PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN

WINTER 2005 VOLUME 51 NUMBER 4
The Botanical Society of America: The Society for ALL Plant Biologists

Table of Contents

100th Anniversary Series
         Harriet B. Creighton: Proud Botanist ............................................................................118

News from the Society

       The Power of Plants: Building Collaborations among Educational Institutions,
          and Botanical Gardens Communities .........................................................................................126
       Is it Cool to Know and Do Science? Can We Create a Scientific Temper? Linking Scientists,
          College Faculty, K-12 Teachers and their Students in Collaborative Research ........................................127
       Returning Biodiversity Knowledge and Information to Society: The Case of Mexico .................129
       Dear Botanical Society of America Members and Plant Science Bulletin Readers ................130
       Botanical Society of America's Statement on Evolution ...............................................130
       Intelligent Design: It's Not Even Wrong .......................................................................130
       Centennial Medallion ....................................................................................................131

Letters ............................................................................................................................................132

Announcements

    Personalia

        Karla Meza Awarded Timothy Plowman Scholarship ..................................................132

    Awards, Conferences, Meetings

        2nd Meeting of the International Society for Phylogenetic Nomenclature ...........................132

    Award Opportunities

       Timothy C. Plowman Latin American Research Award;
          Premio de investigación Latinoamericano Timothy C. Plowman. ........133
       MORPH ........................................................................................................134
       National Tropical Botanical Garden Fellowship for College Professors ....135

    Courses/Workshops

       Biology S-105 "Biodiversity of tropical plants." .........................................136

    Positions Available

        Paleobotanist., East Tennessee State University .........................................136
        Systematic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Georgia ......................137
        Orchid Taxonomist, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens ..................................137
       Dean and Vice President for Science,International Plant Science Center New York Botanical Garden ....................137
       Director of Research & Chair, Department of Botany, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont, California ......138

    Other News

       NEON Progress Report .................................................................................................138
       New Exhibition Showcases Research Projects by New York Botanical Garden Scientists. ...........................................139
       Books Reviewed ............................................................................................................................140
       BSA Contact Information. ............................................................................................................155
       Books Received .............................................................................................................................155
       Botanical Society of America Logo Items .....................................................................................156

Plant Science Bulletin 51(4) 2005
ISSN 0032-0919

Plant Science Bulletin
ISSN 0032-0919

Published quarterly by Botanical Society of America, Inc., 4475 Castleman Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299. The yearly subscription rate of $15 is included in the membership dues of the Botanical Society of America, Inc. Periodical postage paid at St. Louis, MO and additional mailing office.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
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Business Office
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St. Louis, MO 63166-0299
E-mail: bsa-manager@botany.org

Editorial Committee for Volume 51

This is the last issue of Plant Science Bulletin before we begin the Botanical Society's Centennial Year. What better way is there to prepared for the celebration than to highlight the career of one of our most distinguished former members, especially if she happened to be President of the Botanical Society of America during our 50th year? I originally invited Dr. Lee Kass to write a shorter piece about Harriet Creighton to give us a sense her personality as well as her scholarship. Lee, who is chairperson of the BSA Historical Section, has presented us with a piece of her own scholarship that goes well beyond my original request. I am proud to be affiliated with the organization to which Creighton was so dedicated. I'm sure you'll feel the same way!
-Editor

100th Anniversary Series

HARRIET B. CREIGHTON: PROUD BOTANIST

Harriet Creighton (1909-2004) was the third woman elected to the presidency (1956) and the first woman secretary (1950-54) of the Botanical Society of America (BSA). Creighton's many contributions to the BSA and to botanical education are often overshadowed by her most cited work, the first demonstration of cytological and genetical crossing-over in Zea mays (McClintock 1931, Creighton and McClintock 1931, Coe and Kass 2005a). The investigation was part of Creighton's dissertation research project (Creighton 1933) at Cornell University (1929-1934), under the guidance of her collaborator, Dr. Barbara McClintock, who had suggested the problem. Their study provided additional confirmation of the chromosome theory of inheritance for which Thomas Hunt Morgan would win a Nobel Prize in 1933.

While a graduate student in 1973, I was first introduced to Creighton during the Thirteenth International Congress of Genetics in Berkeley, CA. Years later, in the context of interviewing Creighton about her work with McClintock, I experienced her outgoing and generous nature (Kass 1994, 1996). In long, beautifully printed, hand-written letters, she carefully answered my many questions about early investigations in maize cytogenetics, and about students and faculty in Cornell's Departments of Botany and Plant Breeding, including insights on policies and procedures for gaining academic jobs and rank in the early 20th century (Kass 2001, Kass 2003, Kass et al. 2005, Kass 2005). She also gave me her own cherished copies of celebrated works by Lester W. Sharp (Fotheringham 1928) and Alan C. Fraser (Emerson et al. 1935), members of her Ph.D. committee.

Creighton recalled that Margaret Clay Ferguson (1863-1951), her undergraduate Professor of Cytology at Wellesley College, encouraged her to study at Cornell University. Ferguson had received her B.S. (1899) and Ph.D. from Cornell (Ferguson 1901), and was the first woman president of the BSA (1929). Creighton returned to Wellesley as a member of their faculty, where she enthusiastically continued Ferguson's commitment to the botanical sciences, endeavored to expand her programs in botany, and encouraged the Department and Trustees to name the Wellesley greenhouse complex in her honor (Creighton 1947).

Early Achievements, 1929-1940

The Cornell Years: Creighton was born in Delavan, Illinois on June 29, 1909. At age 20 she graduated from Wellesley College (A.B. 1929), and accepted an assistantship (1929-1932) in General Botany with Loren C. Petry, Professor of Paleobotany in the Department of Botany, College of Agriculture, at Cornell University. Creighton's mother accompanied her to Ithaca, where Barbara McClintock took the young graduate student under her wing (Figure 1). It was McClintock, Creighton told me, who suggested that she pursue a Doctorate in Cytology with L.W. Sharp and to bypass the Masters degree, which she had considered doing initially. McClintock, an Instructor and Sharp's teaching assistant, introduced Creighton to Sharp at his home, where he was recovering from a broken toe.

Creighton was familiar with Sharp's recently published textbook, Introduction to Cytology (Sharp 1926), and expected to meet a stodgy grey-haired professor. Instead, she was pleasantly surprised to find a young man with a crew cut, who loved music and had a wonderful sense of humor. His hoax of the woofen-poof bird, Eoörnis pterovelox gobiensis, published the previous year under the pseudonym A. C. Fotheringham (1928), was the talk of the department. She was present when Sharp read with disbelief its review published in The Quarterly Review of Biology (Pearl 1930). He truly believed that the reviewer had been taken-in, she recalled laughingly, until he reached the end of the summary, where it was made clear that the so called serious review was a spoof in itself.

