Integrating science and management to understand and sustain agricultural, horticultural, forest, and wetland ecosystems.

Welcome! Our department has as its mission the identification and application of ecological principles that contribute to the sustainable use of ecosystems in a rapidly changing global environment. Faculty expertise provides a framework for the study of interactions between biological, chemical and physical components of agricultural, horticultural, wetlands, forest, and watershed ecosystems.

We play a key role in interdisciplinary curricula and research projects involving biogeochemistry, soil science, plant science, sustainable cropping systems, and invertebrate and microbial ecology. Through its teaching and research programs in these areas the department addresses the needs of Maine's natural resource-based industries and contributes to a knowledge foundation upon which their sustainability can be built.

The department is directly responsible for the B.S. degree in Landscape Horticulture and Sustainable Agriculture, and its faculty play a pivotal role through instruction and advising in the Ecology and Environmental Sciences B.S. program. The department participates in seven graduate degree programs at both the M.S. and Ph.D. levels.

Landscape Horticulture:  http://www.umaine.edu/lhc/

Sustainable Agriculture:  Sustainable Agriculture Program

Ecology and Environmental Sciences:  http://www.umaine.edu/nrc/

 

Dean Ed Ashworth and Chairperson Greg Porter listens to Professor Bill Mitchell at a reception held in honor of his retirement.

Linda Mitchell, Bill Mitchell, Brad Libby, and Tiffany Mitchell share a moment at the reception.

Professor Bill Mitchell Retires from UMaine

Bill Mitchell is retiring from the University after 33 years of service.  He retires as Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Coordinator of the Landscape Horticulture (LHC) undergraduate program within the Department of Plant, Soil & Environmental Sci-ences.  Bill’s appoint-ment has been 100% instruction / Program Coordinator.  He is a well-respected teacher covering a diverse range of topics including: orientation for first-year students, graphic design, landscape design, landscape management, professional practices, capstone courses, and numerous undergraduate /graduate special topics courses.  He advises 15-20 undergraduate students per year including all first-year students and student athletes in the LHC program.  Bill has been an enthusiastic force for the LHC undergraduate program.  Under his leadership the program has been modernized to include concentrations in Design, Science, Business, and Horticulture Therapy.   He worked with a private company to develop a web site that effectively presents the LHC program to prospective students and the broader public.   Bill works effectively with industry and alumni to assure that the program provides training that is relevant to employers.  As a result, the LHC program boasts 100% employment of its graduates.   His relationships with alumni and friends have gained considerable financial support for the Program and resulted in major endowments for LHC student scholarships as well as students from the program competing very well at national competitions (PLANET) for the past two years.  In addition to being a skilled landscape architect, Bill has a profound interest in plant materials and is an avid outdoorsman.   Bill and his wife Linda raised their family in Old Town and are now moving to Amherst, Massachusetts to take on new and exciting challenges.