2019 ASHS Annual Conference

Many of us have experienced walking into an environment and immediately feeling a sense of belonging or welcome. In contrast, many of us have also experienced walking into an environment and immediately feeling that we were unwelcome and did not belong. In our educational institutions, physical artifacts, the human created cultural objects and representations, communicate important messages about our educational climate and values. Bulletin boards, signage, decorations, and other artifacts serve as communicators of cultural values. These physical artifacts, then, may be viewed as powerful nonverbal communicators of climate, especially equity climate. These value representations tell current and prospective students, as well as faculty and staff, who and what are valued. The communication of cultural expectations shapes the learning environment, and these expectations support and/or constrain learning.

The Department of Horticulture & Landscape Architecture at Colorado State University is a unique blending of art and science that is found in few other singular departments across the University. It is also a department that is disproportionately dominated by men, both in the faculty ranks and student enrollment. Our goals with this project are to shine a light on both the art and the science in our department, to celebrate the contributions of women to our disciplines, to inspire our students, and to foster a climate of inclusion and gender equity—which hopefully will lead to increased female undergraduate and graduate student numbers and retention of those students. A photographic exhibition of women leaders in the fields of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture will be displayed in our Department after a public exhibition in April 2019. The exhibition showcases women with significant contributions and achievements in the fields of horticulture and landscape architecture. Women have been selected from an array of racial, ethnic, class, sexual orientation, gender, ability, religious, and cultural backgrounds so that our students will see role models they can relate to among these women. Museum-quality photographic portraits are accompanied by brief biographies of the women in their own words. There will be an opening reception including some of the featured women, who will discuss their involvement in the project and their experiences as females working in their respective fields.