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Helen Fosgate
 Cecil Jennings motions toward a large poster on his office wall, an aerial view of the U.S. Virgin Islands. “You ever been there?” he asks, his voice rising. “The water is so clear, you can stand in it neck-deep and see your toes wiggle.”
Though he grew up snorkeling and fishing in these crystal blue waters off St. Thomas, Jennings always thought his future would be about football. It’s easy to see why. He is an imposing figure who, even at 40, would look at home on a defensive line.
In fact, Jennings had already decided to major in physical education when an internship with the Virgin Islands Department of Natural Resources the summer after high school changed his perspective.
Today Jennings studies the health of fish in the state’s major rivers. He, seven graduate students and five technicians currently have research projects on the Oconee, Chattahoochee, Flint, Savannah and Conasauga.
 “We’re trying to draw a clear picture of the real costs of habitat degradation,” says Jennings. “Our biggest challenge is to relate what goes on in the watershed to the fate of fish populations.”
Jennings and his team are trying to determine how fish use their habitats, reproduce and adapt to changing environmental conditions. They’re also evaluating the effects of introduced species on native fish populations.
His ability on the field earned Jennings a football scholarship to Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis. He loved Wisconsin, but admits it took a while to adjust.
“My roommate, who was also from St. Thomas, and I went to K-Mart the day we got there and bought these big down parkas,” Jennings recalls, laughing. “When the temperatures dropped into the 50s, we wore ski masks, too, and everybody pointed and laughed at the guys from the Virgin Islands.”
Instead of physical education, he earned bachelor’s degrees in biology, natural science and conservation at Carthage. After graduation he returned to St. Thomas and a job as a fisheries biologist.
It wasn’t long though before he was in graduate school at Mississippi State University. There he earned a master’s in wildlife ecology and met his future wife, Brenda, a senior majoring in microbiology.
His professors urged him to pursue a doctorate, but he resisted and returned to St. Thomas. When academia beckoned again, he and Brenda left St. Thomas for the University of Florida, where he completed a Ph.D. in fisheries science.
He joined the UGA faculty in May 1994. Since then, he’s worked on several statewide projects, including efforts to restore the robust redhorse, an large riverine fish that, until recently, was thought to be extinct. He also teaches a course in scientific writing, open to graduate students across campus.
When he’s not working, Jennings spends time gardening and listening to music with Brenda and five-year-old Alegra. He face softens when asked about his daughter, who is starting kindergarten this year.
“She helps to keep my life in perspective,” says Jennings. “When she runs to greet me at the end of the day, I’m reminded about what’s really important.”
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