" In this flower-bed five hundred miles long, I used to camp by just lying down wherever night overtook me, as if I had sunk beneath the waters of a lake, the radiant heads of compositae touching each other, ray to ray, shone above me like the thickest star clusters of the sky, and in the morning I sometimes found plants that were new, looking me in the face, so that my botanical studies would begin before I was up. "

                                                                                                        ~ John Muir

The objectives of the certificate program are, first of all, student centered. Postbaccalaureate students seeking career advancement within governmental agencies, or qualifications for entry-level botanist positions generally need a minimum of 36 quarter hours in botanical sciences. The Certificate in Botany provides a well-defined and structured curriculum of upper-division courses in modern botanical sciences, and sets achievement goals for the certificate (minimum GPA of 3.0 in certificate courses). The certificate program objectives  serve potential employers by providing a concise way of signaling on transcripts the student’s concentration and achievement in botanical sciences.

Oregon’s botanical richness is ranked third in the nation, after California and Texas.  Stewardship of this biodiversity resource requires a well qualified workforce. Resource management agencies and private consulting firms in Oregon require the expertise of botanists to carry out vegetation surveys, rare species inventories, and to perform a variety of tasks associated with completion of environmental impact statements and environmental assessments. In recent years, with implementation of the Northwest Forest Plan, the scarcity of qualified botanists to design and carry out survey-and-manage requirements of the Plan has impeded a full and timely implementation of resource management policy. As Oregon continues to develop an ecosystem management approach to stewarding natural resources, the Botany Certificate Program will help to recruit and train scientists needed to meet the demand.

The certificate program provides a sturdy foundation of modern plant sciences for students whose goal is to enter into agricultural research, the pharmaceuticals industry, biotechnology, and science education.

Situated near the confluence of three major floristic provinces (California Floristic Province, Great Basin Floristic Province, Montane/Boreal Floristic Province), and four regional ecoregions (Klamath Mountains, Cascade Mountains, Coastal Ranges, Modoc Plateau), SOU is biogeographically well placed to offer a Botany Certificate. There simply is no better place in the temperate latitudes to study plant biodiversity, and the rich offering of field courses at SOU makes good use of that circumstance in training professional botanists.

Recommended Text:

Certificate Requirements:
 

I.  Core Curriculum:   complete all of these courses (24 credits)

Bi 331           Plant Physiology 4  (Winter Term)
Bi 336          Plant Evolution and Systematics 4 (Winter Term 2005)  
Bi 432/532  Origins and Diversity of Land Plants  4 (Winter Term 2005)
Bi 434/534  Plant Anatomy 4 (Spring Term 2004)
Bi 436/536  Algae, Fungi and Lichens 4 (Fall Term 2004)
Bi 454/554  Plant Ecology 4 (Fall Term)

II.  Interdisciplinary Courses:   choose one course (3 or 4 credits)

Bi 430/530  Biological Illustration 3  (Winter Term)
Bi 438/538  Conservation Biology 3 (Fall Term)
Bi 485/585  Scanning Electron Microscopy 4  (Fall Term)

III.  Specialized Focus:   choose two of the following (7 or 8 credits)

Bi 444/544  Plant Identification and Field Botany  3 (Summer Session I)
Bi 435/535  Methods in Plant Systematics 4 (Winter Term, even years)
Bi 431/531   Physiological Plant Ecology 4 (Spring Term 2005)
Bi 442/542  Bryophytes 4 (Fall Term 2005)

IV.  Senior Capstone or Postbaccalaureate Project:   (4 credits)

Bi 490/Bi 491/492  Biology Senior Research (4 credits)
              or
Bi 402/Bi 404 Biology Honors Senior Research (6 credits)
              or
Sc 494, 495, 496  Environmental Studies Senior Capstone (6 credits)
              or
Bi 501   Research  (3-6 credits: Graduate Student Project)
              or
Bi 503  Thesis  (3-6  Graduate Student Thesis)

Additional Requirements:
 

1.  Courses in group II, Interdisciplinary Courses, and group IV, Senior Capstone Project, will apply to the Certificate in Botany when all of the projects and written assignments prepared for credit in those courses pertain in a direct way to botanical subjects.

2.  Certificate in Botany will be awarded to students who achieve a Grade Point Average of at least 3.0 for all courses in the certificate curriculum.

3.  Candidates for the Certificate in Botany will  prepare a portfolio of work completed for courses in the certificate curriculum. The portfolio will include written assignments, laboratory reports and laboratory notebooks, field notebooks, and copies of powerpoint files used in oral presentations.

4.  Students interested in entering the Certificate in Botany program should seek advising as soon as possible.
 

Suggested Schedules for Completing the Certificate in Botany

Suggested general botanical reference text:
            Raven, Evert & Eichhorn 1999. Plant Biology, 6th Edition. W H Freeman & Co.

