David Hewitt, PhD
Executive Director of the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute
Kingsville, TX
David Hewitt was raised in Colorado where he enjoyed a wide range of outdoor activities. His passion for wildlife and travel resulted in wildlife biology degrees from Colorado State University (1987), Washington State University (1989), and Virginia Tech (1994). He spent a year between his MS and Ph.D. at the Texas Agriculture Research Center in Uvalde studying deer foraging and nutrition. After completing his education, David lectured for 1 year at Humboldt State University and conducted research with the Berryman Institute at Utah State University. He joined the faculty at Texas A&M University-Kingsville and became a research scientist with the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute (CKWRI) in 1996.
David studied wildlife nutrition and ecology at the CKWRI until 2006 when he accepted the Stuart Stedman Chair in White-tailed Deer Research. In this position, he focused on white-tailed deer research and led the CKWRI’s deer research program. He has been major advisor for over 40 graduate students and served on several dozen graduate-student committees. David became the Leroy G. Denman, Jr. Endowed Director of the CKWRI in 2017.
He has been a member of The Wildlife Society since 1984 and became a TWS Fellow in 2015. David served as associate editor for the Journal of Wildlife Management and Rangeland Ecology and Management. He was president of the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society and has served on numerous committees. He has been a professional member of the Boone and Crockett Club since 2007, editing their Trophy Point web feature and serving as vice-chair of the Conservation Education subcommittee. He is a member of the steering committee for the International Deer Biology Congress and co-host of the 2018 congress. David is a member of the Society for Range Management, the American Society of Mammalogists, the IUCN Deer Specialist Group, and served on Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s White-tailed Deer Advisory Group and its Mule Deer DMP Task Force.
Outside of work, David enjoys spending time with his wife, Liisa, and their 2 kids. He enjoys all manner of outdoor activities.