Sharp was Vice-president of the BSA when Creighton arrived at Cornell in 1929, and he was elected President the following year. L.H. Bailey, Dean of the College of Agriculture, had been President in 1926, and Karl M. Wiegand, Chair of the Department, would be elected President in 1938. George F. Atkinson, first President of the BSA (1907), was a Cornellian, and other Botany Department faculty members were affiliated and would become officers of the Society (BSA 2005:234); most faculty members in the Plant Breeding Department had also joined.

Emerson and Beadle, his student, had initiated the Maize Genetics Cooperation News Letter in April 1929 (Kass et al. 2005; Coe and Kass 2005b), where students of maize genetics shared their unpublished data. Cooperation among students was fostered in Sharp's laboratory and encouraged by Emerson, who also established the Maize Genetics Cooperation at Cornell (Kass et al. 2005). This cooperative spirit shaped Creighton's view of joint efforts and ethical practice in science (Letter, Creighton to Kass, 27 Feb. 1995; Kass 2001).

Emerson also encouraged faculty and graduate students in the Departments of Botany and Plant Breeding to attend Synapsis Club meetings. Creighton went regularly with her major professor and graduate student colleagues. The club sponsored weekly dinners with speakers, held special social gatherings, and organized a bowling league on which Creighton was a star performer (Synapsis Club Records, Cornell University Archives). Creighton was quite athletic. She played tennis regularly with her graduate student colleagues, and was renowned for climbing the buildings at Cornell. When I asked her about a story I had heard regarding McClintock climbing up the Plant Science Building to get into her office when she had forgotten her key, Creighton said emphatically that it was she who had climbed to the second floor of the building, entered through the window, and unlocked the door. She added: "That building was just meant to be climbed."

In their study of the cytological basis of crossing-over, Creighton used a semisterile corn stock with a prominent knob at the tip of the short arm of chromosome 9, and having a piece of chromosome 8 attached (a translocation). Burnham had brought the stock with him from Wisconsin and generously shared it with them (McClintock 1930, McClintock 1931, Creighton and McClintock 1931, Kass and Bonneuil 2004, Coe and Kass 2005a). McClintock had applied Belling's chromosome squash technique to the anthers in this strain of corn, and first clearly observed corn chromosomes at the pachytene stage (McClintock 1930, Kass 2003).  Creighton took advantage of this new technique and by April 1931, had limited data to support a claim for a correlation of "genetical and cytological crossing over." Morgan, who had learned of their results during a spring lecture tour at Cornell, encouraged them to publish immediately (Coe and Kass 2005a, see also Keller 1983).

FIGURE 1. Barbara McClintock and Harriet Creighton at Cornell University, June 1930 (reprinted with permission from Kass 2003, Genetics).

Creighton became Sharp's assistant in Cytology when McClintock left Cornell to begin her NRC Fellowship at Missouri in June of 1931. They corresponded regularly regarding their upcoming publications (McClintock 1931, Creighton and McClintock 1931), which were submitted by Emerson in July and published in the August PNAS (Coe and Kass 2005a). Unfortunately, none of their letters about these critical papers have been saved (Postcard, Creighton to Kass, 8 Dec. 1996), but Emerson's correspondence is in the Cornell University Archives. Creighton granted permission to reprint their article in a number of collected readings in Biology, and a diagram from their paper was reproduced in many biology and genetics textbooks (Coe and Kass 2005a; Faculty File, WCA).

At the 6th International Congress of Genetics, at Cornell in 1932, they collaboratively presented evidence for 4-strand crossing over in corn (Creighton and McClintock 1932). Creighton continued to contribute unpublished data to the Maize Genetics Cooperation News Letter, and published new findings on deficiencies on chromosome 9 of corn (Creighton 1934).

Creighton completed her thesis in 1933 (Creighton 1933) and remained in the Botany Department at Cornell as an Instructor of cytology and microtechnique (1932-1934), until accepting a job at Connecticut College for Women (CCW) in 1934 (Cattell 1944:383; Letter, Creighton to P. Davies, 6 May 1993).

CCW Botanist, 1934-1940: Creighton was an Instructor in Botany at CCW from 1934 to 1938. She was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1938 (Barnhart 1965:394), on the basis of years of service both at Cornell and CCW. She explained that the rules for promotion and tenure were different at that time (Letter, Creighton to Kass 27 Feb. 1995), and I subsequently learned that not all academic institutions followed AAUP guidelines for tenure and promotion, which were in flux during this era (Kass 2003, Kass 2005).

With McClintock, she published (1935) a corroboration of their investigations of cytological crossing over, and gave papers at meetings of the Genetics Society of America (see their Records for abstracts of her papers). Creighton worked collaboratively with G.S. Avery, P.R. Burkholder, and others at Connecticut College, on a translation and revision of Peter Boysen-Jensen's (1883-1959) Growth Hormones in Plants, which was expanded to include 188 new contributions to the literature and 40 additional illustrations (Avery et al. 1936). With Avery, Burkholder, and others at Connecticut College, she also conducted a series of plant physiology experiments that were mainly published in the American Journal of Botany (AJB ) between 1936 and 1941. Creighton called these her ABC papers, because the 11 papers published with Avery, Burkholder, and others had the authors' names listed in alphabetical order (at Avery's insistence, she recalled).

Contributions 1940-1974

Wellesley College, Associate Professor to Department Chair: Creighton jumped at the chance to return to her alma mater as a member of their faculty. In 1940, she was appointed Associate Professor of Botany at Wellesley, elected a Fellow of the AAAS, and reviewed manuscripts for the AJB. In addition to teaching, she continued to conduct research on corn, and in 1941, she was invited to spend the summer at Cold Spring Harbor with McClintock and other guest investigators who studied plant genetics (Kass 2005).

Soon after the U.S. entered World War II, Mildred McAfee, President of Wellesley College, recruited Creighton for the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). According to Naval history ( http://www.history.navy.mil ), McAfee was sworn in as a Naval Reserve Lieutenant Commander, the first female commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy history, and the first Director of the WAVES, the women's branch of the Navy. The Navy had accepted a large number of enlisted women and needed Commissioned Officers to supervise them. The WAVES performed previously atypical duties such as communications, intelligence, science and technology. Creighton was granted a leave of absence for war service (1943-May 1946) and rose to the final rank of Lieutenant Commander.

Creighton loved to travel. At the conclusion of the war, she and Gertrude Dever, a friend she had met in the WAVES, embarked on a cross-country adventure in an old multi-colored jalopy, making stops along the way in New Orleans and Mexico (Wellesley Club News 2005). Upon returning to Wellesley, she was appointed Chair of her Department. After recommending that the Wellesley Greenhouses be named for Ferguson, she followed in the footsteps of her mentor, and enthusiastically supported Wellesley's Arboretum, Botanic Gardens and The Ferguson Greenhouses as "premier educational sites" and was committed to maintaining them as such (Biographical File, WCA). In 1946, she initiated Garden Day, where local garden clubs were invited to Wellesley to view the greenhouse and gardens. This eventually led to the founding of the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture (WCFH) in 1982, whose members raised funds for the renovation of the Ferguson Greenhouses, completed ten years later.

