US (TN): Vanderbilt greenhouses promote faculty research, student involvement
If you visit the greenhouses, you will be greeted by greenhouse manager Jonathan Ertelt.
Ertelt has worked in botany for years, from work at Cheekwood Gardens in Nashville to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He came to Vanderbilt 21 years ago to get a Masters in Education and used his work-study funding to work in the greenhouses for a year. Halfway into that time period, Ertelt convinced administrators to create the part-time position of Greenhouse Manager so that he could continue to work there and take care of the greenhouses.
The Vanderbilt campus has had greenhouses since the 1930s. They were connected to the left side of Buttrick Hall before an addition was added to that building in place of the greenhouses.
When the Department of Biological Sciences was moved to Stevenson Center, the greenhouses were built on top of Stevenson Building Two. There are seven rooms within the greenhouses, four of which are open to students.
Various faculty members have used the greenhouse to conduct their research since they were built, but Ertelt says that now the greenhouses are mainly used by students.
Read more at The Vanderbilt Hustler