<\/a>. \u201cHe is passionate about his conservation efforts and invests a lot of physical, mental and emotional energy into them.\u201d<\/p>\n

An advocate for the preservation of the Wright State woods, Bahn works to ensure this natural resource remains a living laboratory for students and faculty across disciplines. He also co-organizes the annual Runkle Woods Symposium, which celebrates research tied to the campus woods.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe woods are one of our university\u2019s core resources,\u201d said Ay\u015fe \u015eahin, Ph.D., dean of the College of Science and Mathematics<\/a>, \u201chome to some of the oldest growth forests in the state and a core research facility for environmental scientists locally and globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bahn also serves on the development committee for the Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies, the ad-hoc exploratory chair search committee and on committees for several graduate students.<\/p>\n

Beyond his environmental work, Bahn plays an active role in shared governance, serving as vice president of Wright State\u2019s AAUP-AFT chapter since 2024. As treasurer from 2021 to 2023, he went above and beyond by continuing to teach his full course load instead of using the standard course release, prioritizing student learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cVolker\u2019s efforts helped to ensure fair and safe working environments for faculty, staff and students,\u201d Peters said. \u201cHe has often served as a voice for our faculty, including underrepresented minoritized faculty, as part of this role and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bahn\u2019s service extends beyond Wright State. He is an associate editor of the peer-reviewed journal Global Ecology and Biogeography and a member of the editorial board of PeerJ, a journal focused on the biological and medical sciences.<\/p>\n

He also leads Greene County bird counts, has mentored youth, served on the Rotary Peace Council at Sinclair Community College and maintains an ongoing relationship with the Rainforest Alliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis expertise and professional service bring recognition of Wright State at an international scale,\u201d Peters said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Volker Bahn, associate professor of biological sciences, is a champion of conservation whose impact stretches from the Wright State campus woods to international ecological research. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":161467,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,724,2064,2023,711,725,715,2402,746],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-awards","category-biology","category-faculty","category-faculty-staff","category-home-news-sidebar","category-news","category-presidents-awards-for-excellence","category-science-mathematics","series-faculty-awards-for-excellence-2024-25"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161352"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161550,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161352\/revisions\/161550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}