The Harriet B. Creighton Room at the Visitor Center of the Margaret C. Ferguson Greenhouses was dedicated to honor her years of service to the Botany Department and her ongoing support for the College's Botanic Gardens. It was in this room where I first interviewed Creighton, and photographed her outside of the building (Figures 2 & 3).

While carrying a full teaching load and guiding the department at Wellesley, she also served as Secretary of the BSA Teaching Section (1948-1951), was a member of the AAAS Council (1949-1951), and was elected Secretary of the BSA in 1950. The latter office had previously been filled by Petry and A. J. Eames, her former Cornell teachers, and Avery and Burkholder, former colleagues at Connecticut College (BSA 2005:235).

She was promoted to Professor of Botany in 1952. That year she was a Fulbright Lecturer in Genetics and Plant Physiology (with 4 months of research), at the University of Western Australia, Perth, and at Adelaide University, which fulfilled her desire for travel abroad. This experience was so rewarding that seven years later she again went abroad as a Fulbright Lecturer in Genetics (with 3 months for research) at the National University of Cuzco, Peru.

In 1955, Creighton was named the Ruby F.H. Farwell Professor of Botany, in acknowledgement of her outstanding success at Wellesley. In that year she was also elected Vice-president of the BSA, served on the PSB editorial board (through 1959) and participated (through 1958) in an NSF Panel for the selection of Predoctoral Fellows. She also served as a Member-at Large for the 14th -16th (1955-1957) Symposium of the Society for Developmental Biology.

As BSA President, Creighton had the honor of presenting Certificates of Merit to 50 distinguished scientists for their contributions to botany, at the 50th anniversary Golden Jubilee Merit Citations award banquet, held on August 29, 1956, at the University of Connecticut, Storrs (PSB , Oct. 1956, pgs.1-2). Among those first honored were George W. Beadle, her graduate school colleague; Edgar Anderson, with whom she had cooperated at Cold Spring Harbor in the summer of 1941; and nine BSA past Presidents, including Anderson, and Katherine Esau, the second woman elected President of the society. At that time, the society also announced its plan to present certificates to additional botanists in succeeding years.

The following year, at the BSA annual banquet, held at Stanford University, Creighton's former mentor, Barbara McClintock, received a Certificate of Merit, as a pioneer in the use of chromosomal aberrations for the purpose of genome analysis, important contributions to the theory of gene structure, and "world leader in the broad field of cytogenetics" (PSB, Jan. 1958, pp.5-6). Creighton must have felt proud of McClintock, and the other plant geneticists so honored that night, as she delivered the retiring past-President's address (Creighton 1957). "If we would put together all the findings of all kinds of botanist, we would be proud enough of the results that we would not be ashamed of being called botanist," she assured her audience. Some investigators, she emphasized, call themselves "pure botanists," while others work on applied problems, "yet all study plants and are, therefore, botanists." But some, she noted, do not want to be called a "botanist." She suggested that we use the word botany and make clear that botany includes the study of all plants, and "call ourselves botanists with some pride in our voices. ... We have to change the climate of opinion concerning botany," she said. "We have to sell ourselves, and then the educated and intelligent public, that we are students of plants and that plants are important in the modern world. ... Botanists of the World, Unite!" she urged, then added, "and Get Going!"

Professor Creighton's commitment to Botanical Education: "Creighton was an amazing teacher," wrote one of her former students in a note appearing in the WCFH Spring 2004 News, devoted to her memory. Clearly she was dedicated to her profession, which is demonstrated by her leadership in the BSA and her active participation on national committees for botanical education. As a member of the Society's Education Committee, she supported their proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a Summer Institute for Botany teachers from small colleges to be held at Cornell in 1956. NSF notified President Creighton in December 1955, of the $31,400 Award for their first supported Summer Institute for college teachers. Institute Director H.P. Banks (Cornell University), Past President Ralph Wetmore (1953; Harvard University), and Creighton made the stipend awards to 50 college teachers to acquaint them with current work in the field (PSB, Oct. 1956, p.12).

FIGURE 2. Harriet Creighton outside the Margaret C. Ferguson Greenhouses, Wellesley College, 1994 (Photograph by author).

Creighton continued serving on NSF Panels for Summer Institutes for College and High School Teachers of Biology through 1959. She was one of the outstanding lecturers who participated in the NSF-supported Summer Institute for College Botany Teachers, sponsored by the BSA, and sustained at Indiana University in 1959 (PSB, Dec. 1958, p. 3). Concurrently, she was a member of the NSF Committee on Teaching Biology (1956-1957), and was invited to join the AIBS Committee on Education and Professional Recruitment's Steering Committee (1956-1966) for the Secondary School Film Series (PSB , April 1959, pp. 1-3), in which she played a "teacher" in several individual films (Faculty File, WCA). While editor of PSB, Creighton (1958) encouraged writers and publishers of Botany and Biology text books to "experiment with texts that are really a third arm of a course, the first two being the teacher and the organisms studied in the field and laboratory."

Creighton was secretary (1960-1963) of Section G (Botanical Sciences) of the AAAS, and concurrently chaired the BSA's Committee on Education for two years (1960-1962). The Committee studied the Role of Botany in America, and she helped to formulate their recommendations concerning High School Biology Courses, Introductory Courses in Biology, and the "Facts and Principles that should be taught" (PSB, March 1958, pp. 1-2). They sent an open invitation to BSA members requesting that they prepare a series of articles on botanical subjects, particularly for teachers of biology in secondary schools and colleges, for publication in Turtox News. Chair Creighton was responsible for editing all manuscripts contributed by members of the society (PSB, May 1961, p 8).

As part of her responsibilities for the BSA Education Committee, Creighton was a botanical consultant (1961-1969) to A. J. Nystrom and Co. (Chicago), who produced 12 teaching charts (with transparencies for overhead projection) and 8 models of plant structure, which she had designed (Faculty File, WCA; PSB, Dec. 1963, p4). They anonymously published eight booklets (prepared by Creighton between 1963 through 1968), each comparable to a short chapter of a textbook, to accompany each of the botanical teaching models (Faculty File, WCA).

Rossiter (1995:304) has documented the under-recognition of women scientists, who in the 1950 and 1960s were "practically invisible to the public, to other scientists, and to each other." Creighton's early scientific achievements are well recorded; and her behind-the-scenes efforts towards academic and public education were recognized by her peers, if one considers it an honor to chair committees and to be elected a society officer. These contributions, however, were probably mostly invisible to the public.

