Webinar - Cornell Botanic Gardens: Connecting Peoples and Plants

Registration Status:
Closed

Event Date:

Event Time:
6:00 pm

Category:
Club Programs

Dr. Sonja Skelly, the Director of Education & Communications for Cornell Botanic Gardens, will take participants on a virtual tour of the beauty and diversity found within the Gardens.  The lecture will also cover the Gardens' important work on connecting plants, people and cultures. The botanic gardens cultivate 150 acres of gardens and arboretum, steward 3,500 acres of natural areas including the iconic gorges and Beebe Lake, educate Cornell students, school children, and visitors, and work on conserving nature around the world.  Join Dr. Skelly for a virtual stroll through the beauty and diversity of the living collections and landscapes at Cornell and hear how the Gardens are working toward a world of diversity, beauty and hope.

Sonja Skelly is the director of education & communications for Cornell Botanic Gardens. She is also an adjunct associate professor of Horticulture in the School of Integrated Plant Sciences. Sonja is an educator who works with plants, nature, and gardens to help people foster a deeper connection to plants. She is interested in the conservation of nature and using education, for learners of all ages, as a way to conserve nature. Sonja provides leadership for education, communications, and visitor services programs for Cornell Botanic Gardens. As faculty in Cornell's Horticulture Department, Sonja teaches classes on plants and human well-being, education and interpretation in public gardens, and co-leads a Masters of Professional Studies program in Public Garden Leadership. Additionally, she works with faculty and botanic gardens staff on Botanic Gardens' Climate Change Garden, which demonstrates and educates about the effects of climate change on plants.
Sonja has been with the Botanic Gardens since 2002. Prior to coming to Cornell, she worked with Walt Disney World, the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival, and the University of Florida on a statewide school gardening initiative and the Florida Master Gardener program and was an Assistant Professor at Mississippi State University. Sonja has a BA in Anthropology and a Masters of Science in Horticultural Sciences from Texas A&M University; she earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Horticulture from the University of Florida.  

6:00pm EDT webinar, gratis. Advance registration required. Registrants will receive the link to view the lecture in the confirmation email.