Pike named FMU’s 2023-2024 Distinguished Professor

Lisa Pike, Professor of Biology, was named the J. Lorin Mason Distinguished Professor at Francis Marion University for the 2023-2024 academic year at an awards ceremony held Thursday evening at the FMU Performing Arts Center in downtown Florence.

The Distinguished Professor Award is the highest honor bestowed upon a faculty member at FMU. The annual award is named in honor of a former chairman of the FMU Board of Trustees.

Pike joined the Biology faculty at Francis Marion in 1993. During her tenure at the university, she received the FMU Excellence in Teaching Award in 2005, the FMU Faculty Service Award in 2017, and was named a McNair Institute Fellow (Sustainability) for 2023-2024. She also served as a delegate to the 2023 Sustainability Development Congress in Saudia Arabia, is a member of the South Carolina Sea Grant Advisory Board, and serves on the City of Florence Resilience and Sustainability Advisory Committee. She teaches Environmental, Human, and Cell/Molecular Biology and Marine Ecology, as well as special topics courses.

She is the forty-ninth recipient of the award. Pike earned the Bachelor of Science in Biology from Binghamton University, the Master of Science in Marine Biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and a post-graduate Diploma of Science in Tropical Marine Ecology from the James Cook University of North Queensland, Australia.

The Distinguished Professor Award is based upon a faculty member’s contributions to teaching, professional service, and scholarly activities.

Since 1993, Pike has had over twenty peer-reviewed published articles and has presented at numerous regional and national academic conferences. She has also received over $250,000 of funding from external agency grants. Pike’s research and service has been on supporting K-12 students and teachers in developing science education. In 2015, she designed the Palmetto Environmental Education Certification Program, a professional development program for science teachers across the state.

FMU President Fred Carter praised Pike for her contributions to the university.

“Lisa is richly deserving of this honor. She has been an integral part of building our biology department over the past three decades and is deeply devoted to her students through her teaching and research. Beyond all of this, she is regarded as one of the most collegial and collaborative faculty members in the state. We are all delighted that she is receiving this prestigious award.”