MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society will host its annual recognition ceremony beginning at 7 p.m., Oct. 9, in Watkins Auditorium of the Boling University Center. Mike Stockdale, retired director of the wildlife forensics laboratory for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, will serve as keynote speaker.

This ceremony recognizes freshman and sophomore students who excel academically, and the event is open to the public.

Stockdale earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UT Martin in 1971 and 1975, respectively, and has since gained more than 42 years of experience in wildlife forensics. He has served as an expert witness in wildlife forensics for numerous state and federal courts and is a board-certified wildlife forensic scientist through the Society for Wildlife Forensic Sciences.

He retired from his position as director of the wildlife forensics laboratory for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency in 2006 after more than 34 years of service. Stockdale returned to part-time work with the TWRA later that year and currently works as an adjunct instructor in the UT Martin Department of Agriculture, Geosciences and Natural Resources. His current research centers around developing DNA allele frequency databases for white-tailed deer and black bear in Tennessee.

For more information on the UT Martin chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, contact Jason Stout, chapter public relations chair, at <a href="mailto:jstout@utm.edu">jstout@utm.edu</a>.

###

PHOTO ID: Mike Stockdale, retired director of the wildlife forensics laboratory for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, is shown examining a laboratory slide.