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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 10/1/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
October 20, 2003 Professor grows his own research money Homegrown heirloom plants pay for student programs By Linda Gregerson At the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, a teacher takes the harvest
one step further. At UWGB, the harvest of heirloom plants means another
annual sale of the heirloom seeds with the proceeds going to pay for research.
Heirloom plants are defined as those that produce seeds that will reproduce
the same plant year after year - more simply, vegetable, fruit or flower
varieties grown in the past but not now available commercially.
Typically, the heirlooms are from historic or family sources dating
back years. By contrast, the more common hybrids deteriorate into parent
plants each year of reproduction. For the last eight years, Jeff Nekola,
an ecology professor at UWGB, has impressed an increasing number of gardeners
with the beautiful heirloom vegetable plants he sells.
Each year's sale starts when Nekola finds garden space donated by individuals
or in the UWGB greenhouse. He plants heirloom seeds he has collected over
the years. When the plants are grown, he puts on the sale.
Starting with a modest 1,500 plants in 1996, the annual sale grew in
May 2003 to include more than 17,000 plants, raising $15,500.
The variety of plants sold has grown, too. In the beginning Nekola offered
a few varieties of heirloom tomatoes and a few types of peppers. This
year, participating gardens were filled with a variety of heirloom plants
including lettuce, eggplant, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, herbs and flowers
in addition to the tomatoes and peppers that have become favorites.
The proceeds from the sale were matched with university funds to create
a seminar series that brings top scholars and special programs to the
Green Bay campus. Since its inception, the program has brought in 12 speakers
— including founders of Seed Savers Exchange — from around the
world and presented special programs for students, faculty and the community.
As the program grew, it became too much work for Nekola himself to host
four speakers per year, so he offered other faculty members in his department
the opportunity to bring in scholars in their fields. When his colleagues
showed little interest, Nekola decided to use the plant sale money to
help students.
"I knew the students would appreciate it," he said.
Today, Nekola uses the proceeds to fund undergraduate research, pay
student workers and support his lab.
"My job at the university requires me to run a research program but
funding can be difficult to obtain so I use the money from the sale to
fund my research," Nekola said. "I buy equipment, fund expeditions and
pay students to sort samples."
The student workers not only earn much-needed money, but they have an
opportunity to participate in internationally important research programs.
Nekola's research, for example, has led to the rediscovery of land snails
thought to have gone extinct at the end of the last ice age. Colonies
of the snails were found, identified and protected during the widening
of Highway 57 in parts of northeastern Brown County.
Some of the money from the heirloom plant sale is used to provide opportunities
for students to pursue research and educational goals that cannot be met
at UWGB. Graduate student Angie Opiola, for example, is grateful to have
the resources that are available to her through the snail lab.
"The lab has provided a financial means for me to complete my master's
degree and to meet incredible people who share my interests," Opiola said.
"It's nice to have a place as my own on campus and (Nekola) lets us be
ourselves here."
Even though the sale is a lot of work, Nekola donates his time to it.
He has put it together and does most of the work by himself with help
from students and volunteers.
"Every year is a struggle to pull it off, and every year I have to ask
myself is it worth it?" he said.
And every year, Nekola finds another reason to go back out in the heirloom
garden as a way to offer students increased opportunities while meeting
his obligation to maintain a research program.
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