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Message from the Chair

Rory

Friend of the CLC Horticulture Community:

Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Rory Klick, the newly appointed chairperson of the College of Lake County's Horticulture Department. I am writing to tell you about a few of the new and exciting things that are happening in the program, and to invite your active participation in this program's evolution and expansion.

Last year CLC's Horticulture Department launched a number of new initiatives to strengthen and expand our ability to train students to assume leadership roles in the large and expanding green industry. We expanded our industry advisory committee, held a business roundtable about horticulture employment trends, hired an experienced greenhouse manager (Deatra Sams), modernized our facilities, created a relationship with the Chicago Botanic Garden, and conducted faculty site visits to some of the other leading horticulture programs around the state. We also created a new webpage, www.clcillinois.edu/horticulture that features a schedule of horticulture program information sessions, a current job board for students and alumni, a horticulture scholarship page, faculty and staff interviews, and a variety of other web resources.

This year, in an effort to continue the momentum, I'm focused on forging new relationships with businesses who are interesting in sending representatives to serve on our advisory committee, hiring our alumni, creating internships, sharing expertise with students, making a donation to our horticulture scholarship fund supporting the expansion of our display gardens, or collaborating with us in other ways. Beyond that, I am already updating course learning objectives and broadening the curriculum to include a new Associate Degree Specialization in Horticulture Production and a certificate in Landscape Design—scheduled to go live in fall 2009—in addition to our previous certificates in Landscape Maintenance, Floral Design, Arboriculture, and Natural Areas Management. I have also created three new special topics courses for the spring 2009 term—Organic Growing and Sustainable Practices, The Business of Being Green, and Weeds and Herbaceous Ornamentals—and one new special topics course for the summer term—Fruits , Vegetables and Herbs.

In addition to working to ensure that CLC horticulture graduates have everything they need to impress employers, I have turned my attention to increasing the number of students who enroll in our program each year. To this end, I have worked with the CLC Foundation to create a new Horticulture Career Exploration Scholarship which effectively covers the tuition of one three-credit horticulture class for any student without prior college-level horticulture coursework. This is a great way to test the waters of academia for people who are already working in greenhouse production or some other sector of the green economy.

It's an exciting time to be studying horticulture or working in the green industry. I hope that you'll become increasingly involved in CLC's program in the coming year. Whether you're a current student who is pursuing a certificate or an associate's degree, an alumnus, or a Lake County employer, I'd like to hear from you. How can CLC's Horticulture Program help you? Please don't hesitate to call me at (847) 543-2320 or email me at rklick@clcillinois.edu to let me know. And thank you for your previous support of our program.

Sincerely,
Rory Klick, MS

 
 
 
College of Lake County, 19351 West Washington Street, Grayslake, IL 60030-1198    (847) 543-2000