This story is part of a University of Toledo faculty and staff spotlight series, where we feature uplifting stories of the remarkable achievements and contributions of hidden champions who call UToledo home, fostering connections across campus.
Todd Crail is a distinguished university lecturer in Environmental Sciences at the University of Toledo, where he is an associate lecturer and an alumnus. He was previously awarded the Edith Rathbun Service Award and UToledo Teaching Award. He has published multiple articles and given numerous presentations at venues locally, statewide and nationally. He also provides service-learning opportunities for students and the community through planting native plants on campus. The JuicePress team recently interviewed Crail to learn more about his role and contribution to campus.
Q: Tell us a little about yourself. What is your job title here at the university, and how long have you worked at UToledo? Can you summarize what you do in your role?
A: I am currently described as a senior lecturer, but I’m a distinguished university lecturer.
I’ve been in a faculty role for 15 years, and I did seven years of grad school before that, where I was doing a lot of instruction during my grad work as well. My role is undergrad instruction. So, I don’t have a formal tenure-track research program. But then I have in my spare time created, helped students create a project called Greening UToledo Through Service, where we’re putting native plants into campus landscaping. So, that’s essentially how I have created a lab around the work that I am doing.
Q: What kind of native plants do you plant around campus?
A: More familiar ones would be black-eyed Susans and cardinal flower, and then we use things called rattlesnake master and different types of goldenrods, penstemon, iris, different sedges. Lucas County is one of the most speciose and the highest amount of rare plant species in the state of Ohio, and people don’t know that about here. And so it gives us a lot of opportunity for plant species to pick from to use in the landscaping.
Q: What got you interested in environmental science?
A: I was born this way, I think Lady Gaga said. I spoke at a very young age, and so my mom got a window into what I was interested in, and I was always interested in water. I was always interested in leaves on trees, or bugs that are crawling around, all the things. She would try to take me on a walk when I was two, and she just couldn’t get me out of the yard because there was just so much to see right in the yard. Why would we go down to the park? My mom is a saint. She had one rule, which was to go to the basement, and so I could do whatever I wanted outside, but I needed to go straight to the basement and not dirty up her house. And that’s just the way my brain is wired. I didn’t need to have anybody else with me. I didn’t care. I was going to be outside.
Q: What field of research do you focus on primarily with your studies, and what initially sparked your interest in it? What is significant about it for you?
A: In a formal sense, my research was set up around aquatic, North American aquatic freshwater systems. Which included both non-game fish species as well as native mussels.
So., the papers that I have published have been about that. But, in my work, I found that if I wanted to truly protect aquatic systems, I had to do work on the landscape. And if I wanted to do work on the landscape, I needed to understand people. So, if you ask me what I was as an ecologist — I’m a community ecologist — I just never foresaw that that would be people. That’s the community that I’m working on. And so, GUTS has allowed me to really focus in on that and give people a solution rather than just the problems.
Q: Can you tell me a little more about GUTS?
A: GUTS is a student-directed program where we handle propagating plants from seed collection to cleaning, to germination, to growth, to planting — the whole circle. This is done with UT[oledo] students.
Q: How often does GUTS hold activities?
A: Right now, I think we’re running three service learning events a week. There are classes that do it for class credit, but also it’s open to anyone. We’ve just expanded the view this past weekend into the community. We had a seminar to start teaching people how to do this stuff at home. But, they can come and do the service learning along with us. We have a presence on Instagram and Facebook. That is where a lot of announcements are coming out, and there is also a GroupMe now.
Q: Who or what has significantly influenced your professional journey?
A: My mentor is, well there’s a number of people, I don’t know how to express that quickly because that was what I learned early on was the more mentors you have, the more specific you can get with any individual one. So, there’s been many people on that pathway where I had questions about certain things and they were able to be that person there, or were not. It gets kinda weird, and if you stay in the same place for a while, then those people become your friends. So, I would say the two people who are instrumental now are Jon Bossenbroek, who was my advisor during my PhD, and he’s our department chair. And then also Daryl Moorhead, who was one of my professors when I was going through school. I have a weird situation where I actually am teaching where I went to school. That doesn’t happen very often at this level of academia. That’s viewed as a bad thing, because you’re so entrenched in that one culture. It’s good to see lots of cultures. But, I came in at 32 years of age, having a whole host of other experiences before I got here. And I came in with a tremendous advantage to teach in Toledo, because I am from Toledo, and I understood Toledo and I’m able to translate that over to my students.
Q: Is there anything else that you’re working on or an achievement that you are particularly proud of?
A: No, GUTS is it. That’s the baby. That’s what I have the time for. The recognition of the success there by the university has been phenomenal. The president’s office is in full support of it. It fits into Dr. Holloway’s ASCEND initiatives. […] ASCEND is about experiential learning, and the guarantee that new freshmen will get some sort of meaningful experiential learning experience. They’re getting some sort of experience where it’s hands-on and that level of engagement.
Q: How do you support students outside of the classroom?
A: I’m always available. I’m here for undergrad students. I’m here. That’s why I’m here. I probably have options to go other places; I don’t want to. […] I am here to support Rockets.