Research interests and further responsibilities: Along with her teaching and committee responsibilities, Creighton pursued research on the genetics of Petunia flowers, which she presented independently, and with students, at the annual meetings of the Genetics Society of America (GSA) in the 1940s. Later, she became interested in the horticultural aspects of Begonia. Those studies were presented at the BSA, and published in The Begonian during the 1960 and 1970s. To keep current in her field, she spent a sabbatical year in the Botany Department at the University of California, Berkeley (Sept.-Dec. 1966) and at the Cell Research Institute of the University of Texas in Austin (Jan-June 1967).

In the early 1960s, she was President of the Wellesley Chapter of the Society of Sigma Xi. She regularly attended annual meetings of the BSA and the GSA, and when possible, drove to Long Island, NY, for the Cold Spring Harbor Symposium. She traveled to India as a consultant for NSF (1968, 1969) and also accepted committee assignments from the GSA. While an editorial board member (1969-1975) of the Journal of College Science Teaching , she reviewed more than 30 manuscripts beginning with Volume 1. Additionally, she refereed book manuscripts and journal articles, and published many book reviews.

A year before retirement, she joined the Historical Section of the BSA (1973) and was its representative to the Executive Committee. In keeping with her principles, she also offered a class on Basic Botany and Horticulture for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and gave a National Science Teachers Association workshop for high school teachers on the use of plants for experiments in their classes. Her energy seemed boundless.

Honors and Recognition: Creighton kept busy after her 1974 retirement as Ruby F.H. Farwell Professor Emerita. Possessing exceptional institutional memory, she was consulted on all aspects of Wellesley College life; wrote the chapter on "The Grounds" for the centennial volume Wellesley College 1875-1975, A Century of Women; and as a member of the Wellesley Campus Master Plan Committee (1998), recalled each transformation made since her first day on campus in 1925 (Biographical Files, WCA). The Massachusetts Horticultural Society honored her with the Large Gold Medal of their society in 1985, for her botanical expertise and "horticultural concern in the community." Public recognition had been achieved at last. In 1994, The Wellesley College Alumnae Association recognized her with the Syrina Stackpole Award for "dedicated service and exceptional commitment to Wellesley College."

Posthumous honors: Creighton died at age 94, on January 9, 2004 (The Wellesley Townsman, 22 Jan. 2004, p. 34). That year, the Wellesley College Botanical Greenhouse Fund, established by Creighton in 1955 with an initial modest gift, was renamed the Harriet Creighton Greenhouse Fund for continued support of the Margaret Clay Ferguson Greenhouses.

Creighton lived a long, happy, and successful life.  Her legacy of contributions to Botany in the 20th century has persisted and sustained the broad field of Plant Biology. Let us dedicate this issue of the Plant Science Bulletin in honor of Harriet Baldwin Creighton to celebrate with pride the Golden Jubilee Anniversary of the publication she co-founded 50 years ago.

Acknowledgments

I thank the staff of the Wellesley College Archives and the L.H. Bailey Hortorium Library for providing valuable resources for this study; W.B. Provine and C. Uhl for use of their libraries; Shawn Krosnick for sharing files on M.C. Ferguson; Faculty and Staff of the Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, for logistical support, especially Sherry Vance for preparing the images; I am grateful to E.H. Coe, R.E. Dirig, R.E. Hunt, R.P. Murphy C. Uhl and R. Whalen, for helpful suggestions on revising the manuscript; and special appreciation to BSA Past President Judy Jernstedt for suggesting the topic.
- Lee Kass

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Coe, E. and L.B. Kass. 2005a. Proof of physical exchange of genes on the chromosomes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102(19): 6641-6656.
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_____ and B. McClintock. 1931. A correlation of cytological and genetical crossing-over in Zea mays. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 17:483-491.
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Kass, L.B. 1994. Interview with Harriet B. Creighton at Wellesley College, 23 August 1994.
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Lee B. Kass is Visiting Professor in the L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, lbk7@cornell.edu, where she is preparing an intellectual biography of Barbara McClintock. She is Chair of the Historical Section of the BSA, and a member of the Centennial Committee. The second edition of her Illustrated Guide to Common Plants of San Salvador Island, Bahamas has recently been published by the Gerace Research Center, San Salvador Island, Bahamas.

¹Full citations listed only for feature articles published in the Plant Science Bulletin; announcements found therein are cited within parentheses.

News from the Society

From the Annual Meeting

The Power of Plants: Building Collaborations among Educational Institutions, Botanical Gardens and Communities.

(Banquet speech given by Ed Schneider, President-elect, at the 99th meeting of the Botanical Society of America, August 17, 2005, Austin, TX).

The theme for the 99th meeting of the Botanical Society of America "Learning From Plants" inspired the title of my presentation. The "Power of Plants" presents several interwoven themes: career development from student to faculty member; tribute to those who fostered and inspired us through our professional growth; and an action plan for the future of the Botanical Society of America and the value added benefits of expanding partnerships and collaborations among agencies and organizations that have at the core of their missions improved understanding and promotion of plants. These interwoven themes have a common overarching theme, the power of plants, since plants have inspired and influenced the course of our careers and all aspects of human activity.

As students, we may recall those moments when we first developed an interest in the botanical world. For me, it began when I was an undergraduate and asked by a faculty member to consider becoming a teaching assistant for a course in introductory botany. That was the hook. Graduate school soon followed with thesis work on the amazing Amazon water lily, Victoria. Who could not be inspired by those remarkably large, 6'- 8' diameter leaves. I recall clearly the hot day in early August in Tempe, AZ (1974) when I attended my first Botanical Society of America annual meeting to make a scientific presentation on findings about that remarkable plant. Then began the quest to secure the first faculty position, followed by the journey toward tenure, promotion, and assuming the same leadership role in fostering students as faculty members had done for me years earlier.

During my career I felt a particular motivation to study hydrophytes, especially waterlilies. Adaptations to the aquatic life are fascinating. The molecular investigations leading to added confirmation of the long held hypothesis that waterlilies are among the basal-most flowering plants also helped to secure funding and a widening interest in the Nymphaeaceae.

As botanists, we understand the importance of plants for their life sustaining photosynthetic process. Within our classrooms and laboratories we emphasize to hundreds of thousands of students each year, the oxygen generation role of autotrophs, and the carbohydrate (food) production that sustains life through food chains. We marvel at the fact that 74% of the human population is sustained by less than ten crop species. The role of plants in providing fuels, shelter, medicines and drugs, and a vast variety of products used each day in our lives makes me pause and ask _ while students may find this intriguing and understandable, can we do more to excite and involve a larger audience that will stand and with a unified voice, pronounce that plants are important, they need more study, and work in concert to raise the conscientiousness of all to the importance of plants.

