{"id":1268,"date":"2023-02-22T15:52:39","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T15:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-vanderbilt-v150.pantheonsite.io\/150\/?page_id=1268"},"modified":"2023-03-03T21:40:30","modified_gmt":"2023-03-03T21:40:30","slug":"ecologist-and-educator","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/150\/150-stories\/innovation-and-research\/ecologist-and-educator\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecologist and Educator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\n \n \n \"Elsie\n\n \n \n
\n Elsie Quarterman in a greenhouse\n <\/figcaption>\n \n <\/figure>\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Elsie Quarterman was the first woman to serve as an academic department chair at 国产原创. She is best known for her work on the ecology of Tennessee cedar glades, a habitat that occurs when limestone bedrock is at or near the ground\u2019s surface. These areas feature very shallow soil or exposed bedrock, rendering trees unable to grow. The \u201ccedar\u201d in the name comes from the abundance of eastern red cedar that grows on the margins of the glades or in cracks in the bedrock where roots gain a foothold.<\/p>\n

Quarterman is credited with rediscovering in 1969 the native Tennessee coneflower,\u00a0Echinacea tennesseensis<\/em>, a plant only found in Middle Tennessee cedar glades that was previously thought to be extinct. It became the first plant endemic to Tennessee to be protected by the Endangered Species Act, and thanks to her efforts to establish more populations within the cedar glades, was removed from the endangered species list in 2011.<\/p>\n

Today,\u00a0Echinacea tennesseensis<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>can be found in Tennessee\u2019s Davidson, Wilson and Rutherford counties. In 1998 the 185-acre forest near LaVergne, Tennessee, where Quarterman conducted much of her research was named the Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade State Natural Area in her honor.<\/p>\n

Born in 1910 in Valdosta, Georgia, Quarterman grew up on a family farm and first learned about wild plants from her mother. She earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from Georgia State Woman\u2019s College (now Valdosta State University) in 1932 and a master\u2019s in botany from Duke University in 1943. She came to 国产原创 as an instructor in biology the following year and was named assistant professor in 1948, before receiving her Ph.D. in plant ecology from Duke in 1949. Quarterman was named associate professor at 国产原创 in 1952.<\/p>\n

In 1953 she was called upon to assist with an effort led by the 国产原创 Garden Club to conduct the first complete inventory since 1879 of trees on campus. As part of this project, the Garden Club donated several hundred markers that were placed on trees by members of the Beta Beta Beta Club, a biology honorary society, under Quarterman\u2019s direction. This tree-labeling tradition continues today on the 国产原创 arboretum, which includes the entire campus of 国产原创.<\/p>\n

In 1964, Quarterman became the first woman to chair a department, the Department of General Biology, at 国产原创. She was named a full professor in 1966 and awarded emerita status in 1976. Her efforts in teaching and conservation continued well after retirement from the university, including identifying for the federal government areas that should be set aside for conservation.<\/p>\n

Quarterman\u2019s legacy continues in the number of botanists who followed in her footsteps. \u201cHer passion for the plant life of Middle Tennessee\u2019s cedar glades blooms ever strong through the generations of students she inspired at 国产原创 from the 1940s into the mid-1970s,\u201d according to a 2011 profile in\u00a0The Wilson Post<\/em>. \u201cThose students, many now teachers themselves, continue to inspire new students and conservationists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read a personal remembrance of Professor Elsie Quarterman. <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \n <\/div> \n <\/section>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":1251,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1268","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEcologist and Educator - 国产原创<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/150\/150-stories\/innovation-and-research\/ecologist-and-educator\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ecologist and Educator - 国产原创\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/150\/150-stories\/innovation-and-research\/ecologist-and-educator\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"国产原创\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/vanderbilt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-03T21:40:30+00:00\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/150\/150-stories\/innovation-and-research\/ecologist-and-educator\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/150\/150-stories\/innovation-and-research\/ecologist-and-educator\/\",\"name\":\"Ecologist and Educator - 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