Department of Ecosystem Science & Management

Dr. Hatch is a Professor of Plant Taxonomy in the Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management, Texas A&M University. He received both his B.S. (1970) in Range Science and M.S. (1972) in Botany from Utah State University , and his Ph.D. (1975) in Grass Taxonomy at Texas A&M University. He was a Visiting Assistant Professor (1974) and postdoctoral fellow (1975) at Texas A&M University. From 1976-1979 he was on the faculty of the Department of Animal and Range Sciences at New Mexico State University as an Assistant Professor. He joined the Texas A&M faculty again in 1979 as an Assistant Professor; was promoted to Associate Professor in 1983 and to Professor in 1990. Current teaching responsibilities at the graduate and undergraduate level include courses in agrostology, rangeland plant taxonomy, and wetland plant taxonomy.Teaching also includes workshops on the taxonomy and identification of grasses, sedges, rushes, and other important rangeland plant families. Part of his teaching efforts include: curation of the S.M. Tracy Herbarium, involvement with the Flora of Texas Consortium, and teaching faculty and graduate students about herbarium use (vouchers and identification). His curatorial responsibilities include directing growth of the herbarium collection, exchange and loan programs and service plant identifications. Dr. Hatch has conducted research in Kenya, Germany, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, as well as in the U.S. His focus is both in floristic and systematics where he is engaged in the development of herbarium information for the public on the Internet as well as traditional publications. His research area is primarily in grass systematics.