The scholarship of a university garden director

Abstract

More universities are developing on-campus horticultural, landscape, or botanical gardens. Campus gardens often evolved from the life's work of one or a few dedicated faculty members during the second half of the 20th century. Today's faculty face different demands on their time, with pressure to conduct research funded through grants and contracts and resulting in peer-reviewed journal articles. The role of faculty as university garden directors does not blend well with the scholarship associated with fundamental research. The work of a university garden director does blend well within the context of Boyer's model of scholarship that has been modified by others not only to accept the scholarship of research, but also the scholarship of integration, teaching, and engagement as equally valued forms of scholarship.