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Education — Degree Programs

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Bachelor's Program in Horticulture

 

The University of Illinois is filling a critical gap in upstate Illinois by bringing its horticultural baccalaureate degree program to Chicago. The College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) and the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES), is partnering with the University’s Office of Continuing Education, Chicago area community and city colleges, The Morton Arboretum, the Chicago Botanic Garden and the Oak Brook Multi-University Center, in offering students the final years of coursework needed to complement their associate level courses and earn a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture. This will be the first horticultural bachelor’s program offered by either a private or public institution in the Chicago area.

By partnering with two of the premier environmental education agencies and other educational entities in the Chicago area, the program will offer courses at convenient and inviting locations — The Morton Arboretum, and the Multi-University Center in Oak Brook in the western suburbs and the Chicago Botanic Garden in the eastern and northern suburbs. Courses are available in Plant Propagation, Woody Landscape Plants, Forest and Landscape Insects, and Residential Site Design.

Reaching out to non-traditional students, typically working professionals who are managing school, work and family, the University and community colleges hope to provide an opportunity for students to seek their horticulture degree without “pulling up roots” and relocating to the Urbana campus. The program will be spearheaded on-site by renowned landscape architect Greg Pierceall, who has 30 years’ experience with environmental education and landscape design in Illinois and Indiana. This new program brings long-term involvement to the classroom for the best opportunity to partner between practice and education.

With the same standards of quality as the U of I on-campus program, the new Chicago area bachelor’s program will have a concentration in horticulture production and management, and will utilize tenure-track faculty and highly qualified adjunct faculty. The program’s objectives and learning outcomes are related to the goal of preparing students for careers in production, marketing, management, and use of horticultural flower, landscape, and food crops; in teaching, research, or other related professional activity; for advanced professional training; or in a business providing services related to horticultural crops.