Rate My Professor Janis Bush

Janis Bush is Professor and Chair of the Department of Biology, Health, and the Environment in the College of Sciences at the University of Texas at San Antonio. A longtime UTSA faculty member and alumna, she began her studies there as a freshman in the summer of 1977, earning a B.S. in Biology in 1981 and an M.S. in Biology in 1984. After her master's degree, Bush worked as a research associate at Texas A&M University before returning to UTSA in 1985 as fixed-term track faculty. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering from the University of Texas at El Paso in 2002 and began her tenure-track position in 2004. She has held leadership roles, including 18 months as Associate Dean, and chairs the department following its elevation to full status in 2017. Her research specializes in plant ecology, conservation biology, and environmental statistics, with studies on woody plant encroachment into grasslands, forest dynamics in deserts, tallgrass prairies, and woodlands, effects of forest management on small mammals and herpetofauna, and a statewide survey of monarch butterflies and milkweed for the State of Texas.

Bush secured a $500,000 National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education award for the ASSIST project (2018-2021), which trains diverse graduate students in environmental science through holistic mentoring, scientific writing, and public communication to foster leadership in STEM. She directs programs such as TREE/EYE for underrepresented minorities in conservation and natural resources and contributes to initiatives like the Tuggle Scholars. Key publications include "Growth and survival of Prosopis glandulosa seedlings associated with shade and herbaceous competition" (Botanical Gazette, 1990), "Growth of Prosopis glandulosa in response to changes in aboveground and belowground interference" (Ecology, 1997), "Woody plant growth related to planting time and clipping of a C_4 grass" (Ecology, 1995), "Invasion of Woody Legumes" (book, 2013), "Assessment of the Allelopathic Potential of Juniperus ashei on Germination and Growth of Bouteloua curtipendula" (Journal of Chemical Ecology, 2009), and "Rhododendron maximum impacts seed bank composition and richness following Tsuga canadensis loss in riparian forests" (Forest Ecology and Management, 2018). Her work informs environmental management and student mentorship has produced successful scientists. In 2025, she delivered the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society Last Lecture.