Sharing the office with unusual friends
Daryll DeWald, department head of biology at USU, shares his office space with an 8-foot tall polar bear.
The office, located on the north side of the Biology and Natural Resources (BNR) building, is lined with windows, and DeWald said Matilda, the bear, draws many unsuspecting onlookers.
“When students will come by, they stop and point,” DeWald said. “I just wave.”
Matilda has been a feature of the biology department head’s office, off and on, for more than a decade. Former department head Butch Brody found the bear in a storage room of the BNR and brought it to his office.
“It was so dirty I couldn’t tell if it was a polar bear or a brown bear,” Brody said.
After Brody’s term as department head, the bear was given to the Natural Resources building, only to be reclaimed by DeWald soon after being appointed head of biology four years ago.
“There was a flurry of e-mails about how the bear had been stolen from NR,” Dewald said.
Credit for killing the bear, however, belongs to Lester C. Essig, a former USU professor and World War II veteran who shot the bear with a bow and arrow when he was 14 in the icy waters of James Bay, Canada. Essig’s autobiographical account of the event appeared in the May 1940 issue of Outdoor Life magazine, a copy of which remains with Matilda in the biology department head office.
Brody said that one day when he was department head, he noticed a group of people outside on the sidewalk, looking at the bear. The group turned out to be Essig’s children and, after visiting with Brody and Matilda, they sent a copy of the magazine to the department.
Matilda is not the only animal in DeWald’s office, however. Above the door is a stuffed bird and a fossilized fish sits on the bookshelf behind DeWald’s desk. DeWald, a father of three, is an outdoors man and said he enjoys camping, fishing and hunting – although he doesn’t see himself ever getting a bear of his own.
“I’m just barely smart enough not to shoot a polar bear with a bow,” DeWald said.
DeWald has a high respect for bears and has encountered a number of them in the wild. One such experience, he said, was “just about as frightening an experience as you’ll have.”
DeWald came to USU 14 years ago as an assistant professor, after attending Texas A&M and UC San Diego. Now, as department head, he oversees a program with 800 undergraduate and 60 graduate students. Many of his students have worked with him in his lab, researching breast cancer metastasis and plant stress physiology. DeWald is also involved in a number of other labs on campus and projects with USTAR.
“I don’t know how he pulls off what he pulls off,” said Yvonne Kobe, academic adviser for biology.
Even while wearing his many hats on campus, DeWald said he tries to keep interaction open with his students. He knows many of the graduate students personally and continues to teach a couple of small courses.
“In that way I get to be a professor,” DeWald said. “I really enjoy the students and having that connection.”
Kobe said DeWald offers many opportunities to students through his lab projects and is willing to talk to students, faculty and staff.
“He is a very approachable person,” Kobe said.
DeWald has also remained involved in the community. He coached soccer for 11 years and now sits on the board of a local soccer league.
As for Matilda, the bear has become an icon of the biology apartment.
“That bear is a connection of a lot of people over time,” DeWald said.
Still, not everything about the bear is strictly professional. Matilda can be quite festive and normally during this time of year she stands adorned in cap and gown.
“Until the last couple of years, she would wear all sorts of holiday apparel,” DeWald said.
Brody said, “There’s been all sorts of crazy stuff with that bear.”
– b.c.wood@aggiemail.usu.edu