Delta State University has been recognized as an official Tree Campus USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation, in conjunction with Toyota. This honor is only given to those campuses that meet five rigorous standards that measure how well the campus manages their campus trees, develops connectivity with the community beyond campus borders to foster healthy, urban forests, and strives to engage their student population with service learning opportunities centered on campus and community forestry efforts.
The award, which includes a mahogany plaque and a large flag that identifies Delta State University as an official Tree Campus, was presented to President John Hilpert by George Byrd of the Mississippi Urban Forestry Commission and Tympel Blansett, the Mississippi State Urban Forester on April 20. President Hilpert described the award as “an important recognition of Delta State’s commitment to the environment, and a further reason for us to continue to beautify our campus.”
The only other Mississippi University to be an official Tree Campus is Jackson State.
The Delta State effort to achieve this recognition grew out of the Year of Green, Delta State’s theme for the 2010-2011 year. Luther Brown, chair of the Year of Green Committee and director of the Delta State University Delta Center for Culture and Learning explained “The Committee hopes that part of the long-lasting legacy of the Year of Green will be the recognition of our campus as an arboretum. The Delta Center’s Lee Aylward learned of the Arbor Day foundation’s program and began the application process as a first step in this direction. She turned it over to Linda Smith, director of facilities management, and she did the hard work of completing the final application. Linda is a professional horticulturalist and hopes to guide the development of our campus as an arboretum.”
