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On Our Blog
2023–2024 Cohort
A Part of Something Bigger
October 11, 2023
by Katie Testa
We’re thrilled to have recently welcomed the five outstanding individuals that make up our 2023–24 Fellows cohort.
2022–2023 Cohort
Leading Around the World
June 2, 2023
by Amanda Hannah, Danny Cox, Ana Mena, Ryan Gott, Rae Vassar, and Rama Lopez-Rivera
Our Fellows reflect on lessons learned and memories made during their field placements in London, Singapore, Niagara Falls, Cleveland, and Edinburgh.
From Rust to Regeneration in the Steel City
January 18, 2023
by Danny Cox and Ryan Gott
At Phipps, the Fellows had the opportunity to learn about the principles of regenerative thinking during a workshop led by Phipps Chief Executive Officer Richard V. Piacentini and Senior Director of Communications Joe Reed.
Here to Change the World
August 24, 2022
by Katie Mobley
With fascinating backgrounds and diverse expertise from aquatic plant care to landscape architecture to outreach and education, we’re thrilled to welcome our newest Fellows to our Gardens … and we can’t wait to see how they better the field of public horticulture.
2021–2022 Cohort
Fellows in the Field
July 6, 2022
by Zach Borngraver, Noemí Hernández Castro, Nick Lazio, Usman Ibrahim, and Katie Serock
Our Fellows reflect on their time spent at their individual field placement sites across the country, their lessons learned, and memories made along the way.
Five Strangers, One Incredible Experience
February 16, 2022
by Zach Borngraver and Katie Serock
Living and working with five mid-career professionals—as our Fellows cohort does—is challenging, rewarding, fun, supportive, frustrating, at times lonely, inspiring, and sometimes hard to put into words.
Growing Community: Art and Gardens
October 20, 2021
by Usman Ibrahim and Nick Lazio
As part of the Fellows Program, our cohort has had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the culture of organizations throughout the region.
Welcoming Our Fellows
July 28, 2021
by Katie Mobley
Our Fellows Program brings talented professionals to Longwood to live and study alongside one another … all while learning more about themselves and the further contributions they can make.
2019–2020 Cohort
Our Fellows Reflect
June 10, 2020
by Shawna Jones, Abra Lee, Becky Paxton, Mae Lin Plummer, Barbara Wheeler, and Nanette Wraith
As part of the Fellows Program, our 2019–20 Fellows spent time at individual field placement sites around the globe. Here, they reflect on their time spent at their host organizations, and their lessons learned along the way.
Full Circle
January 1, 2020
by Barbara Wheeler
Longwood Fellow Barbara Wheeler reflects on an educational journey that has spanned the globe.
Health and the Garden: Fellows Leadership Salon
December 20, 2019
by Nanette Wraith
The public garden community readily encourages their communities to engage with plants and the green spaces around them … the desire for this engagement is ever-present in our work.
Interaction as an Approach to Education: Fellows Leadership Salon
November 19, 2019
by Mae Lin Plummer
At both Chanticleer and Barnes, there are no labels; there are no rules of how to experience or understand the subject, whether they are plant combinations in an artful landscape, paintings, or sculpture. There are no right or wrong interpretations.
Together, the Grass is Greener: Fellows Leadership Salon
October 28, 2019
by Becky Paxton
For our latest salon, we traveled to Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles … and host of professional and college football games, blockbuster stadium concerts, monster truck rallies, and more.
2018–2019 Cohort
Worldwide Wonderment: Fellows in the Field
June 18, 2019
by Chelsea Mahaffey, Erin Hepfner, Sadie Barber, Caroline Tait, and Eleanor Gould
From Singapore to California and Shanghai to Arizona, hear from the Fellows as they detail the time spent at their host organizations, sharing lessons learned and memories made.
Entering an Organization as a New Leader: Fellows Leadership Salon
May 31, 2019
by Caroline Tait
PHS President Matt Rader, who has been in his role for three years now, led an inspiring salon focused on entering an organization as a new leader and discussed the importance of new leaders knowing their sector, assessing and understanding their organization, empowering their staff, and delivering outstanding quality to both the community and an organization’s supporters.
Examining an Organization’s Most Important Resource: Fellows Leadership Salon
March 8, 2019
by Sadie Barber
During visits to regional gardens for salon-style discussions, the Longwood Fellows are given the opportunity to learn firsthand from experts in the field of public horticulture. Hosted by Delaware’s Mt. Cuba Center, this latest salon provided the Fellows with insight on human resources leadership and management.
