Horticulture Graduate Caillouet Earns Garden Club of America Fellowship

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Olivia Caillouet, a Bumpers College horticulture graduate and master's degree student, will be conducting visitor research at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks.

Olivia Caillouet, a U of A graduate from the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Science's horticulture, landscape and turf sciences program, has been awarded the 2018 Garden Club of America's Hope Goddard Iselin Fellowship in Public Horticulture.

This fellowship is designed to further the study of public horticulture through experiential learning that takes place at a recognized public garden, botanic garden, arboretum or other public horticulture institutions in the United States.

Caillouet, who is from Little Rock, will use the fellowship to implement 10 educational signs around the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks and then research the impact of the signs on visitor learning. Her signs will appeal to all audience demographics by utilizing multiple languages, graphics and colors. The signs will cover items such as native plants, bioswales, riparian zones, crop rotations and other concepts.

The GCA fellowship will enhance the BGO and the Northwest Arkansas community, as well as Caillouet's training as a horticulturist and agricultural educator. Caillouet is pursuing her master's degree in agricultural and extension education, and this project will allow her to utilize the educational skills and concepts she is learning to provide a stepping stone to achieve her future career goals.

The GCA Hope Goddard Iselin Fellowship in Public Horticulture was created to honor Hope Goddard Iselin, the first chairperson of the Billboard and Roadside Improvement Committee. Iselin advocated for gardens and green spaces to be brought into urban areas, as well as providing others with opportunities to visit natural spaces.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.