As a new school year begins, Temple University Ambler is updating and adding facilities to provide students their best Temple experience inside and out of the classroom.Students will return to find that the Ambler Campus Bookstore has moved to the Ambler Campus Learning Center. Diamond General, Temple's new convenience store concept, has taken up residence in the Learning Center Lobby and the Student Success Center is expanding their tutoring support online.Moving the bookstore will also open space in Bright Hall for a new design-build studio for students in the Department of...
While students in Temple's College Bound Academy spent a week discovering everything the University has to offer, a visit to Temple University Ambler gave participants the opportunity to explore "green" careers."We really wanted to get the students out to Temple Ambler after talking to a young lady — Marquita Heard — who had been through foster care and graduated from Temple with a degree in Landscape Architecture. She now works for the City of Philadelphia and is connected to the Philadelphia Flower Show," said Harold B. Brooks, Educational Services Coordinator for...
Kathleen Salisbury can't remember a time when plants, horticulture and the outdoors weren't a part of her life."I come from a long line of people with green thumbs. I've always had a connection to the outdoors; there was always a draw for me toward horticulture," she said. "It was a natural progression that I'd look toward horticulture as a profession, public horticulture in particular. I've always felt that it's through these wonderful public gardens that we can truly commit people to thinking environmentally and sustainably."After a 25-year career that has touched upon nearly...
During a recent week in May, a crisis in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area left a hiker stranded, unable to find their way out of a densely forested 2,800-acre region.National Park Service rangers and rangers-in-training sprung into action, using search and rescue skills they had methodically practiced to track and locate the hiker and bring her to safety.Fortunately in the case of this rescue, it was a ProRanger Philadelphia "Leadership Training Camp" training scenario held at the Delaware Water Gap — one of the country's 413 national parks — designed...
A visit to Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum is a trip through a rich history that informs the present while embracing the future.In the past, there are powerful echoes of the pioneering women of the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women who found their passions in horticulture, landscape design and agriculture and became leaders in each field.In our classrooms and in our gardens today, students are learning by doing, designing and building landscape architecture projects, training to become the next generation of law enforcement and learning plant...
The evolution of Temple University Ambler started with what was then a revolutionary concept — providing educational opportunities for women at a time when few were available. Temple Ambler's forerunner, the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women was nearly unique in providing its students hands-on education and the opportunity to enhance and enrich their lives.More than 100 years later, the Ambler Campus continues to play a unique role within Temple University. A designated arboretum, it is a living laboratory of varied environments — from conifer and...
An arboretum is little better than a landscape painting if it can only be enjoyed from a distance.Thanks to the generous support of MaryJane (MJ) Kirkpatrick, her daughter Kim Pennente, sister-in-law Lisa Schiel of the Schiel Family Foundation, and the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust, a new "Ambler Arboretum Accessible Pathway" has been developed to ensure that everyone can enjoy the Temple University Ambler campus gardens the way they were intended."The gardens at Temple Ambler are a wonderful resource, a real showcase for the campus and for Temple. Temple is my alma mater...
Instances of new, artistically crafted outdoor furniture popping up around the Temple University Ambler Campus have students, faculty and staff buzzing about their origins. This wasn't a case of spontaneous furniture generation after all.The 13 pieces — a combination of chairs and tables — were developed with intention by the students in Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture Rob Kuper's junior design studio. Fresh off a highly successful showing at the 2017 Philadelphia Flower Show — Temple was awarded several top honors for the exhibit Nieuwpolders:...
Landscape Architecture graduating senior Ani Knauff recently received a very special message from her father."My dad sent me a picture of my grandma (his mom) with an email saying 'Your Grandma would be very proud. She always wanted to be a landscape designer. She admired the work of Edna Walling,'" said Knauff, 36, who grew up on a farm in Nar Nar Goon North, Australia, not far from Melbourne. "Edna Walling was a well known Australian landscape designer."Knauff's grandmother, Lesley Evaline Sargeant, "had an impressive cut flower garden for a small suburban house," she said."...
There are hobbies and then there are careers. It is the fortunate few that can successfully turn the former into the latter.Temple Adult and Organizational Development graduate Hollie Axel is one of those happy, fortunate few."I am doing what I love to do and teaching it to others in a way that I never thought I would. I truly love it," said Axel, 54, of Wyndmoor. "I like to think of Adult and Organizational Development (AOD) as educating individuals outside the box without them realizing it. Everyone has a different road to take — how you get there isn't as important as...
