|
Horticulture Professor Mary H. Meyer Named Interim Director
Chanhassen, MN (June 18, 2008) - Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Director Peter J. Olin will retire as Arboretum director on July 1, after nearly 24 years at the helm of the University of Minnesota public gardens and research center which has grown dramatically in size and visitorship under his watch. Olin will continue to fulfill his teaching duties as a professor in the university's College of Food, Agricultural and Nature Resource Sciences on the St. Paul Campus.
The university has appointed Dr. Mary H. Meyer, Ph.D., as the new interim director of the Arboretum. Olin credits Meyer with building the special grasses collection at the Arboretum. A horticultural science professor with a PhD in ornamental grasses, Meyer is the former head of the Master Gardener program for the U Extension Service. She is based at the Arboretum and continues to teach on the Twin Cities campus.
Meyer credits Olin for playing a large part in making the arboretum the success it is today. Her focus includes "extending our programming links to nature and horticulture" among people who can benefit from them the most.
Olin is leaving behind a rich legacy. His leadership was responsible for the Arboretum's popular summer exhibitions - from "Secret Gardens," "Totally Terrific Treehouses" and "Big Bugs" to last year's "Art to A-Maze" - that have resulted in increased attendance numbers and growing membership. In fact, Arboretum membership is up to 19,000, and over 288,000 people passed through its gates last year.
The Arboretum's internationally recognized therapeutic horticulture program was initiated under Olin's watch, as well as a growing list of family activities and adult-education classes. The Arboretum's new 45,000-square foot Oswald Visitor Center opened during Olin's directorship.
Olin has served as president of both the Minnesota Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the National Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture. In 1993, Olin was named a "fellow" with the American Society of Landscape Architects. He recently was inducted into the MNLA Hall of Fame. Olin also recently was awarded the American Public Garden Association's Award of Merit, which honors an APGA member who has "performed with distinction in the field of public horticulture."
Olin received a bachelor's degree in landscape design and ornamental horticulture from Cornell University in 1961 and in 1971 received a master of landscape architecture degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. After working in private industry as a landscape architect, he became a professor of horticultural science and landscape architecture at the University of Minnesota in 1974. He was named interim Arboretum director in July 1984 and director in 1985. Olin will continue to fulfill his teaching duties at the university. Olin and his wife, Bonnie, have one daughter, Zubi. They reside in Falcon Heights.
The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, the largest public garden in the Upper Midwest and a premier northern arboretum, is part of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Minnesota and developed as a community and national resource for horticultural and environmental information, research, and public education. It is located nine miles west of I-494 on Highway 5 in Chanhassen.
-The End-
Please call Barb DeGroot at 952-443-1459 if you'd like an interview with Olin and/or Meyer. Thanks!
|