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Michael A. Arnold Professor of Landscape Horticulture
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While a student at The Ohio State University, Mike Arnold earned a B.S. in Business Administration (Production and Operations Management, 1983), B.S. in Agriculture (Landscape Horticulture, 1984), and M.S. in Landscape Horticulture (1987). In 1990 he received a Ph.D. in Horticultural Sciences from North Carolina State University. After a brief stint at Tennessee Tech University, Dr. Arnold assumed a position as Assistant Professor of Landscape Horticulture at Texas A&M University where he has progressed through the ranks to Professor. From 2003-2007 and again from 2012 to the present, Dr. Arnold has served as the Associate Head for Graduate Programs in the Department. Dr. Arnold’s areas of research include investigating landscape establishment of container-grown plants, with particular interest in the postharvest impacts of various nursery/greenhouse production practices on transplant establishment to landscapes. A growing field of research is Dr. Arnold’s involvement with landscape plant selection and breeding efforts for improved genotypes which enhance the sustainability of our region landscapes and minimize inputs required to produce and maintain practical aesthetically pleasing integrated urban/suburban natural and built environments. Dr. Arnold teaches a full range of graduate (HORT 608, HORT 609) and undergraduate (HORT 306, HORT 308) courses related to designing with and using landscape plant materials. “Horticulture impacts the lives of nearly everyone on the planet from the foods we eat to the surroundings in which we live. Increasing globalization in all social, industrial and environmental components of our societies mandate that we strive to adapt in new ways to feed and nurture future generations. Research and educational efforts and decisions we make today will determine the potential options and constraints under which future generations must live. Horticulture is uniquely positioned to not only abstractly but directly impact the daily quality of life for everyone. What more exciting profession could one ask for than to work in an field where one’s ability to contribute to the world around them is limited only by their imagination and effort they put forth .” |