Come to Botany 2012,
Columbus Ohio, July 7 - 11, 2012!
Greater Columbus Convention Center
Botany 2012 will be held in Columbus Ohio at the Greater Columbus Convention Center from July 7 - 11, 2012. The theme of this year’s meeting, “Botany, the Next Generation,” focuses both on new techniques of importance to our members as well as fostering growth and participation in our student members, who are becoming more and more important as student representatives on our committees.
Participating societies at Botany 2012 are the American Bryological and Lichenological Society, Canadian Botanical Association/L’Association Botanique du Canada, American Fern Society, American Society of Plant Taxonomists, the International Association for Plant Taxonomy and the Botanical Society of America.
The Committee met in Columbus recently to inspect our meeting facilities, meet the on-site staff, coordinate programs, and to plan events for our upcoming meeting. Downtown Columbus and the surrounding natural areas in Ohio offer tremendous opportunities for a memorable meeting this year. The Convention Center and attached space in the Hyatt Regency, offer beautiful and state of the art facilities for our meeting. The rooms are spacious and are serviced by professional staff who will quickly attend to any needs that may arise to insure a seamless set of events. The hotel and convention space are immediately adjacent to each other, and contain restaurants and nearby shops. Downtown Columbus is ideal for evening socializing with many restaurants, bars with outdoor seating, and entertainment venues, perfect for socializing with our colleagues.
Ohio has noted natural areas and our field trip schedule is taking shape with field trips suiting attendees in all of our diverse disciplines. We are making every effort to have wonderful field trips led by professionals fully knowledgeable in the plants and sites under their direction.
Our symposia and colloquia are taking shape, as well as noted speakers. This year’s Sunday evening Plenary speaker is Sir Peter Crane who will address our conference theme.
Botany 2011 experienced record levels of student involvement, and Botany 2012: The Next Generation is gearing up to be a great meeting with many opportunities for students to network and socialize. The Short North district of downtown Columbus is an art-centric portion of the city with a great nightlife, bars, unique restaurants, boutique fashion and vintage shops, and art galleries. This year, Saturday evening coincides with the Short North Gallery Hop. The Gallery Hop draws thousands of visitors each month, with many shops and bars remaining open later into the evening, and marks the opening of the monthly exhibits at each gallery. Forthcoming email updates will include information about the Student Involvement event and Graduate Student Mixer. Columbus is a vibrant, eclectic city which is sure to be the host of a great conference. Hope to see you all there!
Abstract submission will begin on February 2 and close April 1, and we will keep you posted of this date and other activities and speakers as the meeting planning progress. We look forward to seeing you in Columbus this summer!
Any questions - please feel free to contact Johanne Stogran (johanne@botany.org) or any of us for details.
Looking forward to seeing you in Columbus!
David Spooner (Program director, BSA)
Harvey Ballard (Field trip coordinator)
John Freudenstein (Local representative)
Warren Hauk (Program director, AFS)
Pat Herendeen (Program director, ASPT)
Brandon Sinn (BSA student representative)
Johanne Stogran (Conference manager, BSA)
