After 20 years of service to the Department and University, Dr. Stephen Secor officially retired at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year. Dr. Secor has enjoyed a long and outstanding career that has covered four decades in the field of Comparative Physiology. Stephen earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1992. Following a time as a post-doctoral and research scientist in the Department of Physiology at UCLA, Stephen became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Mississippi. After three years in Mississippi, he made the move to the University of Alabama in 2001 where he rose through the ranks, earning tenure 2006 and promoted to full professor in 2014. During this period, Stephen contributed to the Department through his teaching, extensive research, and service to the University and the community. One area of service that stands out above all was the extensive outreach program that he developed of the years where is educated K-12 student about behaviors and physiology of reptiles.  Many of our alumni have interacted with Dr. Secor at the homecoming football games where you may have seen or even held one of several of his laboratory snakes as he explained to you their feeding behavior and physiology. His passion for these animals was well known across the University and his research community. He will be missed in the Department.

Here are some of Stephen’s many accomplishments that span his career:

• Authored or coauthored over 80 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters
• Received numerous research awards
• Served as Associate Editor for Physiological and Biochemical Zoology
• Served as an Editorial Board Member for International Journal of Zoology
• Served on numerous College and University Committees