KSU Names Hort Department Head
The College of Agriculture at Kansas State University has announced Candice Shoemaker as the new head of the Department of Horticulture, Forestry and Recreation Resources. She will begin her appointment Sept. 1.
“Dr. Shoemaker brings a wealth of ideas, energy and experience to the position,” said John Floros, dean of K-States College of Agriculture.
“I look forward to working with the departments excellent faculty and staff as we build on our strengths, embrace opportunities and continue to deliver programs of excellence that enhance K-States reputation nationally and internationally,” she said.
Shoemaker joined K-State as a faculty member in 2001. She grew up on a dairy farm and peach orchard near Grand Rapids, Michigan. After graduating from Michigan State University with a bachelors degree in floriculture in 1978, she worked in production greenhouse businesses in Washington and Michigan for the next three years.
She then obtained a masters degree in horticultural therapy from Kansas State University in 1982 and a Ph.D. in environmental floriculture from Michigan State University in 1990.
Shoemaker completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at Virginia Tech, taught ornamental horticulture and served as faculty coordinator and program director at Berry College in Rome, Georgia, and was the first director of the School of the Chicago Botanic Garden.
A current professor of horticulture and human health at K-State with teaching and research responsibilities, Shoemaker also helped create and currently directs two graduate degree programs, one in horticultural therapy, which consists of campus-based masters and doctorate programs and an online graduate certificate program, and the masters program in urban food systemsa novel specialization program developed in response to the increase in urban farms and interest in local foods.
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