Leo Finkenbinder
Professor
B.S., 1963, Northwestern Oklahoma State University
M.S., 1968, Oklahoma State University
Ph.D., 1981, University of Oklahoma
lfinkenb@olivet.eduDr. Leo Finkenbinder joined the ONU Biology Dept. in 2007 after 35 years of teaching at Southern Nazarene University.
He has taught courses such as: natural history of the vertebrates, ecology and ornithology. He also taught microbiology and anatomy-physiology.
While at SNU he developed the environmental studies program. An integral part of that program involved six weeks of research at a biological field station in Costa Rica developed by Dr. Finkenbinder and his wife Zana.
His research since 1986 has involved an ecological analysis of the Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno).
This bird, a god of Mayan and Aztec cultures, is one of the most culturally significant modern animals and is highly endangered.
Dr. Finkenbinder’s studies have been important in conserving and restoring the habitat of this bird in Costa Rica. He was awarded the 2003 Lifetime Conservation Award for Oklahoma due to his work in that state and Central America.
He feels his highest awards have come from students whom twice have elected him Professor of the Year.
His goal at ONU is to involve students directly with animals and their ecology so as to develop an understanding of the methodologies necessary for their zoological careers.
He plans to engage some students in tropical research through trips to Costa Rica. His animal behavior course involves students actively observing animals in the field.
Prof. Finkenbinder believes wild animal observations teach skills hard to conceptualize in a sterile lab and classroom setting. Even in his general biology course, students participate with the real world in field lab settings and weekly observations of wildlife.
Engaging students with God’s creation has always been and always will be one of his primary passions of life. Christian stewardship of God’s resources is a natural result of direct student involvement with His creation.
Zana, his wife, is busy writing her memoirs of directing a field station in the tropics for 10 years. Two of his children, daughters Zonda and Lana, live in Oklahoma City, Okla. Zonda is a biology teacher and Lana manages a self-storage company. Son Timothy is an immigration attorney in Kissimmee, Fla. Each of them love nature.