School Publications, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
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Browsing School Publications, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences by Author "Niemiera, Alexander X."
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- Seeds : Newsletter for Alumni of the Department of Horticulture at Virginia Tech : 2013Harris, Roger; Niemiera, Alexander X. (Virginia Tech. College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Communication and Marketing, 2013)I hope that this 2013 edition of Seeds finds everyone in good spirits and enjoying the horticultural bounty of summer. As always, it has been a very busy year around Saunders Hall. We have just welcomed 10 new graduates into our alumni family. This graduating class was comprised of stellar students, five of whom graduated with honors. Our student body is vibrant and our overall numbers are increasing. We expect to have a just over 100 students in our program this fall semester. The Horticulture Club, advised by Barbara Leshyn and Velva Groover this year, continues to be very engaged with the local community and the plant sale this past spring was perhaps the best ever. The outstanding weather certainly helped! A whirlwind tour of this past year begins with our 8th annual Garden Gala festival at the Hahn Horticulture Garden last June. The “Key West” theme was very popular with the approximately 225 attendees as they enjoyed a bit of “Margaritaville” in the garden. Fabulous food, drinks, and entertainment by The Key West Band made it an evening to remember – all capped by an exciting live auction. Gala ticket sales, sponsorships, and auction proceeds raised more than $17,000 in funds for the Hahn Horticulture Garden. The theme for this year’s event was “Wine and Roses” and featured Virginia Wines.
- Seeds : Newsletter for Alumni of the Department of Horticulture at Virginia Tech : 2014Harris, Roger; Niemiera, Alexander X. (Virginia Tech. College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Communication and Marketing, 2014)Greetings all alumni and friends! I hope you are enjoying all of the horticulture wonders around you this summer. There is always something new in the horticulture world to be savored, be it a fresh picked tomato from your garden, the glory of a owering plant, or just the wonderful progression of our seasons. As always, it has been a very busy year around Saunders Hall and our family is growing! We have just welcomed 21 new B.S. graduates in our spring ceremony. Coupled with seven in the fall ceremony, we have 28 from this past academic year. Colleen Beard, an environmental horticulture major, was chosen to be our outstanding senior for the academic year. In addition, we are proud to have three new M.S. and ve new Ph.D. graduates over this past year.
- Seeds : Newsletter for Alumni of the Department of Horticulture at Virginia Tech : March 2017Harris, Roger; Niemiera, Alexander X. (Virginia Tech. Department of Horticulture, 2017-03)I hope that this new edition of SEEDS finds you enjoying the beautiful world around you. It is indeed a great time to be a Horticulturist as business in the green industry is booming and interest in nutritious local food has never been higher. In addition to a very strong job market upon graduation, our students find that Horticulture is a great foundation for lifetime learning and that the critical thinking and communication skills learned in our majors serve them well in whatever career they pursue. As mentioned in last year’s SEEDS, we will soon be joining the Plant Pathology, Physiology, & Weed Science (PPWS) and the Crop & Soils Environmental Sciences (CSES) departments to create the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences. The time line for formation of the new school keeps getting shifted forward as we jump through the organizational hoops one at a time, but it seems like we may be organized by this time next year. I would like to assure you that Horticulture is not going anywhere; it will just be living under a new banner. There is plenty of innovative Horticulture in the other two departments and our flag will be flying considerably higher when the three departments become the new school. I am probably most excited about the potential for a stronger undergraduate program. Although we constantly work on improving our programs, the new organization gives us some great opportunities that were not previously available. For example, turf students will now become part of our Landscape Contracting (now Landscape Horticulture and Design) major. This was not possible before since the program was in the CSES department. New cross-cutting majors, such as Ecological Restoration, Sustainable Agriculture, and Plant Science will also be offered by the new school and should attract many new students.
- Seeds : Newsletter for Alumni of the Department of Horticulture at Virginia Tech : November 2015Harris, Roger; Niemiera, Alexander X. (Virginia Tech. College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Communication and Marketing, 2015-11)I hope that you are enjoying this beautiful Virginia fall. It is a special time of year for horticulturists as we enjoy the annual display of colorful foliage and the transition to the end of another good growing season. Many of you are savoring the fall harvest from your own vegetable garden or from your local farmers market and you are hopefully enjoying some wonderful Virginia apples. As always, it has been a very busy year around Saunders Hall. Our horticulture family has grown since our last edition of SEEDS! We welcomed two new faculty members in August 2014. Ramon Arancibia joined us as assistant professor and vegetable crops specialist at the Eastern Shore AREC in Painter, and Auréliano Bombarely joined our Blacksburg campus as assistant professor in translational plant genomics and bioinformatics. Hannah Neuse has come on board as our new financial administrator, since we recently had to say goodbye to Ashley Wills, whose husband was transferred to Kentucky.