Most Beautiful Campus
OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi Department of Landscape Services recently won top honors at the Professional Grounds Management Society’s 2013 Green Star Awards competition.
The Grand Award was given in the University/College category for exceptional grounds maintenance. Winners were honored during the society’s awards dinner Oct. 25 in conjunction with the School of Grounds Management & GIE+EXPO in Louisville, Ky. This is the second time the university has achieved the coveted distinction; the first coming in 2002.
“Our role at Ole Miss Landscape Services is to create that magical feeling the moment you arrive on campus,” said Jeff McManus, the department’s director. “Not everybody gets a Grand Award. It’s a big honor to have it.”The Green Star Awards program brings national recognition to grounds maintained with a high degree of excellence, complementing other national landscape award programs that recognize outstanding landscape design and construction. PGMS presented four Grand Awards (its highest honor), 22 Honor Awards and seven Merit Awards in 11 categories of competition.
“I am grateful for the vision of Dr. Robert C. Khayat, who elevated the role of campus beautification that added so much for those who study, work, play and visit each day,” McManus said. “Dr. Khayat, along with Chancellor Dan Jones and Larry Sparks (vice chancellor for administration and finance), have supported a harmonious setting that embodies the cultivating greatness vision in which we serve, work and study.”
A staff of 32 full-time employees provides services to more than 1,000 acres on the Oxford campus. Staff plant approximately 20,000 seasonal color plants, 10,000 tulip bulbs and 10,000 daffodils in any given year. On average, Landscape Services plants more than 200 new trees on campus each year.
“I cannot say enough about the men and women who, day in and day out, perform the duties of creating and maintaining one of the world’s most beautiful campuses,” McManus said. “These dedicated team members strive to be the best of the best while cultivating greatness on campus for all to enjoy.”
More than 4,500 trees have been inventoried in the central part of campus. Mowing time has been reduced from 10 days to four days, in part, by creating mower-friendly bed lines, eliminating invasive weeds, dividing the campus into zones and purchasing wider cut mowers. The Quad – stretching from the J.D. Williams Library to Paris Yates Chapel – provides a colorful spring pathway for students traveling to class. Perennial beds have been developed to add an element of special interest to the campus.
Founded in 1911, PGMS is an individual membership society of grounds professionals dedicated to advancing the grounds management profession through education and professional development. Further information on PGMS, the Green Star Award Program and the annual School of Grounds Management & GIE+EXPO is available online at http://www.pgms.org.
By Edwin Smith