It is not surprising that gardening is the number one past time in the United States. Aside from the therapeutic benefits, we bask in the beauty of plants, marvel at their form and growth as we harvest homegrown fruits and vegetables. Eco-tourism has also become popular over the past decade or two, and understandably, since natural landscapes offer immense beauty and inspiration.

In contrast to the natural landscape, the built landscape such as found in botanical gardens offers a means, through inspiring, aesthetically developed displays, conservation, research, and a broad spectrum of educational programming, to an end _ to promote an enhanced understanding of the botanical world and the importance of plants. Botanic gardens like other cultural organizations in our communities are places that enrich lives; they are places of inspiration, places to refresh the soul, places of beauty and tranquility, and places to commune with and better understand our place in nature. This enrichment process educates the visitor's mind, wins their hearts, and in doing so leads to deeper levels of involvement, higher levels of ownership, and ultimately, to improved philanthropy. If this process is cultivated well, the 200 million visitors to U.S. botanic gardens each year represent more informed voters about our environment and the importance of plants. Just as the Botanical Society of America (BSA) has fostered interactions with educational organizations, so, too, should BSA foster partnerships and collaboration with botanical gardens. The advantages are clear, the linkage is natural. This is why BSA selected the Missouri Botanic Garden as a partner and host. Botanic gardens, like educational organizations, have at their core many similar and overlapping programs. Botanic gardens are institutions that offer more than just inspiring displays. They hold vast collections of living plants.

It is estimated that over 6 million living plants are held in the accessioned collections of botanical gardens world-wide. These in situ and ex situ collections offer rich collections for taxonomic and systematic research conducted by faculty and students. Botanical gardens also hold enormous herbaria collections, estimated to be over 50 million sheets, not to mention outstanding botanical and horticultural library collections.

Another plant focused non-profit that is housed in partnership and collaboration with the Missouri Botanic Garden, which BSA could build a partnership with is The Center for Plant Conservation (CPC). The mission of CPC is to develop a coordinated response for both ex situ and in situ conservation of the American flora. Through a consortium of over 30 selected botanical gardens, CPC maintains a National Collection of the most rare and endangered plant species (610 species). CPC also has developed an Access database with information on over 8,000 species and tracks accessions of over 13 million seed. The charter of CPC is also to: strengthen relationships and scientific standards between all agencies involved in plant conservation and research; integrate c onservation efforts without duplication; and to offer public education and public relations programs to inform both the scientific community and the general public. The increasing number of contributed papers and abstracts presented each year at the annual BSA conference that have conservation related themes is exciting. It may well be time to establish a Conservation Section or offer thematically related papers to be group into common sessions. Conservation is a cornerstone to most botanical garden programming. Over 1 billion seeds have been banked in gardens and of the 400,000 different species of plants, of which over 75,000 species are under threat - botanic gardens provide safe haven for over 10,000 of the world's most threatened plants. Botanic gardens have the expertise to propagate and save rare species and are currently building capacity to assess genetic variation in threatened populations. It is clear, therefore, that continued collaboration and partnerships must be established and strengthened among BSA, botanical gardens, and CPC, and that through these partnerships all stakeholders become unified in their collective voices.

So, what can we do to strengthen the future of the Botanical Society of America and its important mission? I offer the following action items: build more partnerships and collaborations - and through our partnerships, increase our voting constituencies if we wish to influence public attitudes toward the environment and the botanical world; share what we know and our discoveries more rapidly in digital format to make information more accessible; tell our stories and articulate our positions widely to the public and to policymakers, and grow in technical excellence, financial capacity, and staff capacity in the home office. To varying degrees each of these actions has begun, but much work lies ahead. Although there is considerable work to be undertaken, we must take pause to have fun on this journey because plants are an enjoyment. Remember, be an active advocate for plants and the botanical world, be active in the Botanical Society of America, and foster a growing relationship with your local botanical garden and plant related organizations.

Educational Forum Keynote

Is it cool to know and do science? Can we create a Scientific Temper? Linking Scientists, College Faculty, K-12 Teachers and their Students in Collaborative Research.

Barbara Schulz
The National Academies, Teacher Advisory Council, Center for Education

Barbara Shulz is currently a Teacher Leader with the National Academy in the Center for Education. She taught AP Biology and other science courses in public and private schools for 35 years and is an active leader in science education innovation. She has extensive experience linking scientists with K-12 educators and developing authentic research opportunities for students and teachers.

Ms. Schulz enumerated several challenges facing science and science education including the need to increase inquiry science in K-12 classrooms, to connect teachers with research and the scientists who conduct research, to increase the number of students who will pursue careers in science, to increase student motivation to learn, and finally, to help scientists share their research with the public. She proposed that a shortage of science, mathematics and engineering graduates is developing and could become a serious problem. The number of United States students pursuing a career in science is decreasing, while the demand for science and math graduates is increasing. Currently 46% of our science, mathematics and engineering students are from other countries. Student interest in science starts decreasing in 7^th grade, and low percentages of students pursue careers in science, mathematics and engineering. Clearly science teaching, as currently practiced in most schools in the United States, is not encouraging students to pursue careers in science.

Ideas about how science would be best taught have been considered for some time. The Committee of 10 in 1897 proposed that science classes should not focus on memorization, but on acquisition of knowledge and intellectual growth based on observation of nature, and that 60% of the class should be used for the lab component (National Education Association 1903). Recently published National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996) stressed that science is an active process with inquiry into student-generated questions at its center. The report asserts that supplementing this approach with teaching and assessment strategies that develop a well-grounded understanding of science will encourage students to continue investigating scientific issues and become lifelong members of the scientific community.

The ways we teach science can also be informed by recent advances in cognitive research. In 2005, the National Research Council published a summary of current research and stressed that effective teaching needs to start with what students think they already know. The report also stated that teachers need to be at the forefront of deciding what is taught, why it is taught, and what successful mastery of the topics looks like. Students need to be encouraged to understand how they are learning and develop metacognitive skills. To reach these goals requires an increase in inquiry science, which means that teachers need to be comfortable with doing science and teaching their students how to do science. A 2000 survey of biology teachers indicated that teachers are not prepared to engage students in the practice of science in any substantial way (Horizon Research, Inc., 2002).

Once teachers and scientists understand that they have common or mutually beneficial goals, possibilities for collaboration become obvious. In fact, there are many similarities between scientists and teachers. Both are passionate about their work, and love analytical thinking. They both suffer from public distrust to some degree yet depend on public funding to continue their work. However, while scientists and academics tend to be critical, K-12 teachers are more likely to take a nurturing approach toward students. Scientists benefit from flexible schedules, have relatively high levels of resources in comparison to K-12 schools, and are judged on their own work. K-12 teachers are faced with rigid schedules, have few resources, and are judged not by their own work, but by their students' achievements. Comparing scientists and teachers as expert learners with students who are novice learners is also informative. Most scientists and teachers are unfamiliar with computer games and may have limited computer skills. Students on the other hand, are well-versed in the use of computers and adapt readily to new technology. Students need to develop a base of knowledge, develop analytical skills, and the ability to learn in depth. They need to help developing a structure for, or ways to organize, new knowledge. Connecting scientists, teachers, and students via the internet may be a very productive approach to engage students in doing science and create a collaborative community involving students, teachers, and scientists.

