The Department | Graduate Faculty and Graduate Students | Overview of Degree Options | Contact Information

The Department

The Department of Horticulture has 28 on-campus faculty, 7 off-campus faculty located at branch stations, 22 Extension faculty, 8 federal and 1 industry scientist on courtesy appointments. Approximately 150 students are enrolled in the undergraduate program. Currently there are 30 students in the graduate program.

The department’s main office and teaching and laboratory facilities are located in the Agricultural and Life Sciences Building (ALS), completed in 1992. Research space includes laboratories that are well equipped with up-to-date laboratory equipment and computers, cold rooms, growth chambers, and a research tissue culture facility. It has convenient access to the well-equipped Central Services Laboratory of the Center for Gene Research and Biotechnology.

The department has ample greenhouse space and over 100 hectares of research field plots on three research farms, including a 10 hectare vineyard. In addition, there are four off-campus research and Extension facilities located in Aurora, Hood River, Hermiston, and Medford.

Graduate Faculty and Graduate Students

Nearly 40 faculty members of the Horticulture Department serve on the Graduate Faculty.   Their interests are varied, ranging from farming and cropping systems, crop production, plant physiology, post-harvest, germplasm evaluation, plant breeding, genetics, and biotechnology.  There are Graduate Faculty located on-campus as well as at branch experiment stations.

Graduate students are professionals and important members of the research teams headed by the faculty.  The majority of graduate students are provided research assistantships funded by state and/or external funds assigned to individual research faculty.  Graduate Research Fellowships are available for outstanding graduate applicants.

Overview of Degree Options

The Department of Horticulture offers graduate work leading to the following degrees:

• Master of Agriculture (MAg)
• Master of Science (MS)
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Since Oregon is a major horticultural area, departmental research and graduate programs are oriented to basic and applied mission-oriented investigations with clearly defined objectives.

Original research, reported in a thesis, is a major part of the MS and PhD degrees. Students select thesis topics in consultation with a graduate advisor which are complementary to an ongoing research program. Thesis research topics fall in the fields of physiology, biochemistry, biotechnology, molecular biology, genetics, breeding, or culture and management of fruit, vegetable, or ornamental crops.

The MAg degree provides for broad training in several fields of agriculture. It is usually reserved for those not desiring the specialized research training and experience of the MS degree. A detailed research thesis is not a requirement of the MAg degree.

Contact Information

To request more information or to apply, use the Request Information link or contact the Graduate Program Coordinator.