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But is no ordinary office. According to staff members there, it’s one of Tucson’s best places to work.

More than 1,000 local organizations were invited to participate in this year’s employer-ranking questionnaire from survey company Energage, in partnership with the ����Ӱ��AV and . Just 24 were recognized as for 2025, including a certain bug-infested department in the university’s College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences.

Entomology employees hailed their office as a friendly, collaborative place, where bug-loving researchers feel respected and encouraged to pursue their own ideas and interests. Several of them credited their leadership — and long-time in particular — for fostering that welcoming environment.

As one survey respondent put it: “The culture of collegiality filters down from the top and bubbles up from the bottom. It is a pleasure to work with my colleagues, and we’re good at getting stuff done together and individually. Accomplishments are noticed and celebrated.”

“I’m thrilled,” said Tabashnik, who has headed up the department since 1996. “It’s recognition of our culture. We feel it, we talk about it, we’re very conscious of it, and so to have external recognition, it’s very rewarding.”

The Entomology Department has about 100 employees, including 17 faculty members. Their main focus is on applied science for the public good, much of it in agriculture and aimed at minimizing the harm and maximizing the benefits of insects.

Tabashnik said the university’s groundbreaking pest-control research has been credited with helping to save the state’s cotton industry, one of the famous “Five Cs of Arizona.”

On the education side, the department offers a master’s and doctorate degree program in entomology and insect sciences that attracts about 30 graduate students a year. There’s no bug-specific bachelor’s degree program, but hundreds of students are drawn to its undergraduate course offerings each year, especially the entertaining stuff such as “Edible insects,” “How insects shaped human history” and “How insects conquered Earth.”

Tabashnik’s attitude: If you’ve got a choice between two ways of doing something, choose the one that’s the most fun.

The Entomology Department also houses and curates the U of A Insect Collection, the world’s most comprehensive archive of arthropods from the Sonoran Desert, with some 2 million specimens representing 35,000 species.

To expand its reach beyond the university, the department hosts the annual Arizona Insect Festival — a free, kid-friendly event held each October — and connects with more than 3,000 local elementary school kids through its Insect Discovery Outreach Program.

That program is directed by U of A associate professor and Ph.D. entomologist Kathleen Walker, who also serves as caretaker for the department’s in-house colony of “cuddly” Madagascar hissing cockroaches.

Tabashnik said the people working for him could be anywhere, succeeding at whatever they might choose to do. “The reason they’re here is they care so much about insects — studying them and learning and sharing that with others, making the world a better place with that knowledge,” he said. “By harnessing that, we get results. We have a culture that expects excellence and supports excellence.”

The proof is easy enough to find. The U of A has been ranked as the number 1 entomology department in the world for three years running by , an independent website that uses academic papers and citations to score the research performance of institutions.

Tabashnik said creating a welcoming workplace has been a primary goal of his since he was first hired as department head almost 30 years ago. He has worked in contentious departments before, he said, and a fun and friendly environment just works better for everyone involved.

“We have incredible people, and I try to make it a happy place for them and let them follow their passion,” said Tabashnik, who was named as a Regents’ Professor in 2015 and elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2023.

“The people we have, they’re brilliant, they’re hard working, and they’re really passionate about what they do. I think they share this feeling with me that we’re very lucky we get to do something we love every day.”