City Trees is a premier publication focused on urban + community forestry. In each issue, you’ll learn how to best manage the trees in your community and more!
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1386860
Could you talk about the transition from having been a student at UT to being in an academic role at the University? SJP: To be honest, the transition was rapid and dif- ferent from anything I had ever experienced within my academic and professional career. As a doctoral student, I was blissfully unaware of how swiftly my life was getting ready to change. Here I was, working with faculty members, conducting research, assisting with journals, and seeking post-doc positions for the future. And before I could even realize what was occurring, I was being offered a full-time, Assistant Professor position within my academic department. That must have been very exciting. Could you talk about that process? SJP: As previously mentioned, the College's desire to launch an urban forestry concentration came through an "opportunity to hire" position; I knew that both the Dean and the College were counting on me to ensure its development and success. As such, I needed a team that could help me in terms of part- nerships, academic connections, marketing/branding, curriculum development, etc. This was essential con- sidering that I was new to this field of study. That team consisted of faculty within the FWF Department (Keith Belli & Larry Tankersley), Plant Sciences (Andrew Pulte), Landscape Design (Garry Menendez), Extension (David Vandergriff), Tennessee Division of Forestry (Tom Simpson), industry profes- sionals (Jim Cortese and Sam Adams), and Kasey Krouse, who served as an urban forester for the City of Knoxville. The development of the urban forestry concentration was truly a process. With the committee in place, it took two months to identify all of the necessary courses, three months to develop the syllabi, and one academic year to gain approval from the FWF Department, UT College of Agriculture, and UT at large, and from the Tennessee Board of Regents. Our urban forestry con- centration was fully approved and launched in 2012. During this long and tedious journey, we researched both two – and four-year programs across the nation that held urban forestry academic concentra- tions. Some of those institutions included Southern University (Yadong Qi & Vanessa Ferchaud), West Virginia University (Gregory Dahle), Virginia Tech (Eric Wiseman and Susan Day), South Dakota State University (John Ball), Auburn University (Brenda Allen & Michelle Cole), and Alamance Community College (Travis Vickerson). We successfully developed courses Dr. Jean-Philippe and colleagues celebrating the University of Tennessee- Knoxville's achievement of Tree Campus USA status in 2018. Dr. Jean-Philippe and colleagues at the 2017 Partners Community Forestry Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 16 CityTREES