Creating Novelty in the Garden at Chanticleer: Fellows Leadership Salon
February 19, 2019
by Erin Hepfner
Chanticleer is a pleasure garden; its exuberant contemporary garden designs and architectural details created by skilled horticulturists and craftspeople delight the senses. During our recent Fellows salon, we learned that staff empowerment and engagement are the driving forces behind Chanticleer’s novel visitor experience.
Partnerships and Planning: Fellows Leadership Salons
January 31, 2019
by Sadie Barber and Chelsea Mahaffey
The Fellows have enjoyed two salons in January; the first illustrating the importance of partnerships and the second focusing on the art of strategic planning.
To Give or Not to Give: Longwood Fellows Examine Donation Trends for Arts and Culture Organizations
December 4, 2018
by Eleanor Gould
The Longwood Fellows program is fortunate to be situated within the thriving cultural community of the Greater Philadelphia area. The aphorism “a rising tide lifts all boats” is an apt metaphor for the support network that exists for the thousands of cultural organizations in the region.
Longwood Fellows Explore the Importance of Financial Endowments
November 28, 2018
by Caroline Tait
As Longwood received the first snow dusting of the season, the Fellows departed for Morris Arboretum for our third salon in a series held at culturally significant locations. For this salon, we focused on the concept of how creating financial endowments can provide consistency and reliability on an often bumpy financial road. In short—how to fund impressive new projects and pay the electric bills.
Longwood Fellows Discover Importance of Boards at Jenkins
October 16, 2018
by Chelsea Mahaffey
As Fellows, the Longwood Fellows Program helps us develop our leadership fluency and understanding of organizational management. As part of the program, we visit gardens with distinct missions that set them apart from others. Our most recent salon was hosted at Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens, which is nestled in the busy Main Line area of the Philadelphia metro region.
Longwood Fellows Engage in Leadership Salon at Winterthur
September 27, 2018
by Erin Hepfner
The Longwood Fellows Program curriculum includes salon-style discussions hosted by regional public garden and cultural arts leaders who have expertise in specific leadership-related areas. Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library was aptly selected to host the discussion of “How the Garden Fits into Institutional Mission.”
2017-2018 Cohort
Leadership Gone Global
June 6, 2018
by Julia Thomé, Patrick MacRae, Neil Gerlowski, and Kaslin Daniels
As nature is ever-evolving and multi-faceted, so is the operation of gardens themselves. As part of the Longwood Gardens Fellows Program, our 2017–2018 Fellows spent two months at individual field placement sites across the globe to learn from thought leaders, as well as to share and grow their own expertise.
Longwood Fellows Dive into the Business of Public Gardens
November 6, 2017
by Neil Gerlowski, Longwood Gardens Fellow 2017-2018
Great public gardens must function as successful businesses to provide maximum impact and return on their mission. Leaders of nonprofit organizations focus on mission while also exercising fiscal discipline in order to meet their strategic objectives.
Bartram’s Garden Welcomes Longwood Fellows
September 21, 2017
by Julia Thomé, Longwood Gardens Fellow 2017-2018
In the early 1800s, at the country’s first botanic garden, Ann Bartram Carr welcomed boaters by serving them ice cream. Today, neighborhood kids ride Bartram’s Garden kayaks out to a raft on the Schuylkill River where they, too, are greeted with free ice cream. Such is the spirit of welcome that we, the Longwood Fellows, were greeted with during our recent visit to Bartram’s Garden.
Longwood Fellows Engage in Leadership Salon
August 16, 2017
by Neil Gerlowski, Longwood Gardens Fellow 2017-2018
On July 27, the inaugural cohort of Longwood Fellows traveled to Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the first in a series of Leadership Salons that will expose the Fellows to thought leaders in public horticulture and beyond and to the challenging topics they face in the nonprofit sector. This first salon, led by Danielle Rice, Ph.D., Director of Museum Leadership at Drexel University’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design, focused on the history of urban public spaces—an appropriate place to begin.
Follow the Fellows
August 10, 2017
by Dr. Tamara Fleming, Director of the Longwood Gardens Fellows Program
“Leadership” can be an amorphous term. Most agree that it is an important quality to possess these days, from scholars to the average person on the street, but how is the term defined and what does it mean to study leadership in 2017? Beginning with this post, the Longwood Gardens Fellows invite you to “Follow the Fellows” as they define the term for themselves and actively seek to develop their leadership skills and personal brands.