Faculty Author Series @ Your Library kicks off in November
Author Thomas J. Sheehan will kick off the first year of the libraries' new Faculty Author Series @ Your Library with a discussion of his recently published book, Orchids to Know and Grow, written with Robert J. Black, on Sunday, November 18, from 3:30-5:00 p.m. in Smathers Library (East) in room 1A. The talk, entitled "The Orchid Flower: Variations at their Finest," will include a slide show presentation. Refreshments will be served, and copies of the book and DVD will be available for purchase and signing
Sheehan and Black, professors emeriti of environmental horticulture at UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), are familiar to orchid enthusiasts around the world for their numerous books and articles on orchidology and horticulture. Their current book, Orchids to Know and Grow, was published this year with the University Press of Florida as an easy-to-read resource for both novice and expert orchid growers. In addition to discussing the identification, selection, cultivation and care of orchids, the book also includes illustrations and descriptions of the most commonly grown orchids and an illustrated glossary of orchid terminology.
Sheehan is an American Orchid Society judge emeritus and has earned the organization’s highest honor, the prestigious Gold Medal of Achievement.
The authors are also featured in the 2007 DVD, Growing Orchids: Easier Than You Think, created by IFAS. Through interviews and hands-on demonstrations in the video, the two experts disprove the notion that orchids are difficult to grow. Sheehan and Black also authored the revised edition of Florida Landscape Plants: Native and Exotic, published with the University Press of Florida in 2005.
This faculty author reception is the first of three planned in the libraries this year. The Faculty Author Series @ Your Library provides an opportunity for members of the campus and regional communities to interact with some of the leading scholars at UF. As a natural focal point for research and scholarship on campus, the library provides the perfect venue for such interactions. All author programs are free and open to the public.