SOU Facilities Supporting the Botany Certificate:

SOU Herbarium

The SOU Department of Biology has a regionally important plant collection housed in the SOU Herbarium (see Index Herbariorum, code: SOC). The SOU Herbarium contains about 14,000 specimens of vascular plants and cryptogams, with a primary emphasis on plants of the Klamath ecoregion and the California/Oregon border region in general. The collection has recently grown with the acquisition of the collection formerly housed by Rogue River National Forest, Ashland Ranger District. Other acquisitions are likely in coming years as the SOU herbarium develops the infrastructure to extend services to a wider community of plant scientists. Current renovations at the SOU herbarium include reorganization of the collection according to modern herbarium practice, and production of a specimen database that will eventually make our herbarium holdings available on-line.

The SOU herbarium has a regionally important role to play in the emerging cooperative venture, “Far West Floristic Initiative.” The SOU herbarium is biogeographically critical to the network of regional herbaria, and will offer a continuing opportunity for students in the Certificate in Botany program to develop job skills related to collections management and biodiversity information management. This collaboration will also benefit students by providing contacts for job opportunities and further academic training in botany.
 

Molecular Research Laboratory

The SOU Department of Biology is home to a recently developed core biotechnology laboratory, the SOU Center for Biotechnology, supporting research in molecular phylogenetic systematics. Largely funded by NSF grants, the lab focuses on the state-of-the-art application of tools developed by molecular biologists to problems in systematics and evolution.  The lab is designed to meet the needs of upper division courses, senior capstone projects, and faculty research.  Students in the Certificate in Botany program have full access to the core molecular lab. Current botanical projects in the molecular lab include a student team project to analyze the origins of Fritillaria gentneri, a local endemic recently listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.  Results of that study will contribute to a recovery plan.  Other projects in plant conservation biology are envisioned for future work in the molecular laboratory..

Greenhouse

Another teaching and research facility available to students in the Certificate in Botany program is the J.K.Sours Life Sciences Laboratory, otherwise known as the SOU Greenhouse.  The greenhouse, under the direction of Dr. John Sollinger, provides space for experiments requiring controlled growth environment.  The space is used for both courses and senior capstone research, as well as for faculty research.  In addition, the greenhouse contains an extensive living collection of plants used in both lower division and upper division botany courses.

Teaching collections

Besides specimens included in the herbarium, SOU has an extensive set of specimens designated for  use in teaching upper division courses in botany. The teaching collection is currently being reorganized and updated.  Additions to the teaching collections include a new set of preserved specimens of marine algae, and a new set of preserved hepaticae. An extensive set of bryophyte and lichen specimens representing the flora of the Pacific Northwest has also been added. Teaching collections are housed in room SC214, and are used primarily in upper division botany courses.

Libraries

The SOU Library houses a large collection of botanical literature. Access to the required literature and bibliographic tools needed for students in the certificate program are excellent. The SOU library, the Orbis system, and interlibrary loan services provide library resources equivalent to those of a large research university. In addition to the main library, the SOU Herbarium houses a large collection of botanical literature, including major reference works, a complete collection of major floristic works, journals, books, a large reprint collection, and a large map collection.

National and International Significance

The Botanical Society of America recently published a report that summarizes the results of a three-year study of the botanical profession. The study, entitled Botany for the Next Millennium, aimed to assess the state of the profession at the end of the 20th Century and to establish goals and objectives for developing the profession in the 21st Century. Promotion of botanical education was prominent among the principle goals recognized by a broad consensus of botanists contributing to the study. Despite the increased demand for broadly trained professional botanists there is a dirth of academic programs aimed specifically at meeting that demand. The Certificate in Botany program at SOU is, in part, a response to the call for development and enhancement of professional infrastructure in the botanical sciences. SOU is making a valuable contribution to the growth of the botanical profession by providing a structured curriculum in botanical sciences and recognizing excellence in student academic achievement through award of the Certificate in Botany.

Links to Information About Careers in Botany

Botany for the Next Millennium

Careers in Botany

Graduate Programs in Botany in the Western U.S.
 

Specialized Botanical Certifications

A Certificate in Botany is a great way to begin a career in botany or, for those already working as botanists, to improve your career options.   You can enhance your preparedness and demonstrate your credentials through  further specialized botanical certification available through the following programs.

Northwest Lichenologist Certification Program

New York Botanical Garden Certificate Programs

Certificate Program in Wetland Science and Management, University of Washington

Botanical Art and Illustration Certificate, Morton Arboretum

Certificate in Plant Pathology, American Phytopathological Society

Ecologist Certifications, Ecological Society of America