This presentation is the culmination of ten years of researching the history of The University of Texas campus landscape while working as the campus horticulturist. In the fall of 2024, the Grounds & Landscape department (formerly Landscape Services) set out to hold a one-day in-house teaching seminar for our staff. After years of compiling information, I eagerly volunteered to present to our front-line staff on the topic of the history of the campus landscape. The other presentations at the seminar were hard skills based (pruning, plant identification, equipment checks, managing time). I set out hoping my presentation would inform and inspire our staff to see their role at the university differently and understand their contributions in a larger context.

This is a passion project for me as someone who has spent over a third of his life at The University of Texas as first a student then a staff member. I bleed orange as do most of my co-workers. I love this campus and its plants and trees. I have a deep respect for the hard-working people that work beside me caring for the landscape every day. This is my attempt to tell the story of those workers through whose dedication the modern campus was created.

Hook ‘Em,
Ty