When the weather turns warm and something creepy comes crawling out of the ground, when it attacks without warning, when it spreads like — well, locusts — there's one man Cincinnati turns to.

        He's the bug man of Delhi Township.

        He's the cicada savant.

        He's the beacon for beetles.

Professor of entomology Gene Kritsky holds a 17-year cicada. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        He's Gene Kritsky, professor of entomology and chair of the department of health sciences at the College of Mount St. Joseph.

        We wanted to know what makes this notable bug master tick.

Getting started
       

        Gene Kritsky waited patiently as course choices evaporated at Indiana University.

        It was registration day for returning students at Bloomington.

        “I was a sophomore,” he remembered, smiling as he spoke. “We were the last class to go through, and I was the last group in the last class.”

        Desperate for five credit hours to complete his schedule, he got little sympathy from the other side of the sign-up table.

        “I'm sorry,” the young aide said. “All we have left is entomology.”

        Today, the man who stumbled as a student into the world of insect academia, the bug man of Delhi Township's Mount St. Joseph College, is a nationally recognized author of four books. He knows more about cicadas than they know about themselves. He is an expert on tiger beetles and other little living things.

KRITSKY FILE

Name: Gene Kritsky    Position: Chairman, Department of Health Services, College of Mount St. Joseph, Delhi Township; professor of entomology, biology and evolution    Birthday: June 26, 1953    Birthplace: Minot, N.D., two hours north of Bismark    Residence: Green Township    Wife: Jessee Smith, biologist, artist    Kids: None, “unless you count the thousands I've taught.”    Favorite bugs: Cicadas, tiger beetles    Favorite music: Human beatles, John Lennon    Favorite movie: The Godfather, “The first one ... one of the most incredibly crafted movies I've ever seen.”    Personal transportation: Malibu. “I love Chevys.”    Pets: Two cats, Boudinot, like the avenue where he was found while injured, and Chessie

        And big things. In addition to teaching entomology and evolution, he teaches college courses in dinosaur biology.

        “I consider him to be a real gem in our educational community,” said Joe Boggs, a fellow entomologist and horticultural specialist for Ohio State University Extension, Hamilton County/Southwest District. “I kind of think of him as a renaissance man — not so focused on one area.”

        He called Mr. Kritsky a “terrific information source” who has done “neat ground-breaking work...

        “There are not very many people in the United States that have pursued to the degree he has the 17-year (cicada) conundrum. It's a very difficult story to unravel.”

        Spring and summer are important seasons for unraveling. Bugs are on the move, and Mr. Kritsky is on the move to study them.

        In June, he will take an extended field trip to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and, in October, he will begin a sabbatical that includes bug work in Scotland, Cambridge and Cairo.

        He participates in at least two national conferences a year and travels abroad at least once a year.

        In addition to teaching and researching and writing, he is administering. For the past three years, he has been chairman of the Mount's health sciences department, which includes undergraduate and graduate programs in physical therapy and athletic training.

A new leaf
        He was not always so dedicated to learning.

        “When I was in the eighth grade, I was part of a group of kids who were always debating everything — from the war in Vietnam to politics to evolution to ancient history.”

        “I found out that, as long as I was an average student, nobody listened to me as much,” he said. “To get a stronger impact on my concepts and ideas, I had to be a better student.

        “It didn't take much. I just started doing my homework, and the next thing you know, I was one of the top students in the entire school (Freeport High School, Freeport, Ill.)”

        The next thing he knew, he had earned a bachelor's degree in biology from IU and a master's and a doctorate in entomology from the University of Illinois in a total of six years.

        “I just flew through there,” he shrugged, referring to his graduate studies. “My goal was to have my Ph.D. by age 25, and I beat it by over a year.”

Playing the field
       

        But he was bug bent from the start.

        Born in northern North Dakota the son of a crop-insurance adjuster, he began to learn quickly about the out of doors.

        “I was in the fields with him a lot when he was doing adjusting for losses, sampling wheat and rye and barley,” he said, reminiscing about his father, now deceased. “My dad was like my best friend ... I was outside all the time, with lots of insects.”

        At age 7, he wormed his way into books with the 1958 edition of World Book Encyclopedia.

        Puzzled by a plastic premium toy in a package of Fritos corn chips, he looked at the miniature dinosaur and looked up to ask his mother, “What's this?”

        “Let's look it up,” she suggested.

        And they did.

        “So I started reading about dinosaurs at age 7,” he said. “Essentially, I learned to read from the World Book because I hated school.

        “I really didn't do that well (academically) until I got to high school,” he said in his routinely rapid-fire dialogue.

Appeal of sciences
        At Freeport, his alma mater and “an outstanding school,” in his opinion, he became excited by an extensive curriculum of the major sciences.

        “We had an astronomy class in high school,” he exclaims, as if expecting equal appreciation. Naturally, “I excelled there.”

        He excels in school today.

        “He's a very creative administrator who is really in tune with students,” said Sister John Miriam Jones, academic dean at Mount St. Joe. “He's a pretty popular teacher” and “a grand gift that has benefited the Mount.”

        He has been on staff since 1983, when he decided to move here from Angola, Ind., for:

        a) the job

        b) Major League Baseball, and

        c) Ohio cicadas

        The former chairman of Mount St. Joe's biology department, Mr. Kritsky assumed responsibility for health sciences, including physical therapy and athletic training, “with remarkable success,” Sister John said.

        “He has a totally laid-back exterior,” said Jim Auer, his next-door neighbor. “You'd never know he was world renowned.”

        “He thinks out of the box,” Sister John said. He has a knack for figuring out how to solve something the rest of us are struggling with...

        “Of course, he has a national reputation for his beetles and such.”

Bugs abound
        His insects and such are evident. There are bugs and bug books in his office at 120-W Seton Hall. There are bugs in his lab. Bugs in his Bridgetown basement. Bugs in the freezer.

        Sister John and her colleagues cringe when they see his plastic forks marking outdoor spots in the ground around campus buildings.

        “We can't help but wonder what's going to come crawling out of there,” she said.

        Mr. Auer said having Mr. Kritsky next door is a comfort. “If we ever have a bug ... he will know what it is and what to do about it.

        “I respect somebody who is such an authority.”

        Mr. Kritsky's books — one on insects, two on cicadas, one on evolution — are available at bookstores and at amazon.com.

        His goal, and that of his co-authors, is not to reach the New York Times' best seller list.

        “The idea is that, 100 years from now, somebody picks up this book and says, "You know, I'd like to have had a beer with these guys.'”

        “He's a neat guy to talk to,” Mr. Boggs attests.

        Mr. Kritsky, as if to prove his interests are as broad as Mr. Boggs believes, recently took up bird watching as a hobby. He also likes to camp and to create and correct computer games for natural-history museums.

        And, when he can, he collects bugs.

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