September 19, 2001
Contact: Tim Stephens (831) 459-2495; stephens@cats.ucsc.edu

UC Santa Cruz Names New Director for the UCSC Arboretum

SANTA CRUZ, CA--The University of California, Santa Cruz, has appointed Daniel Harder as director of the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum. Harder, currently an associate curator at the Missouri Botanical Garden, will assume his position at UCSC in October.

"We are very excited to have someone of Dan Harder's caliber at the helm of the Arboretum, and we look forward to a new era in its development as one of the jewels of the UCSC campus," said Lynda Goff, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and vice provost and dean of undergraduate education, who coordinated the search for the new director.

The UCSC Arboretum has a rich collection of plants from around the world. Its gardens include renowned collections of plants from Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand, as well as California native plants. The Arboretum is a popular public garden and serves as an educational and research center for the campus and as a resource for botanical researchers worldwide. Harder will take over from Ron Enomoto, who has served as interim director of the Arboretum since 1998.

Harder brings to the Arboretum substantial international experience in botanical research, plant conservation, and program development. He has been with the Missouri Botanical Garden, the oldest botanical garden in the United States and an eminent research institution, for more than ten years.

"The Arboretum at [UCSC] is a national treasure, and I cannot imagine that you could get anyone with a better proven record of success for a position of this nature than Dan Harder," said Peter Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Since 1998, Harder has been based in Hanoi as program director of the garden's Viet Nam Botanical Conservation Program. He has also worked to establish research programs and train botanists in several countries in Africa, including Zambia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), and the Congo (Brazzaville).

"My vision is to establish the UCSC Arboretum at the forefront of botanical institutions involved in the conservation of the botanical diversity of the planet," Harder said.

He noted that the Arboretum already has a rich collection of plants, a climate suitable for the cultivation of almost any temperate and subtropical plants, and a dedicated staff, as well as a strong volunteer program and community support.

Harder received his B.S. degree in botany from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and his Ph.D. in botany from UC Berkeley. At Berkeley, he worked with the late Robert Ornduff, renowned botanist and director of the Berkeley Botanical Garden, as a teaching assistant and research fellow.

Harder impressed the search committee with, among other things, a presentation he gave at the Arboretum, said Jeff Rosendale, president of the Arboretum Associates and chair of the search committee.

"One of the things that struck us was that his slide presentation included not only pictures of plants and habitat, but also a lot of pictures of people--professors, colleagues, students, villagers--and it seemed indicative of how much he valued the people he worked with," said Rosendale, who owns Rosendale and Sierra Azul Nurseries in Watsonville.

"His ability to work well with different constituent groups, as he has demonstrated in putting together the successful program in Viet Nam, will serve the Arboretum well," Rosendale said.

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