J. William Cliburn, Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University of Southern Mississippi, was an adjunct professor at William Carey University for thirteen years. Dr. Cliburn obtained his Masters of Arts degree from the University of Southern Mississippi where he developed his thesis, Distribution and variation of water snakes of the genus Natrix in the state of Mississippi and adjacent Louisiana and Geology. He then obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of Alabama where he continued his research on the genus, Natrix. His dissertation was entitled, The phylogeny and zoology of North American Natrix.
Professor Cliburn spent almost sixty years teaching in high school and college while continuing field research in herpetology and botany throughout Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mexico. He directed research for approximately 30 master degree students and 30 doctoral degree students, and published approximately 50 reviewed papers, 15 non-reviewed systematic keys and laboratory manuals, and 125 technical reports.
In addition, Dr. Cliburn acted as an environmental consultant in the area of rare and threatened biota for twenty-five years (1980-2005).
Dr. Cliburn photographed herps for years and built a personal collection of slides. He graciously made these pictures of reptiles and amphibians available to William Carey University for this website. Dr. Cliburn requested that these be available for web site viewers and only asks that any users of these pictures give him photography credit.
Dr. Cliburn's photos are temporarily unavailable due to a change in server technology from the old website to this new site. Access to his photos will be restored soon.