A new initiative of the Botanical Society is the Scientific Inquiry through Plants (Sip³) project. This web-based inquiry science project links scientists, teachers, and students from around the country. Teachers design their own inquiry-based curriculum using the theme "The Wonder of Seeds". As students develop research questions, hypotheses, and experimental designs, they post them to the internet. Each team of students is mentored, via the internet, by a scientist. A pilot of this innovative project was completed in the Spring of 2005 with very encouraging results. Students from middle school to college appreciated that experts would spend time helping with their projects. Teachers felt that students were more motivated. The enthusiasm of novice learners was infectious for both teachers and scientists.

Ms. Shulz concluded that programs such as Sip³ can meet the need for inquiry learning in science classrooms. While students may not be strongly interested in science, we can take advantage of their inclination to use the internet to engage them in the process of doing science. Furthermore, teachers who have weak botanical backgrounds, are encouraged to incorporate plant-based activities in their classrooms, knowing that there are experts who will mentor the student projects. Students who are doing science and have access to experts, are much more likely to continue on in the sciences which will help meet critical needs for scientists in the future. As the Sip³ project develops additional components, scientists will have a venue to communicate their love of science with the students, including their own research topics. In this situation, everyone can win.
-summary contributed by Beverley Brown

References Cited
Horizon Research, Inc., 2002. National survey of science and mathematics education. Available at www.horizon-research.com .
National Education Association. 1903. Report of the Committee on Secondary School Studies.
National Research Council. 1996. National Science Education Standards, National Academies Press, Washington, D.C. Available on-line at  http://books.nap.edu/books/0309053269/html/R1.html .
Donovan, M.S. and J.D. Branford, eds. 2005. How students learn. History, mathematics and science in the classroom. National Academies Press, Washington, D.C. Available on-line at http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074339/html/ .

Summary of Scientific Meeting Keynote speaker: Dr. José Sarukhán, Professor, Instituto de Ecología. National Autonomous University of Mexico

Returning biodiversity knowledge and information to society: the case of Mexico

Issues of biodiversity are not readily understood outside scientific circles and the public has not strongly grasped the importance of preserving significant areas of biodiversity. Dr. Sarukhán discussed a well-established program in Mexico that makes information on biodiversity available to the public (CONABIO: www.conabio.gob.mx). This information can be used by scientists, policy makers, and members of the general public. Developing databases of herbarium specimens and augmenting collections so that they are representative of the flora and fauna in a given area is imperative if this information is to be useful for both scientists and the public. Easy access to information raises the possibility of linking research to societal needs, rather than reserving access to information for only a few botanists. There are many projects which are now possible and in fact, proving very useful to decision makers in Mexico using the information and analysis tools available through CONABIO. Human health programs are using insect data to model insect distribution and target areas that are high risk for specific insect-transmitted diseases. The data base has been used to determine where commercially-grown genetically engineered cotton could be introduced, making sure that introductions were well away from naturally occurring Gossypium populations. CONABIO is also used to track and report forest fires and is current within 12 hours which increases the efficiency of fire fighting efforts. The database has been used to draft legislation and study invasive species.

Since public funds are often the primary source of funding for herbaria and scientific work research in general, there is an obligation on the part of scientists to make this information available for use beyond botanists conducting research. We need to continue to make herbaria specimens available on-line. In the last 6 years there has been a 25% growth in the number of specimens in herbaria, but only 5% of the specimens are electronically catalogued. There is a need to continue developing access to information in Mexico, as well as sharing information between Mexico and the United States. We face the challenge of educating the public with regard to the importance of biodiversity. If we can educate the public, we will not face the challenge of educating decision makers alone. Once the public is informed and truly understand the situation, they will work to inform decision makers.
-summary contributed by Beverley Brown

Dear Botanical Society of America Members and Plant Science Bulletin Readers

On behalf of the Botanical Society of America, and the BSA staff, I'd like to wish you all a very happy and safe holiday season. We've enjoyed serving you throughout a busy and productive 2005.

As a staff team, we are extremely excited to be celebrating the Botanical Society of America's first 100 years. Celebrations will culminate at the Botany 2006 Conference in Chico, California. Please mark Botany 2006, July 28-August 3, in your calendar. We look forward to seeing you all in Chico (make sure you sign up for the centennial BSA banquet). "Looking to the Future - Conserving the Past" will be a memorable conference and botanical gathering - a once in a lifetime event. The Society will bring together, and honor, long-time members and some of the most notable contributions to the plant sciences over the past half-century. Follow developments at www.botany.org .

BSA members, we will also keep you current through the monthly e-newsletter. For us to keep in touch please check and, if need be, update your email address (and other details) on the BSA database at www.botany.org. Let us know if we can assist you in bringing your details up-to-date. If you do not receive the monthly email newsletter, please check with your systems operator and make sure it is not getting thrown out as spam. You can also find a full list of BSA news and announcements at .www.botany.org

BSA members who have yet to renew their 2006 membership, please go to and renew online, or complete and send in the renewal form we mailed out in the fall.

Plant Science Bulletin readers who wish to become BSA members, please go to www.botany.org . We'd be pleased to have you join us.

Again, have a great holiday season!

Sincerely, Bill Dahl

Botanical Society of America's Statement on Evolution

The Botanical Society of America exists to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere. Our membership largely consist of professional scientists, scholars, and educators from across the United States and Canada, and from over 50 other countries. Most of us call ourselves botanists, plant biologists, or plant scientists, and members of our profession teach and learn about botanical organisms using well established principles and practices of science. As such, we were asked by the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) if we could provide a statement outlining our view on evolution. On July 27,2003 at the 2003 Annual General Meeting the BSA Council approved the statement to follow for use by the NCSE. For the Complete statement see the Botanical Society website: http://www.botany.org/newsite/announcements/evolution.php

Intelligent Design: It's Not Even Wrong

By Congressman (and Physicist) Rush Holt
As a research scientist and a member of the House Education Committee, I was appalled when President Bush signaled his support for the teaching of "intelligent design" alongside evolution in public K-12 science classes. Though I respect and consistently protect the rights of persons of faith and the curricula of religious schools, public school science classes are not the place to teach concepts that cannot be backed up by evidence and tested experimentally. For complete blog see http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/9/8/183216/1039

Centennial Medallion

The Centennial Meeting of BSA will be held at Chico State University, California, 28 July -3 August 2006. Hopefully, you already are making plans to attend this important, once-in-a-century meeting. BSA has selected the design for its Centennial Medallion, and the Centennial Planning Committee (CPC) thought you might enjoy seeing it.

