Nancy C. Tuchman, PhD

Professor and former Founding Dean

After 36 years at Loyola University Chicago, the last 23 of which were spent building environmental sustainability on our campuses and founding the School of Environmental Sustainability, Nancy Tuchman stepped down from serving as the school’s Founding Dean on 1 July, 2025, and is currently a member of the full time tenured SES faculty. Leveraging her 23 years of experience in building a culture of environmental sustainability at Loyola University Chicago, she now serves the International Association of Jesuit Universities as a consultant to the Higher Ed Directorate of the Society of Jesus, assisting other Jesuit Universities in designing and advancing their environmental sustainability strategic plans, reducing their campus environmental footprints, integrating environmental education into their curricula, and building a culture of caring for our common home.    

Tuchman’s first 13 years at Loyola were as tenure-track faculty in the Department of Biology where she primarily taught Limnology, Wetland Ecology, General Ecology, and General Biology courses to graduate and undergraduate students. Her research focuses on human impacts on aquatic ecosystem structure and function. Her work has spanned from investigating the effects of greenhouse gases on stream ecosystem food webs to exploring the impacts of invasive plant and animal species on Great Lakes littoral zones and coastal wetland ecosystems. Working with students in field research has been one of the most rewarding aspects of Tuchman's career. Throughout her academic career, she mentored or co-mentored 87 undergraduates and 45 graduate students in individual research projects. In 2023 she was selected as a Society for Freshwater Sciences Fellow for her lifetime contributions to lake, stream, and wetland research and her accomplishments in building a school of environmental sustainability in higher education.

The last two thirds of her career at Loyola included several leadership positions in the Provost’s office as well as 23-years of leadership in environmental sustainability which has put Loyola in the top 10 percent of greenest colleges in the nation. Building sustainability at Loyola and founding its School of Environmental Sustainability earned Tuchman the Chicago Magazine Green Award (2013), Chicago EcoChampion (2018), the St. Canisius Medal for Extraordinary Service to Jesuit Higher Education (2022),  Crain’s Notable Leaders in Sustainability (2024) and the Industrial Water, Waste and Sewage Group of Chicago’s E. Ted Erickson Award (2024). 

Education

• PhD, Aquatic Ecology, 1988. University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky. Dissertation title: Effects of different intensities and frequencies of disturbance by snail herbivory on periphyton succession. Advisor: Dr. R. Jan Stevenson (now retired from Michigan State Univ.)
• MS, Aquatic Ecology, 1983. Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Thesis title: Effects of agricultural land use on leaf litter processing rates in central Michigan streams. Advisor: Dr. Robert H. King.
• BS, Biology with Ecology emphasis, 1980 (cum laude). Central Michigan University, Mt Pleasant, Michigan

Specialty Area

Aquatic ecosystems, climate change impacts on ecosystem function, invasive species, human impacts on natural systems, sustainability education, interdisciplinary environmental sustainability curricular development, STEM education

Publications/Research Listings

Selected Publications

• Keyport S, Carson BD, Johnson O, Lawrence BA, Lishawa SC, Tuchman NC, Kelly JJ. 2019. "Effects of harvesting an invasive hybrid cattail on abiotic and biotic wetland properties." Restoration Ecology. 27 (2) 389-398. DOI:10.1111/rec.12859
• Lishawa, S. C., Lawrence, B. A., Albert, D. A., Larkin, D. J., & Tuchman, N. C. (2019). "Invasive species removal increases species and phylogenetic diversity of wetland plant communities." Ecology and Evolution. 9 (11) 6231-6244. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5188
• Carson, BD, Lishawa SC, Tuchman NC, Monks AM, Lawrence BA, Albert DA. 2018. "Harvesting invasive plants to reduce nutrient loads and produce bioenergy: an assessment of Great Lakes coastal wetlands." Ecosphere. 9 (6): e02320. 10.1002/ecs2.2320. 

Popular Media Articles

• Schuck, M.J. and N.C. Tuchman. "7 Years After Laudato Si’: How Catholic Universities are Amplifying Pope Francis’ Call to Heal our Common Home." America: The Jesuit Review. May 2022. 
• Tuchman, N.C. "Where Science and Humanities Meet Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’." Connections: The Online Magazine of the American Jesuit Colleges and Universities. April 2020.
• Tuchman, N.C.  2016. "Why Jesuit Colleges and Universities are Uniquely Suited to Tackle the Environmental Crisis." Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, Issue 50 (2016): 10-13.

For a complete list of publications, grants and awards, see Dean Tuchman's CV.

Awards

• Industrial Water, Waste and Sewage Group of Chicago’s E. Ted Erickson Award, 2024
• Crain's Notable Leaders in Sustainability, 2024
• Society for Freshwater Science Fellows Award, 2023
• St. Peter Canisius Medal for Extraordinary Service, International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU), 2022
• Madonna della Strada Awardee from the Ignatian Volunteer Corps, 2020
• Leadership in Science and Education Awardee, Chicago Academy of Science and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, 2020
• Chicago Eco-Champion, Make It Better Magazine Chicago, 2018
• Expanded Reason Award, Pope Benedict XVI Foundation, Vatican City, Rome, 2017
• Honorary PhD recipient, Central Michigan University, 2014
• Chicago Green Award recipient, Chicago Magazine, 2013
• Named Green Woman Powerhouse Making a Difference in Chicago, The Wren, 2013
• President, Society for Freshwater Science, 2009 - 2010
• University Faculty Scholar Award, Loyola University Chicago, 2002 - life