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Congratulations to Isaac Stewart, associate professor of biology, for winning a National Association of Biology Teachers award!
The Prof. Chan Two-Year College Award for the Engaged Teaching of Biology is given to a faculty member who demonstrates the impact of their “professional commitment on a wider student population (beyond the students in their classroom).”
“My favorite irony is that I received notification of this award while out in the field leading a group of adventure field trip attendees exploring the biodiversity of my field sites where I conduct my insect survey research,” Stewart said.
“I think this exemplifies my view of teaching in that there is nothing more valuable than the immersive experience to help learners grow,” he said.
Stewart – an entomologist specializing in bumble bee diversity and decline in the United States – has taught at the East Campus since 2015.
Isaac Stewart and BHC biology students working on a bee inventory research project in February 2020.
He has worked with his biology students to study the bee population at Illiniwek Forest Preserve in Hampton, IL., and supervised his students’ research at Green River Lowland preserve in Lee County, IL. Since 2020, he and his students have conducted insect surveys at the preserve.
“Every field season yields new, fascinating versions of what the invertebrate world has to offer,” he said.
He gives community presentations about less well-known insect species that make valuable contributions to thriving ecosystems in some unusual ways.
Stewart also is a board member of the Illinois Audubon Society.
About Isaac Stewart
Isaac Stewart has always been fascinated with insects, exhausting every book his local library had on the creatures and seizing every opportunity to learn as much as possible. Growing up in Dixon, IL, there also was no shortage of opportunities to work on prairie recreation efforts at Nachusa Grasslands and the Green River State Wildlife Area.
As a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Entomology, he spent his undergraduate and graduate careers working on a variety of research projects focused bumble bee diversity and decline across the United States.
After being honored with the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation Fellowship in 2009, teaching became his life’s work. Stewart taught biology at Fisher Jr./Sr. High School in rural Fisher, IL, for five years before coming to Black Hawk College.
Stewart educates his students in the classroom, laboratory and field on the ecological importance of native pollinators, especially bumble bees. Teaching diverse courses such as introductory biology, general biology, human anatomy and physiology, and environmental science has allowed him to implement a wide variety of research-based teaching strategies that engage his students.
Issac Stewart and friends John Maddux, a biology teacher at Festus High School in Missouri, and Jim Lane, a biology teacher at Mahtomedi High School in Minnesota, at the 2025 NABT Professional Development Conference in St. Louis.