John Lennon famously sang "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."Terry Cinque is living proof. In January, Cinque completed a 16-year journey that has culminated in an Associate's degree in Horticulture.While it's been an epic quest that would make Odysseus envious, Cinque's answer to the question "Why so long?" is quite simple — "Family first.""I had been working full-time as a radiologic technologist for more than 25 years at Nazareth Hospital and the Fox Chase Cancer Center. When my kids were born, I began working part-time so when one went...
For most of her life, Allison Hanna didn't think college was in the cards for her. That is until she hit it big in Vegas."When I was a freshman in high school, I went through a career evaluation and found horticulture and landscaping might be for me — that's when I found out all there is you can do in the landscape architecture field," said Hanna, 21, from Mechanicsburg. "In my junior year at the local (vocational technical) school, two teachers saw potential in me and suggested that I started entering competitions. They sent me to Las Vegas — they threw me right...
Temple's Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture — celebrating the 25th anniversary of the department's four-year degrees in 2014 — has a long history of academic excellence.The work of its students certainly hasn't gone unrecognized. The department was honored with a treasure trove of awards presented to graduate and undergraduate students by the Pennsylvania-Delaware Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.Landscape Architecture and Horticulture students were honored with the following accolades through the PA/DE ASLA's Student Awards...
When Shawn Smyth-Toner was born two months early to March of Dimes Ambassador family Patti Smyth and John Toner, he weighed just a little more than three pounds — a bag of sugar weighs five.When Patti Smyth saw her son for the first time, he was enmeshed in padded sunglasses and a complex array of tubes assisting his tiny frame with breathing and eating. Forth-three days later, he was finally able to leave the newborn intensive care unit and come home.Shawn's family is among the thousands helped by the March of Dimes each year. Thanks to March of Dimes funded research on...
A warm, beautiful spring day helped welcomed 6,500 visitors for a day of celebrating the Earth at Temple University Ambler's EarthFest 2016 on Earth Day, April 22.
"We couldn't be more pleased with how EarthFest turned out this year," said EarthFest Coordinator Susan Spinella Sacks, who is also Assistant Director of event host the Center for Sustainable Communities (CSC). "Our visitors and exhibitors fully embraced the day as an opportunity to learn about and share information that will be beneficial for this and future generations."
EarthFest is one of the most highly...
When: Friday, April 25, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: Temple University Ambler, 580 Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, PA
Flooding is the number one disaster in the United States and the world. As local neighborhoods and communities can attest, this region of the country is particularly susceptible to the devastating impact of floods.
At EarthFest, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will have activities for students young and old focused on identifying flood risk and making better decisions on how to reduce it. Students will be able to see firsthand if their home,...
Where: Temple University Ambler, 580 Meetinghouse Road, Bright Hall Circle When: Sunday, April 27, Registration: 9 a.m.; Walk: 10 a.m.Premature birth is the number one obstetric problem in the United States. It is very likely that you know someone — perhaps someone in your family — that has struggled through the heartache of worry that prematurity can bring.To help reduce the staggering number of premature births, hundreds of heroes will be lacing up their walking shoes for the Eastern Montgomery County March of Dimes March for Babies 2014, which will be held at...
Spring has sprung! It's time to put your detective skills to work and hunt some eggs!The Criminal Justice Society at Temple University Ambler will host a Spring Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 19, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., beginning in Bright Hall Lounge. This family-friendly free event is open to all students, faculty, staff, and the general public."Every semester, we try to host an event that is geared toward the community. In the fall, we held our popular Operation Safe Trick-or-Treat program," said Criminal Justice Society President Brianna Chiaradia. "This semester, our goal was...
To understand how deeply committed the Southwest Belmont Community Association, Inc. (SWBCA) is to empowering and uplifting underserved neighborhoods in the Philadelphia region, all you need to do is look at their history and their continuing mission."Our mission has been to empower youth, adults and families to promote a positive self-image and to develop their capacity to be effective leaders, communicate with efficacy and strengthen family systems," said Charmayne Purnell, President of the SWBCA Board of Directors, an organization that traces its founding to 1870.Purnell...
The Center for Sustainable Communities at Temple University has been awarded a $1.235 million grant from the William Penn Foundation to provide oversight, expertise and support for what could potentially be dozens of restoration projects in the suburban portions of five watersheds in the Philadelphia region.
"The Center will have a lead technical role in managing William Penn's watershed protection effort for what the foundation has designated the Upstream Suburban Philadelphia Cluster of watersheds — one of the most complex watershed regions in the Delaware River Basin due...
