University of Arkansas Herbarium

09/04/2026

We had a great time tabling at the UA Museum Campus Open House last month! More than 200 students discovered the university’s natural history collections and other campus resources.🌿At our tables, we demonstrated how to press plants, the parts of an herbarium specimen, what an herbarium is, and showed students where we conduct field work. 🌱

09/01/2026

The herbarium represented at the 2026 Botany conference in Tucson, Arizona this summer. We organized a colloquium on the evolution and ecology of the plant family Orobanchaceae, which serves as a model to understand plant-plant parasitism.

06/01/2026

Jenna Miladin's Sips and Science session last week at Fossil Cove Brewing Co. was a smashing success! She spoke to a packed crowd about her work on the genus Silene and the importance of herbaria in botanical research. Many attendees participated in the interactive plant activity and took a plant specimen home with them at the end of the event. Huge thanks to Jenna for developing and conducting this outreach!

Big thanks also to everyone who attended; Morgan Russell for assisting with the interactive activity; Elizabeth Hays, graduate student in the University of Arkansas Department of Biological Sciences in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, for developing the Sips and Science series; Ben Stratton for emceeing this one; and Fossil Cove for hosting!

05/25/2026

We hope you will join us this Thursday at Fossil Cove Brewing Co. to learn about Jenna's research and the vital role herbaria play in botanical work!

Surprise, a second Sips & Science!

That's right, the month of May is blessing us with a second low-key lecture in the chill atmosphere of the patio tent! Mark your calendar for next Thursday, the 28th!

This time, we'll hear from University of Arkansas PhD student, Jenna Miladin, about the university's herbarium! Researchers at the herbarium document the flora of Arkansas and beyond through the collection, preservation, digitization, and exhibition of botanical specimens.

Grab a b**r and a seat by 7:00 next Thursday and let's learn about plants! 🧠🪻

**r

05/08/2026

Y’all, please join us in congratulating botanist Morgan Russell as he graduates with a master’s degree in biology today! Our dear Morgan will be sorely missed around the department and at the herbarium. During part of undergrad and for all of his grad experience, he has been a near-constant presence here, working as an herbarium researcher, technician, trainer, tour guide, field trip leader, and unwavering advocate. As the TA in Jennifer Ogle’s Dendrology class, he was the indispensable and highly organized Teaching Collection Manager and teacher, as well as the herbarium van-driving, pole pruner-toting, twig-smoking comic relief who made every student feel welcome, included, and cared about. (She sort of doesn't know what she's going to do without him this fall.) And long after he needed to, he continued working with us at the herbarium, volunteering his time as a faithful member of the Wednesday Morning Herb Crew.

Morgan, our Araceae-obsessed friend, thank you for everything. We'll miss you so much. Our door is always open to you, so don't be a stranger. And of course... Remember?

04/28/2026

04/20/2026

Congrats to PhD student and recent graduate Rowan Offutt, both of whom were honored at the UA's State and National Awards Reception this afternoon! Andrew (mentored by and Caleb Roberts) recently received the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program award, and Rowan (mentored by ) is a semi-finalist for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program Study/Research Award.

04/20/2026

Congrats to PhD student Andrew Ruegsegger and recent graduate Rowan Offutt, both of whom were honored at the UA's State and National Awards Reception this afternoon! Andrew (mentored by Maribeth Latvis and Caleb Roberts) recently received the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program award, and Rowan (mentored by Jennifer Ogle) is a semi-finalist for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program Study/Research Award.

04/17/2026

✨ We had so much fun taking pictures at the Herbarium last week! 📸 A big thank you to Grant Schol, Associate Director of Communications in Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences for his photography skills, as well as all of our lovely Herbarium staff, students, and volunteers who posed for the shoot! 😊🌿