Kyle Salembier has a simple goal — leaving places and people in a better place than he found them.It is why the Temple Adult and Organizational Development (AOD) program was such a perfect fit for him, said Salembier, who will graduate with an AOD degree this month."AOD, for me, is about moving into a small or large scale company or organization and identifying factors that could be improved upon — it could be personnel, it could be technology, it could be leadership. The idea is to foster change to keep companies healthy and growing," he said. "Strategic analysis...
History major Sherrice Johnson's educational journey has literally taken her to the other side of the world and back again. All the while, she was learning about history, making some of her own and helping others chart a new path to their future."When I came to Temple, I learned about an intergenerational learning program that teaches seniors to read. I felt compelled to volunteer for it — all of our seniors are living history and there is so much we can learn from them if we just take the time to listen," said Johnson, 39, who will graduate with her history degree from...
Coming to the United States, Master of Landscape Architecture student Hamed Lavasani discovered a calling that he hadn't been exposed to prior to coming to the northeast."Studying ecological design, ecological restoration isn't really taking place in Iran yet," said Lavasani, 33, who received his bachelor's degree in architecture while living in Tehran, where nine million people live in the city and 16 million live in the wider metropolitan area. "I was looking to continue my studies in something similar to my undergraduate program. I knew I wanted a graduate program that...
How do you plan on celebrating Earth Day this year?
EarthFest 2019, Temple University Ambler's annual outdoor educational festival celebrating Earth Day, will be held on Friday, April 26, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., rain or shine.
"This will be our 16th year and our 17th EarthFest celebration. This is a tremendous achievement! EarthFest has become an essential part of sharing what Temple University Ambler does best — promoting environmental stewardship in our communities," said EarthFest Co-Coordinator Susan Spinella Sacks. "I think the success and impact of EarthFest is...
Derek Suomi knows a little something about multitasking.While serving for four years in the United States Coast Guard in Portsmouth, Virginia, keeping waterways clear of ships he also completed courses in landscape design and horticulture by taking classes at night at nearby Tidewater Community College.Today, the tasks hit even closer to home. While diligently completing designs and documentation for his landscape architecture studio classes at Temple University Ambler he has an essential job to do at home as well — being a great Dad to three-month old Rowan."Being...
Horticulture major Megan Bazin would be perfectly content living off the land given the opportunity."I've thought about what I would like to do after graduation so much. I would be happy with any job that involves plants and the outdoors," said Bazin, who will head on to her next stop after graduating from Temple University's Horticulture program in May. "I think what I would truly like to do is be a homesteader! If I could just provide for myself and live off the land, I'd be just fine."Modern life — bills to pay, responsibilities to meet — sometimes get in the way...
Horticulture major Benjamin Snyder didn't just "Fly in Four." He flew in 3.5, completing his degree at Temple University a full semester early.Graduating in December 2016, Snyder has already arrived at his next stop and he didn't have to go far to get far. He is now the full-time Greenhouse Horticulturist at the Temple University Ambler Campus Greenhouse."It couldn't have been a more natural transition. I am convinced that my Temple education has thoroughly prepared me to fulfill this responsibility well," said Snyder. "I'll be overseeing the academic side of horticulture at...
When Temple University Biology major Victoria Uritsky begins her job scribing at Abington Hospital, she'll be entering familiar territory.The 22-year old has already put in hundreds of volunteer hours at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital working in a diversity of areas from corporate compliance to clinical research to the emergency department."I can trace my interest in biology to my high school anatomy class. Even though the material was challenging, I kept going back to it and it fueled my interest in higher level science classes," she said. "I knew that was the field I...
How do you plan on celebrating Earth Day this year?EarthFest 2017, Temple University Ambler's annual outdoor educational festival celebrating Earth Day, is just a few days away!EarthFest 2017 will be held on Friday, April 28, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., rain or shine."This will be our 15th EarthFest celebration. This is a tremendous achievement. EarthFest has become an essential part of sharing what Temple University Ambler does best — promoting environmental stewardship in our communities," said EarthFest Coordinator Susan Spinella-Sacks. "I think the success and impact of...
Horticulture Assistant Professor Dr. Sasha Eisenman doesn't have to go far to find research ideas."Sometimes it's just a matter of looking out my window on campus. I started to research Staphylea by seeing it outside and wondering if anyone had ever used its seeds for food or oil," said Eisenman, who has an extensive background in medicinal plants and medicinal plant chemistry — his research has taken him to some very out of the way places, such as Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. "There are records of the seed oil from a related species in China being used in the production of...
