FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 31, 2019
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Lake Texoma, Oklahoma – At the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Association of Parasitologists, three Peru State College alumni, Dr. Heather Stigge, Dr. Joanna Cielocha and Dr. Autumn Smith-Herron, were elected officers of the organization. Stigge was elected President, Ceilocha was elected President-Elect, and Smith-Herron was elected Secretary-Treasurer.
The Southwestern Association of Parasitologists describes its mission as, “. . . the advancement of the disciplines of parasitology, promotion of parasitological research and teaching, provide for informal discussion of research and teaching in parasitology, and fellowship among workers in parasitology and allied fields.”
According to the Associatoin’s constitution, the offices of President-Elect and Secretary-Treasurer are chosen by a simple majority of members. The President-Elect becomes President at the end of the position’s term.
The 52nd Annual Meeting of SWAP was held in April at the University of Oklahoma Biological Station (UOBS) located at Lake Texoma, Kingston, Oklahoma. In addition to election of officers, there was a competition for best oral presentations by students in the field of parasitology.
From left to right: Dr. Autumn Smith-Herron, Dr. Heather Stigge, Dr. Kirsten Jensen, and Dr. Joanna Cielocha.
Stigge is currently an assistant professor of biology at the College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Nebraska. She received a bachelor’s degree in natural sciences from Peru State College in 2008. She went on to earn a master’s in biology from Sam Houston State University and a Ph.D. in zoology parasitology from Oklahoma State University.
Cielocha is currently an assistant professor of biology at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri and is a former assistant professor of biology at Peru State. She received her bachelor’s in natural science from Peru State College in 2006. She also earned a master’s in biological sciences from Sam Houston State University and a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Kansas. Her research interests focus on the discovery of diversity and evolutionary relationships of parasites. And more specifically tapeworms which parasitize sharks and rays.
Smith-Herron is currently a research scientist and adjunct professor at Sam Houston State University and campus director at the Texas Invasive Species Institute. She received her bachelor’s in biological science from Peru State in 2002. She later received her master’s in biological science from Sam Houston State University and a Ph.D. in wildlife science from Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Smith-Herron specializes in host/parasite ecology as well as the epidemiology of parasitic diseases transmitted from introduced to native species.
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