Graduate Catalog
2023-2024
 
Policies, Procedures, Academic Programs
Horticulture
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Academics; once known as Natural Science Building. First section completed 1939; cost $127,650; second section completed Fall 1950; cost $485,300. Building contains 65,430 sq. ft. Named after Ellison Adger Smyth Jr. (1863 - 1941) who was Professor/Department Head of Biology from 1891 to 1925, and Dean of the Faculty from 1902 to 1906. An avid writer and photographer, Smyth founded and headed the Department of Biology at Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (Virginia Tech).
330 Smyth Hall, 185 Ag Quad Lane Blacksburg VA 24061
Smyth Hall
Degree(s) Offered:
• PhD
PhD Degree in Horticulture
Minimum GPA: 3.0
Offered In:
Blacksburg
• MSLFS
MSLFS Degree in Horticulture
Minimum GPA: 3.0
Offered In:
Blacksburg
Email Contact(s):
Web Resource(s):
Phone Number(s):
540/231-9775
Application Deadlines:
Fall: Mar 15
Spring: Nov 01
Directions
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The Graduate School
to
Smyth Hall

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Department Head : Michael Evans
Graduate Program Director : Eric Beers (Professor)
Emeriti Faculty: Susan Clark; Joyce Latimer; Richard Veilleux
Professors: Eric Beers; Alexander Niemiera; Gregory Welbaum; Mark Williams; Bingyu Zhao
Assistant Professors: Bastiaan Bargmann; Jayesh Samtani (Hampton Roads AREC); Sherif Sherif (Alson H. Smith, Jr. AREC)
Adjunct Faculty: James Altland (Wooster, OH); Zongrang Liu (USDA, Kearneysville, WV); James Lowman (Institute for Advanced Learning and Research)

Horticulture Introduction

The Horticulture graduate program in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences offers programs leading to the Master's and Doctoral degrees. Areas of specialization include:
  • plant breeding and genetics
  • growth and development
  • physiology
  • molecular biology
  • intensification of production through modern cultural practices and innovative approaches
  • urban horticulture
  • rhizosphere biology
  • agricultural ecology
The faculty are stationed both on campus in Blacksburg and at several experiment stations throughout the state. Although not all faculty serve directly as advisors to graduate students, all are available as resources to graduate programs.

Note: The MS in Horticulture is available through Agriculture and Life Sciences. Students apply to the MSLFS degree type and select Horticulture as the program.
Offered In (Blacksburg)

Degree Requirements

Minimum GPA: 3.0
Institution code: 5859
Testing Requirements:
  • TOEFL
    • Paper
      • 550.0
    • Computer
      • 213.0
    • iBT
      • 90.0
  • GRE
    • General
      • Verbal : 150.0
      • Quantitative : 150.0
      • Analytical : 4.0
  • IELTS (TOEFL alternative)
    • Minimum overall score
      • 6.5
Minimum Course Requirements for PhD (includes courses accepted by advisory committee from MS); advisory committee may require additional courses.
12 credits - HORT, CSES, PPWS, BIOL, BCHM, FOR, ENT (5000-6000 level only)
6 credits - Advanced statistics (STAT)
1 credit - Research Ethics in Agriculture and Life Sciences (ALS 5324)
1 credit - Building Multicultural Competency in Agriculture and Life Sciences (ALS 5024)
2 credits - Graduate Seminar (SPES 5004)
MINIMUM CLASSROOM REQUIREMENT = 22*
30-70 Research and Dissertation (SPES 7994)
TOTAL CREDIT HOURS REQUIRED = 90

*Independent study not applicable; 5000-6000 classes only.
Maximum of 11 classroom credit hours can be transferred from a non-VT program.

An oral and written preliminary exam and a successful defense of a dissertation are also required.
Offered In (Blacksburg)

Degree Requirements

Minimum GPA: 3.0
Institution code: 5859
Testing Requirements:
  • TOEFL
    • Paper
      • 550.0
    • Computer
      • 213.0
    • iBT
      • 90.0
  • GRE
    • General Test
      • Verbal : 150.0
      • Quantitative : 150.0
      • Analytical : 4.0
  • IELTS (TOEFL alternative)
    • Minimum overall score
      • 6.5
The MS in Horticulture is available through Agriculture and Life Sciences. Students should apply by selecting Horticulture as the Program and MSLFS as the Degree Type. All MS students, unless enrolled in the On-Line program, are expected to complete a thesis.

Course requirements for the MSLFS degree include:
1 credit, ALS 5324, Research Ethics in Agriculture and Life Sciences
1 credit, ALS 5024, Building Multicultural Competency in Agriculture and Life Sciences 
1 credit, SPES 5004, Graduate Seminar
9 credits in graduate level HORT, CSES, PPWS, BIOL, BCHM, FOR, ENT
3 credits in Statistics
6-10 credits, SPES 5994, Research and Thesis
30 credits total

Students interested in the On-Line Masters with emphasis in Horticulture are directed to the OMALS website.

Horticulture Facilities Introduction

On Campus
Modern research facilities and several offices are housed in Latham Hall. Offices, a 25-station computer lab, and several classrooms are housed in Saunders Hall. Greenhouse space assigned to the department in the campus greenhouse complex exceeds 20,000 sq. ft.  Field research may be conducted at the 10-acre Urban Horticulture Center near campus, at the nearby 1,700 acre Kentland Farm with orchards, vegetable and small fruit plots or at the agricultural experiment stations. The Hahn Horticulture Gardens and Pavilion is an extensively managed six-acre site on campus that supports some of our teaching and outreach effort.

Off Campus
Faculty are also located at three agriculture research and extension centers (AREC) across the state. The Alson H. Smith, Jr. AREC is located in Winchester where its programs are focused on tree fruit and grapes. The Hampton Roads AREC in Virginia Beach focuses on green industry (nursery and landscape) and small fruit crops research and outreach. The Eastern Shore AREC where Horticulture faculty are located in Painter, on the Eastern shore of Virginia, focuses on vegetable research.

Hahn Horticulture Garden

The Hahn Horticulture Garden encompasses nearly six acres of teaching and display gardens on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Established in 1984 by Horticulture faculty, the garden serves undergraduate students and the local community as a learning resource for plant material, landscaping concepts, and environmental awareness.

Kentland Farm

Kentland farm is utilized for research and teaching purposes by faculty members in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and by 12 departments in other colleges at Virginia Tech.

Latham Hall

Faculty in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences are working in Latham Hall to improve human health and nutrition, sustain the environment, and develop resilient and productive cropping systems. Extensive resources for breeding, genetics, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, plant pathology, microscopy, metabolomics, genomics, tissue culture, plant transgenesis, bioinformatics, and controlled environment experiments are available for graduate research.

Saunders Hall

Five research and teaching laboratories are located in Saunders Hall including agricultural ecology, plant nutrition, and ornamentals research.

Virginia Tech Greenhouses

Virginia Tech’s main greenhouse range is located on the corner of Washington Street and Garden Lane, in-between the Hahn Horticulture Garden and McComas Hall. Many departments and programs utilize the greenhouses 51,000 square feet of space for teaching, research and extension activities. Ten wings of glass houses are joined by a central corridor, and eight self-contained fiberglass, polyethylene or polycarbonate houses supplement the main range.


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