There are several constants in Angela Davis' life — her dedication to Temple University, her alma mater; her desire to champion diversity and eliminate barriers to inclusion; and her support of underserved populations in and around the Philadelphia region. These constants have made her a true leader in actively working toward racial equity within the university community and beyond."When I had the opportunity to return to Temple — an institution where so many genuinely good things happened to me — I knew I had to help provide resources for people that might...
When: Thursday, April 3 and Friday, April 4, 8 p.m.Where: Act II Playhouse, 56 East Butler Avenue, Ambler Borough Listen closely to a story of empowerment. See a study in individuality. Hear a song of survival and perseverance. Join in a celebration of women.The Vagina Monologues is all of these things and much more. An Obie Award-winning episodic play written by Eve Ensler, the performance is comprised of a varying number of monologues read by several different women. A recurring theme throughout the piece "is the vagina as a tool of female empowerment, and the ultimate...
Since its inception, the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture's Master of Landscape Architecture (MLArch) program has placed a strong emphasis on ecological landscape restoration.The mission of the MLArch program is to integrate ecosystem and design principles in order to restore degraded landscapes. Students apply scientific knowledge of landscape restoration, native plant communities and local ecosystems to transform vacant lots, brown fields and suburban sprawl into creatively designed parks, campuses, gardens and neighborhoods.Furthering that mission is a...
Months of hard work by Temple University Ambler students and faculty paid off with special honors for Temple's 2014 Philadelphia Flower Show Exhibit, Tamanend's Track: The Path to a Portrayal of the Past.Tamanend's Track was awarded a Special Achievement Award of the Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania, presented to an exhibit "of unusual excellence in the category of conservation;" the Chicago Horticultural Society Flower Show Medal, awarded to an educational exhibit showing outstanding horticultural skill and knowledge in a nationally recognized flower show; and a PHS...
A walk through Temple University Ambler's Philadelphia Flower Show exhibit is a walk through time."Tamanend's Track: The Path to a Portrayal of the Past" is a journey through the complex interconnectedness of what is; the illusory tranquility of what was; and an exploration of what could be again through ecological restoration.Tamanend's Track reflects how "landscape alteration has inspired regional artists within the context of modern landscape architecture and ecological restoration," said Rob Kuper, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture."For the Flower Show this year...
Temple's Main Campus will become a living laboratory for the study and evaluation of stormwater management controls and practices in urban environments, thanks to a four-year, $1 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Dr. Jeffrey Featherstone, director of the Center for Sustainable Communities, located at Temple University Ambler, is principal investigator for the multidisciplinary grant, with Laura Toran, Weeks Chair in Environmental Geology; Mark Weir, assistant professor of public health; and Lynn Mandarano, associate professor of Community and...
Sean Maxwell spent recent months working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at its regional office in Philadelphia, pouring over more than a decade of flooding data to modernize the presentation of the information to help prevent stormwater damage in the future. "I was working with FEMA's Risk Analysis department on a long term data preservation project for Region III, which includes Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia," he said "This was data from houses that had been assessed for flood damage between 1996 to 2005...
The Reading Railroad was once one of the primary industrial lifelines for a constantly growing City of Philadelphia. In 1984, the once common site of seemingly never ending commercial rail cars wending their way through the city came to an end, leaving behind a mostly unused swath of gravel, greenery and tunnels.For students in Temple University's Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture, this "forgotten" railway — a three-mile stretch that spans 55 city blocks and five neighborhoods and includes the elevated Reading Viaduct, vast underground sections with...
The aging of society is an enormously important demographic change that has implications for every aspect of life in the United States. The challenge for decision-makers planning the future of our communities is to ensure that the built environment meets the changing needs of all citizens including older people.
Earlier this year, Department of Community and Regional Planning graduate and undergraduate students completed a comprehensive report entitled "Aging With Our Communities — An Aging in Place Plan for Montgomery County," created for the Montgomery County Office of...
Ever since he was a child, David L. Butcher always had a passion for urban environments."I've always loved cities but it wasn't until I was a little older that it occurred to me that I could actually help build cities," said Butcher, 36, who graduated from Temple University in 2008 with an MS in Community and Regional Planning. "I had a particular interest in urban redevelopment. Edison once said that vision without execution is hallucination — I wanted to both plan and develop cities and help find ways to improve our urban centers."Armed with an Urban Studies degree from...