Dr. Alvin Diamond, Professor of Biology and Director of the Arboretum, has been awarded Troy University’s Wallace D. Malone, Jr. Distinguished Faculty Award.
The award, which acknowledges exceptional faculty members who through teaching, meritorious and selfless service and research transform vision into reality, was presented during the University’s annual Chancellor’s Faculty/Staff Convocation on Thursday in the Claudia Crosby Theater on the Troy Campus.
The award consists of a $1,500 cash prize, a medallion to be worn with academic regalia and a specially designed commemorative award. The award is made possible through a $100,000 endowment by the SouthTrust Corporation. Wallace Malone, former chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of SouthTrust, served as a TROY Trustee from 1975 to 1995.
“It is a great honor,” Diamond said. “I think it was Billy Joel who said, ‘the only thing you can truly claim are your mistakes’. I didn’t do this by myself. There are all the people who inspired me, helped me, and kept me going through the years on all these different projects. It makes you think about how blessed you are to have good friends, good colleagues and good administrators that helped to get you to where you’re at. I’m grateful for all those people who have helped and supported me along the way.”
Diamond, now in his 36th year of service to the University, earned his bachelor’s degree from TROY (’84), and his master’s (’87) and Ph.D. (’06) from Auburn University. He serves a program advisor for General Biology and Ecology & Field Biology and has taught courses in Organismal Biology, General Ecology, Population Ecology, Field Vertebrate Zoology and Entomology. His research interests include distribution and ecology of rare plant species, plant and animal interactions and floral and faunal surveys.
Diamond has been instrumental in the restoration of Troy University’s Arboretum, as well as upgrades and expansion of the TROY Herbarium.
In 2019, Diamond, along with Dr. Michael Woods, received a $195,359 grant from the National Science Foundation for the project, “Alabama’s Biodiversity Heritage: Expanding and Promoting Access and Use of a Regional Important Botanical Collection.” The project doubled the capacity of the University’s herbarium, located in the Math and Science Complex. The Troy University Herbarium, which was initially established in 1954 before falling dormant in 1988, was re-established in 1997 by Diamond and Woods. Today, as one of the fastest growing herbaria in the Southeast, it represents the largest collection of plant specimens from the Wiregrass region of the state.
Spearheading the restoration of the arboretum has been a special project for Diamond.
“It has been rewarding because when I was initially hired here, I was hired as the arboretum director,” Diamond said of the project.
Grants from the Wiregrass Resource, Conservation and Development Council, Bass Pro Shops & Cabela’s, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama’s Charitable Giving Program, Walmart and the Alabama Audubon Society have helped to fund the restoration project.
In 2024, under Diamond’s leadership, the arboretum was recognized by the Alabama Forestry Commission as the official home of a Champion Tree, housing the largest pond pine tree in Alabama, was added as a designated stop on the Alabama Birding Trails, and was selected by NASA to receive a “Moon Tree” seedling that flew around the moon on the 2022 Artemis I mission. The arboretum also received donation of an all-terrain wheelchair from the Hank Poore Foundation.
