The Center for Research on Vermont is pleased to announce that University of Vermont (UVM) Professor Emeritus of Botany Hubert “Hub” Vogelmann has received the center’s Lifetime Achievement Award, according to Director Robert Rodgers. Vogelmann of Jericho, Vt., was inducted as the recipient of the award for his enduring contributions to research vital to the state and citizens of Vermont. He received the honor at the center’s annual meeting on May 1, 2009, at UVM.
    At the award ceremony, Walter Poleman, senior lecturer in the UVM Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and associate director of the Field Naturalist Program, paid tribute to Vogelmann’s many achievements in Vermont research. Noting that ecologists often evaluate the health of natural systems based on their regenerative properties, Poleman said that the center honors Hub Vogelmann not for his research on Vermont alone but also for his legacy, which, like the ecosystems he studies, is truly regenerative. He paid particular attention to Vogelmann’s fieldwork in the upper elevations of the Green Mountains during the 1960s, which helped establish areas above 2,500 feet as unique and fragile environments, worthy of special protection under Act 250. In addition, his data documenting the changes in vegetation that occur with elevation have been used as critical baseline information for present-day researchers examining the impacts of climate change.
    Outside of Vermont, Dr. Vogelmann is probably best known for his groundbreaking research into the impacts of acid rain on forests. Working with a cadre of graduate students, he was the first to establish the link between spruce decline and emissions from industrial sources in the Midwest.  His findings helped establish guidelines for the Clean Air Act and set the stage for acid rain research throughout the Northeast.
    Hub Vogelmann’s legacy is not limited to the world of science but reverberates deeply through the realms of education and conservation. During his years as chair of the UVM Botany Department, he founded and nurtured the Field Naturalist Graduate Program, a distinctive master’s program in integrated field science designed to train tomorrow’s conservation leaders. As a founder of the Vermont chapter of the Nature Conservancy, Vogelmann also was a leader in establishing the system of UVM Natural Areas, which includes special landscapes like Shelburne Pond and Colchester Bog that harbor unique examples of Vermont’s biological diversity and provide unparalleled outdoor classrooms for UVM researchers and students.
    A native of Buffalo, N.Y., Vogelmann graduated from Heidelberg College, Ohio, with a bachelor’s degree in biology. He received his master’s and doctorate in plant ecology from the University of Michigan in 1955. He began his career at UVM as an instructor in 1955, and subsequently spent 36 years as a member of the UVM faculty, retiring in 1991. “All of us—Center members,  Vermont researchers, and everyone interested in Vermont—have numerous excellent reasons for recognizing Dr. Vogelmann’s long-time contributions to the state,” said Center Director Rodgers at the May 1 award ceremony.
    The Center for Research on Vermont, established in 1975 by University of Vermont faculty with Vermont-related teaching and research interests, is today an interdisciplinary network joining like-minded persons from all manner of Vermont institutions and professions—government, K–12 education, social services, the media, museums and other cultural entities, colleges and universities, and independent scholars. The scholarly community whom the Center represents feels a special commitment and responsibility to develop and pursue opportunities for research on Vermont. The Center seeks to facilitate these activities and enhance public awareness of the need, possibility, and significance of such scholarly work, demonstrating the University of Vermont’s attention and responsiveness in a uniquely important area.

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