The plan is for each registrant at the 2006 meeting to receive a medallion. Also, a limited number of additional medallions will be made, and they can be ordered for a yet-to-be-determined price. The medallion will be a reminder of an important milestone in the history of BSA, but if you receive yours at the Centennial Meeting it will be extra special.

A published history dealing with the one-hundred years of the society will be available also. This history is being written by Betty Smocovitis who is using BSA archival materials, once stored at the University of Texas at Austin Library, and now at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. She is also utilizing materials provided by a number of society members.

The Centennial Meeting program is being jointly developed by the CPC, the Program Director, and the Business Office staff. As in past meetings, the program will include the array of six major symposia, contributed paper and poster sessions, associated society gatherings and dinners, special events, and concluding with the annual BSA banquet. The CPC will be inviting representatives from other affiliated and plant-science societies to join in the celebration. It is hoped that all active and retired members of the society will want to join this historic event. More details will come in future PSB issues.

Sincerely, Centennial Planning Committee

Letters

Marsh Sundberg's assessment of the content of botany and biology courses is very timely as the botanists in the Department of Biological Sciences of the UW Colleges (Wisconsin's 13 freshman/sophomore liberal arts transfer campuses) are engaged in re-examining our curriculum. Our work is motivated at least in part by the unrelenting attack on evolutionary theory by Creationists, Intelligent Designers, and even the President of the United States. (One has to wonder how the folks at Yale feel about the latter!)

Sundberg's efforts will be useful to us, but the BSA membership needs to pick up where he leaves off. Indeed, Marsh calls for just such action at the end of his article.

I continually wonder where students will learn about the organisms of the natural world if not in our introductory courses. Contemporary students by and large are much less likely to have grown up turning over rocks and building forts in the woods than those of us who have been teaching for 20-30 years. Students know less from the simple childhood observations than we did.

I compare my 1966 freshman botany book (Wilson and Loomis, Botany ) with Raven, Evert and Eichhorn's Biology of Plants and marvel how our knowledge has exploded. My freshman semester was 16 weeks long; each class and lab was filled with work to do. So how do we include not only classical botany, but in-depth treatment of evolution and biotechnology as well, without rushing through with such swiftness that it is nothing more than a cursory glance?

Marsh alludes to the big issue, but it is lost in his final sentence about content. We need to focus not so much on the content, but the manner in which we teach our courses. There are many faculty who are providing students with a much different learning experience than that which Marsh and I experienced, even if the "content" is the same. A sharing of and focus on pedagogy that works, as shown by empirical assessment measures, will be at least as informative as thinking about what topics are covered in any course.

James W. Perry
Campus Dean
Professor of Biology
University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley

Announcements

Personalia

Karla Meza Awarded Timothy Plowman Scholarship

The Botany Department at the Field Museum recently (June-August 2005) hosted this year's Timothy Plowman Scholarship Award recipient, Karla Meza, from the Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana, Iquitos, Peru. Karla studies the Heliconiaceae (or Banana Family) and used her time to examine the extensive herbarium material from the neotropics housed at F. In addition to basic measurements and observations, she made numerous determinations of our unidentified collections and added our holdings in to her database. These data will eventually be part of a monographic style treatment of the genus Heliconia for the Peruvian Amazon.

Symposia, Conferences, Meetings

2nd Meeting of the International Society for Phylogenetic Nomenclature

Yale University, New Haven
June 29 _ July 2, 2006

We are pleased to announce the 2nd Meeting of the International Society for Phylogenetic Nomenclature (ISPN).

Venue:
The meeting and associated social gatherings will be held on Yale University's beautiful campus in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Accommodations are being organized both on and off campus.

Scope:
This meeting will follow the format of the 1st and founding meeting of the ISPN that was held in Paris, France in 2004 by providing opportunities for formal oral and poster presentations while leaving ample time for discussions. The annual business meeting of the ISPN will also be held during this conference.

Conference Language: English

Registration:
Instructions on how to register will be provided in the second circular.

Important Dates and Deadlines:
Abstract submission deadline: April 1, 2006
Advance registration: May 1, 2006

Contact
Nico Cellinese (Logistics and general information)
Walter Joyce (Program)
Yale Peabody Museum
170 Whitney Avenue
POB 208118
New Haven, Connecticut, 06511 USA
Email: nico.cellinese@yale.edu
or walter.joyce@yale.edu

Award Opportunities

Timothy C. Plowman Latin American Research Award

The Botany Department at The Field Museum invites applications for the year 2006 Timothy C. Plowman Latin American Research Award . The award of $2,000.00 is designed to assist students and young professionals to visit the Field Museum and use our extensive economic botany and systematic collections. Individuals from Latin America and projects in the field of ethnobotany or systematics of economically important plant groups will be given priority consideration.   Applicants interested in the award should submit their curriculum vitae and a detailed letter describing the project for which the award is sought. The information should be forwarded to the Timothy C. Plowman Award Committee, Department of Botany, The Field Museum, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496 USA and received no later than 15 December 2005. Announcement of the recipient will be made no later than 31 December 2005.

Anyone wishing to contribute to The Timothy C. Plowman Latin American Research Fund, which supports this award, may send their checks, payable to The Field Museum, c/o Department of Botany, The Field Museum, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496 USA. Make certain to indicate the intended fund.

Premio de investigación Latinoamericano Timothy C. Plowman

El departamento de Botánica en "The Field Museum" invita aplicaciones para el premio de investigación Latinoamericano Timothy C. Plowman 2006. Este premio de $2,000.00 fue diseñado para apoyar a estudiantes y profesionales jóvenes en visitas al museo de Field y utilizar sus extensas colecciones de botánica económica y sistemática. Se les dará consideración especial a individuos de Latinoamérica y a proyectos en los campos de etnobotánica ó sistemática de plantas económicamente importantes.

Las personas interesadas en aplicar a este premio deberán proveer su curriculum vitae y una carta detallando el proyecto para el cual el premio se utilizará. Esta información debe ser enviada al Timothy C. Plowman Award Committee, Department of Botany, The Field Museum, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496 USA y ser recibida antes del 15 de Diciembre de 2005. El ganador del premio será anunciado antes del 31 de Diciembre de 2005.

Cualquier persona que desee contribuir al Fondo de investigación latinoamericano Timothy C. Plowman, el cual apoya este premio, puede enviar su cheque, pagadero a "The Field Museum, c/o Department of Botany, The Field Museum, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496 USA". Asegúrese de indicar el fondo al cual se destina su contribución.

