Professor, Biology Department
Director, Science Program, Col.Health Professions & Sci.
Phone: 814-871-7637
Office: Z 252
ropski001@gannon.edu
- Biography
- Courses Taught
- Honor Societies
- Professional Societies
- Publications
- Scholarship/Research
- Service
Dr. Ropski is a graduate of Gannon College(78) with a degree in Biology and teaching certification in high school Biology. He then taught high school Biology at Elk County Christian High School In St. Mary's, Pa for one year. He spent 1979-84 at Indiana State University getting his doctorate in Ecology while studying hibernation in the Meadow Jumping Mouse...and met Mrs Ropski who also teaches at Gannon!. Dr. Ropski has been back at his alma mater since 1984. Hobbies include being a referee for college and high school soccer and partipating in shows at the Erie Playhouse (his last one was as Jacob in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat)
Animal Form and Function (Biol 124)
Ecosystem Biology and Evolution and Lab (Biol 126 and 127)
Vertebrate Zoology and Lab (Biol 324 and 325)
Wildlife Management and Lab (Biol 326 and 327)
Ecology of Yellowstone National Park
Advisor to Theta Omega chapter of Tri Beta Biology Honor Society..which has been named the best chapter in the country (out of 383 chapters) 4 times in the past 12 years.
American Society of Mammalogists-life member.
Pennsylvania Academy of Sciences-life memeber.
Tri Beta National Biology Honor Society
Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Wildlife Society-life member and past president.
Most Recent publication is a book entitled "Let Yellowstone Come to You- A Non-tourist Guide to the park"- 2011
My interest is in bats and the effect White Nose Syndrome is having on their numbers. My students and I are currently in the 3rd year of a 5 year project to study the bats on the Gannon campus. We have a set path we walk each day where we locate bats to mark to see if they return to the same spot repeatedly, consist of the same species, and try to determine which buildings are most popular and why. I also have a strong interest in the ecology of Yellowstone National and have taken students out to the park each summer for the past 20 years.
Past President of the Board of Directors of the Erie Playhouse
Treasurer of the NW Pa Chapter of High School Soccer Referees
Chair of CNRAC (Cititzen's Advisory Council to Department of Conservation and Natural Resources)
Reader, Usher, Youth Leader and Instructor at St Stephen's Church