Three degrees later

DENTON- Labeled insect tubes, fossils, and family pictures line the office walls and shelves of Jaime Baxter- Slye, Ph.D.

Slye is an instructional lab supervisor at the University of North Texas teaching students biology and ecology.

Pinned to the bulletin board right next to her desk is a picture of her daughter.

“She is little there, she is so cool. I mean I say she is not into science but she was out with me that day teaching college students about aquatic insects with me,” Slye said.

Slye said her daughter, Chloe, grew up in the lab since she became pregnant with her a month after she would start her masters program.

Talking about her daughter makes her eyes light up.

Her journey to get to where she is today was not a smooth one but she says she is proud of how far she has come.

Spending her entire masters pregnant with her daughter, Slye said she never once questioned taking time off because she wanted her kids to see that they can be anything that they want to be.

Slye became pregnant with her son in 2010 and finished her Ph.D. at The University of North Texas in 2013.

“I think, too, that having my awesome kids at the same time as finishing all three degrees you know was a lot of work,” Slye said.

After Slye finished her dissertation, she was looking for a job when she noticed UNT was hiring for a lab supervisor.

James H. Kennedy Ph.D. professor of biological science became Slye’s Ph.D. mentor and witnessed Slye’s interest in labs.

“She had never done that kind of work but she was really interested and very enthusiastic about it so she jumped in with both feet and no background and really worked hard to get to where she is,” Kennedy said.

Deciding to take the job, Slye was really happy she had a lot of room to be creative in coming up with the labs for environmental and ecology classes.

“I can still remember my grandmother had this chalkboard whenever I was three or four years old and I played teacher all the time,”

Slye says she loved her teachers and thought that they were her heroes. She was also inspired to be like them and loved helping other people understand things.

“This job is the best of both worlds because my primary job is to develop a curriculum and to help and teach students,” Slye said. “But since it’s on ecology and environmental science and I have a love for nature, I can do fun projects.”

Impacting students’ lives was a result of her love for helping others.

Schyler Brown met Slye his second year at UNT as a music major.

Brown was considering switching his major to ecology and Slye played a part in his decision.

“Within the week I was planning on changing degrees in the third year of my college career,” Brown said.

Gaining connections and receiving pointers from Slye along the way Brown received good news.

“This year Dr. Slye nominated me for a United States Geological Survey internship. I applied, and was accepted,” Brown said.

For now, Slye is continuing as UNT’s lab supervisor for the labs she loves.

“I’ve been doing this since 2014, since then I have had some students graduate and get some really cool internships and jobs and that has been the most rewarding experience,” Slye said.

Interesting facts about Slye:

• 2003 B.S. Texas A&M University – Kingsville, Biological Sciences, Marine Ecology
• 2005 M.S. Texas A&M University – Kingsville, Biological Sciences, Parasitology
• 2013 Ph.D. University of North Texas, Biological Sciences, Aquatic Ecology
• Loves French cooking
• And nature photography
• Likes remote backpacking
• Is learning to play guitar
• Has a black poodle just like John Steinbeck
• Likes to paint animals
• Is teaching herself to knit
• Likes to garden
• Learned how to figure skate and ride horses when I was little
• Has to go outside at least once a day
• David Baxter is her best friend and husband
• Favorite quote- “I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness.”  – Aldo Leopold A Sand County Almanac (1949)

Recent Technical Projects Slye Funded:

• 2017 – Pecan Creek Pollinative Prairie. $156,998 grant from UNT Sustainability We Mean Green Fund. Principal Investigator.
• 2016 – UNT Ecology Laboratory creation; American Kestrel Partnership and the Pollinative Prairie at Discovery Park. $6000 grant from UNT Sustainability We Mean Green Fund. Principal Investigator.