Interview with Susan Carpenter

Partial Transcript: Ok today is March 15, 2018

Segment Synopsis: Interviewer introduces the interview. Sound check.

Partial Transcript: So first question, what brought you to UW-Madison?

Segment Synopsis: First came to Madison for Masters in Botany and Plant Ecology. She was away from Madison for 10 years. She came back when her husband was offered a job here. Her department in graduate school was in Birge Hall. Studied threatened species, especially American ginseng. The DNR was interested in when to harvest it. She did a life history study on ginseng populations.

Keywords: Master's; botany; fieldwork; graduate school; plant ecology

Partial Transcript: Lets back up a little bit

Segment Synopsis: When she was a child, she loved to be outside. When she was in undergrad, she was a biology major and was also interested in education. Wanted to find a way to bring science together with education. She has taught pre-school, college, teaching and outreach come together.

Keywords: biology; college; education; gardening; outreach; outside; pre-school; science

Partial Transcript: Well let's jump into the job

Segment Synopsis: When she is asked to describe what she does, she describes it as a native plant gardener. She does a lot of gardening, but she doesn't do it alone. Most of the time she works with 60 to 70 volunteers, some are students from UW-Madison, mostly community volunteers. They contribute 1,100 hours of volunteer work per season and there have been hundreds of individuals. She learns about plants and native plants. She hires students during the summer as employees, and work with the volunteers and learn to teach and work with people.

Partial Transcript: So I think you were

Segment Synopsis: Her official position is as an outreach specialist. She does a lot of presentations, talks, and tours. She writes articles and works with garden clubs. They also began monitoring bumblebees, which started a whole different part of her job. This project grew and became a large part of an observation 7 years ago.

Keywords: bumblebees; endangered species; garden clubs; national interest; outreach specialist; presentation; project; talks; tours

Partial Transcript: And I do some plant IDs

Segment Synopsis: She will help people identify plants they don't know and give them advice about how to garden or a savanna. Either by email or in person in the garden.

Partial Transcript: So maybe we should go out just a little bit

Segment Synopsis: It is a 1,200-acre area here in Madison, owned by the University and was dedicated in 1934. It is larger now then when it was dedicated. It is now surrounded. The goal was to create, maintain, and restore the vegetation of Wisconsin. Prairies, woodlands, savannas, wetlands, and that's what they work to do. Restoration was done by many individuals like John Curtis.

Keywords: 1934; Arboretum; Madison; Prarie; University; Vegetation; dedication; restoration; savanna; studies; wetland; woodland

Partial Transcript: So, the restoration work continues

Segment Synopsis: Currently there is a large restoration project underway around the Grady Tract, which is the area south of the Beltline and the area close to the visitor center.

Keywords: highway; project; restoration; visitor center

Partial Transcript: It has other features too

Segment Synopsis: In 1935, the area that would later become the visitors center was planted with horticultural plants and that is their horticultural garden today. The native plant garden was added in 2002. They have a variety of gardens.

Keywords: Visitors Center; garden; horticultural garden; native garden

Partial Transcript: When I asked to describe what you do

Segment Synopsis: They typical day in the growing season is more fun to talk about. Get in the morning, check in with the students and volunteers in the morning. Out gardening, plant, weed, edging. All the tasks ask for different things at different times. What they do specifically do everyday changes. Garden until about noon and then they take a break in the hotter part of the day and work inside for a few hours. In the afternoon, meetings and monitoring or a job she does herself that doesn't involve volunteers. Camps and youth programs use the gardens a lot. One evening gardening session at 5:00.

Keywords: differing tasks; edging; garden; horticultural garden; native plant; plant; tasks; weeding

Partial Transcript: So what about the non-growing season

Segment Synopsis: Meetings, service, committee work, 10 week winter enrichment series. She helps with logistics for that. She has conferences and does grant writing, grant work, mostly computer work.

Keywords: applications; committees; computer; conference; enrichment series; grant writing; meetings; service; winter

Partial Transcript: I'm helping the inventorying our archive room.

Segment Synopsis: This winter they worked on inventorying their archive room. Some of the archives go all the way back to the 1930s and the materials needed to get into better storage. Maps, slides, photos, notes, newsletters, field notebooks, planting records.

Keywords: 1930s; archives; field notebooks; inventory; maps; newsletters; photos; planting records; slides

Partial Transcript: Um so I want to talk a bit about or ask a question about technology.

Segment Synopsis: How has technology changed her work? In this job, there are limits to what technology can do. However, the way that they can teach about identification is much easier. Describes the transition to using email and photography it identify plants. For the bumblebee project, they have access to all the records and the efficiency is improved. Communication has improved.

Keywords: access; communication; efficiency; email; identification; identify; photographs; plants; teaching

Partial Transcript: Ok than you for that, so um

Segment Synopsis: Has she been involved with academic groups? Not really. She does more field work, and that is her contribution to the University. Specifically her work at the Arboretum is her way of serving the University. She was working with the School of Education to get some research grants in Education Research. She spent a good amount of time in the Verona School system and there were weeks where she spent more time in schools then in the office.

Keywords: Arboretum; academic staff; education; field work; gardening; governance; groups; university

Partial Transcript: A question that I ask academic award winners is the relationship between faculty and staff.

Segment Synopsis: She has always found it to be, she understands the faculty better because she has been married to a faculty member for over 40 years. She understands what makes them tick. She has always had a good relationship with research groups, graduate students, faculty, staff come together and it doesn't really work without all members of the system. Example of this when working on the Verona School system project.

Keywords: Verona Schools; faculty; graduate; jobs; relationship; schools; staff; system

Partial Transcript: Memories of that and your memories of September 11, 2001

Segment Synopsis: Got to the office, was in the office that morning. They had monitors and turned on the TVs and were watching. There was a couple there who were visiting from Russia. The women is a very accomplished child psychologist. The woman got off the phone with her mother because it was her birthday. The planes already hit and the buildings were about to fall. Nobody knew what was going on. The effect days later. She will never forget the Russian woman's birthday.

Keywords: 9/11; Russia; TV monitors; confusion; office; terrorist attack; work

Partial Transcript: A couple more things so the story behind receiving the award.

Segment Synopsis: She knew she was nominated for the award because they asked for a CV and list of accomplishments for that year. Very humbling to win the award. She was able in two minutes to thank all the people who are her closest colleagues.

Keywords: CV; award; humbling; ranger; resume; supervising students; surprised; winning

Partial Transcript: I think I'll be remembered for getting the native plant garden going

Segment Synopsis: She will be remembered at the Arboretum for getting the native plant garden going. She was not the first gardener of the native plant garden but she was grateful to have a plant order and saw it through.

Keywords: Arboretum; legacy; native plant garden

Partial Transcript: So I want to give you

Segment Synopsis: She loves Wisconsin as a University. She has family ties to the University. The Wisconsin Idea is a huge part of where she ended up. She is proud of all she has done with her time here.

Keywords: University; Wisconsin Idea; honored; legacy; proud