NATIONAL TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN FELLOWSHIP for COLLEGE PROFESSORS

Program Operation: June 12-23, 2006      Deadline to Apply: March 24, 2006      Notification of Acceptance:March 31, 2006

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) will host another exciting Fellowship for College Professors of introductory biology from June 12-23, 2006 at The Kampong, Coconut Grove, Florida. College professors accepted to the Fellowship will become Fellows at the National Tropical Botanical Garden.

The goal of the NTBG Fellowship is to improve the quality of teaching in introductory biology classes at the undergraduate level. Facilitated by Professor P. Barry Tomlinson of Harvard University and Dr. Paul Alan Cox, CEO/Director of the Institute for Ethnomedicine, the course is designed to show instructors how to use examples from tropical plants in discussing issues of form and function, evolution, and conservation. Fellows will develop teaching modules to be shared and implemented in the introductory biology classroom. Basically, we are looking for the very best biology faculty, those who can fire the imagination of major and non-major biology students. Although botanists will be considered, we also welcome applications from faculty who lack previous botanical experiences as well as those who have not previously worked in the tropics. The Fellowship will be limited to 12 Fellows.

Applications must include:
·      Two letters of recommendation
·      Complete Curriculum Vitae
·      Copy of the most recent teacher evaluation
·      A non-refundable $USD30 application fee in the form of a check or money order made payable to the National Tropical Botanical Garden.

The Fellowship will cover the most economical roundtrip airfare to The Kampong, Florida, accommodation and meals, tuition and fees, texts, equipment, and ground transportation

Requests about the NTBG Fellowship must be directed to:

Courses/Workshops

Biology S-105 "Biodiversity of tropical plants."

The National Tropical Botanical Garden in collaboration with the Harvard Summer School and Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Instructor: P. Barry Tomlinson, Professor of Biology Emeritus , Harvard University and Crum Professor of Tropical Botany, National Tropical Botanical Garden.

Time: June 26 - July 21, 2006.

Location:
The Kampong, National Tropical Botanical Garden, 4013 Douglas Road, Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida 33133

At the Kampong the class will use the living accommodation provided in an air-conditioned dormitory-type facility (Scarborough House) and the newly -constructed teaching laboratory. This is supplemented by the teaching facility at the Center for Plant Conservation of Fairchild Garden.

Prerequisites:
Preferred Introductory Botany at the undergraduate college level.

Selection:
To be based on the prior experience of the student and the suitability of the course for graduate advancement. As in previous years the course will cater for students with broad interests who seek to become more familiar with tropical plants.

Course description:
The course is directed toward students already enrolled or about to be enrolled in a graduate program and will introduce the diversity of tropical plant types within a biological and systematic framework. Study will be based on the living collections of the Kampong, supplemented by those at other South Florida institutions (e.g., Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden and the Montgomery Botanical Center, Coral Gables, FL) and on plants in natural environments (e.g., Biscayne Bay and the Everglades National park). This is a teaching resource of some 10,000 species representing all tropical groups.

The work involves classroom and laboratory demonstration combined with outdoor presentations and excursions. The final week of the course requires each student to prepare an individual research project leading to a written and graded report.

The course is designed to develop a comparative approach to the study of plants that will broaden general understanding of their structure and function.

Enrollment: Limited to 12

Credits: 4

Estimated tuition: ~$2,300

Application: Students will be regularly enrolled in the 2006 Harvard summer School program, Selection is based on a Supplementary Application Form. Application materials will be available at www.summer.harvard.edu in early 2006.

Further information and enquiries from Professor Tomlinson ( pbtomlin@fas.harvard.edu ).

Positions Available

The Department of Biological Sciences at East Tennessee State University invites applications for an Assistant Professor tenure-track position beginning August, 2006. The successful candidate will participate in research at an outstanding local Late Miocene fossil site. Responsibilities include classroom and lab instruction and mentoring student research at undergraduate and graduate levels. Ph.D. required at hire date.

The Department of Biological Sciences is currently comprised of fourteen faculty members engaged in a wide range of research programs and serves approximately 250 majors and 20 M.S. students. Further information concerning the department is available at www.etsu.edu/biology.

The Don Sundquist Center for Excellence in Paleontology is under development in Gray, Tennessee, 15 miles from the main ETSU campus. A museum with research facilities and visitor center is planned for this unique Late Miocene forested site. Additional information about the Gray site is available at http://www.etsu.edu/grayfossilsite/ .

East Tennessee State University is located in Johnson City, Tennessee, a city of about 55,000 located in the southern Appalachian Mountains. The region has a total population of more than 400,000 and combines a low cost of living with amenities found in larger urban areas. ETSU enrolls approximately 12,000 students and offers more than thirty master's degree programs and six doctoral degree programs. Submit c.v., transcripts, statements of research and teaching interests, and three letters of reference electronically to paleobotanist@etsu.edu . Application review will begin on 12/1/05. ETSU is an AA/EO employer.

The Plant Biology Department at the University of Georgia has an opening for an Assistant or Associate Professor in Systematic and Evolutionary Biology. We seek a systematic biologist who uses innovative approaches to address fundamental questions about plants, algae or fungi in areas such as phylogenetics, molecular evolution, speciation or genome evolution. The successful candidate is expected to develop a vigorous, externally-funded research program and to teach and train undergraduate and graduate students in systematics. Cover letter, curriculum vitae, short statements of research interests and teaching philosophy and no more than five reprints should be assembled into a single pdf file and submitted online at http://www.plantbio.uga.edu/positions.html . Candidates should request four referees to submit letters of recommendation to the same site or by mail to Systematic and Evolutionary Biology Search Committee, Plant Biology Department, University of Georgia, Athens, GA USA 30602-7271. Applications received by November 4, 2005 are assured full consideration. The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences is committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty and strongly encourages applications from individuals in under-represented groups. UGA is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Job Title: Curator, Orchid Identification Center (OIC)

Reports To: Head of Systematics

Position: 40 hours. Includes benefits.

Start Date: As soon as possible

The Selby Botanical Gardens Research & Conservation Department seeks an experienced orchid taxonomist to manage its Orchid Identification Center (OIC). The curator must be able to aid department taxonomists in the accurate identification of Orchidaceae to species level, be familiar with relevant botanical literature, and be able to supervise volunteers, students, and interns. The successful candidate will manage and update the OIC species files and the Spirit Collection of 24,000 specimens, as well as write articles and provide lectures for public and scientific audiences, seek funding opportunities, and be willing to participate in international fieldwork.

Minimum education/experience: M.Sc. in orchid taxonomy preferred or B.Sc. in botany with two years practical experience in orchid identification. Experience in a herbarium or museum environment a plus. Excellent communication and computer skills (i.e., Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, Access, Adobe PhotoShop) required. Selby Gardens is an equal opportunity employer and a drug free workplace.

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Please send C.V. and the names of three references to: