E.C. Stevenson Memorial Pavilion Dedication
Saturday, October 27, 2007

September 18, 2007

Dear Horticulture and Landscape Architecture Alumni,

Circle the date: Saturday, October 27th. Plan to make HLA your destination for Purdue Homecoming 2007!

Before telling you about the festivities during Homecoming, please let me take the opportunity to introduce myself. Although I’ve been a faculty member at Purdue since 1985 and know many of you as former students in plant propagation and plant physiology courses, there are many alumni whom I have not yet had the pleasure to meet. I’ve recently been named Head of the Department and greatly look forward to the opportunity to lead an exceptionally talented faculty and staff.

Rob Sovinski, a faculty member since 1992 and newly appointed Chair of the Landscape Architecture Program, joins me in inviting you to return to West Lafayette for Homecoming to gather with old friends and make new acquaintances. We encourage you to reactivate those old Hort Club, PSLA, PLANET, and grad student networks. Please call or email your fellow alums, and make plans to meet in the Gardens behind the Horticulture Building on Saturday, October 27th at 9:00 a.m. (Kickoff for the football game with Northwestern is at noon – Go Boilermakers!)

Beginning at 9:30 a.m., we’ll dedicate the new E.C. Stevenson Memorial Pavilion in the Horticulture Gardens, and we’d love to have you join us for this special event. Prof. E.C. Stevenson was Head of the Department from 1958 to 1967. He was a leader who brought the department to new heights of recognition, and he took decisive steps that led to the formation of the Landscape Architecture Program. He would have been proud to know that this program has grown to be one of the most prominent in the U.S., based on the achievements of its faculty, students, and alums. The pavilion is now under construction, and it will become an aesthetic focal point for the planned large-scale renovation of the Horticulture Gardens. It will serve as a gathering place for informal meetings and receptions and as an outdoor classroom for our students. Thanks to the generosity of the Stevenson family and friends, it will be an enduring tribute to Dr. Stevenson, who served Purdue University and our department so effectively for many years.

This is a time of energy and new opportunity in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, and we want to share our sense of excitement about the future with you. Rob and I are committed to ensuring that Purdue Horticulture and Landscape Architecture continues to lead the way among other universities worldwide. For more than 100 years, our department has been a place where students have been challenged to achieve and test their limits. We are justly proud of our graduates. You represent us and Purdue University superbly in all facets of business, government, academia, and public service. We want to keep in touch so that you remain aware of our goals for the future, and we wish to gain the benefit of your first-hand knowledge of our professions so that we can better prepare our current students.
We sincerely hope that you and your family will be able to join us for the festivities. It would be really great to see you again! I know that Rob and I speak for the faculty and staff of the department. We would love to have the chance to reminisce, to find out how you’re doing today and to share some of our plans for the future.

E.C. Stevenson Memorial Pavilion Dedication

Activities will be held in the Horticulture Gardens south of the Horticulture Building.
• 9:00 a.m. Gathering and Fellowship
• 9:30 a.m. Dedication Program
A brunch reception will immediately follow the Dedication Program.
Football attire.

Please RSVP to Robin Tribbett by phone (765-494-1302) or email (tribbett@purdue.edu) by Monday, October 22, 2007 with the names of those attending. Please indicate any dietary restrictions.

Go to www.hort.purdue.edu, click on E. C. Stevenson Memorial Pavilion Dedication for the renovation of the Horticulture Gardens design concept.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Joly
Professor and Department Head

Rob W. Sovinski
Professor and Chair of the Landscape Architecture Program