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Instructor Profiles
Jeff Gillman, PhD
Jeff has a Master’s degree in Entomology and a Ph.D. in Horticulture from the University of Georgia. He is the author of five books on gardening and the environment, a Contributing Editor to Fine Gardening Magazine, and has appeared on such shows as Martha Stewart and Growing a Greener World. From 1998 until 2013 he worked as an Associate Professor in the Department of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota, but the cold finally got to him! For the past two years he has been an instructor at Central Piedmont Community College, teaching courses on Plant Propagation, Plant Materials, and Hydroponics among others. As of August 2015, he is our new Director of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens.
Paula Gross, MS
Paula is the former Assistant Director of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Botanical Gardens. After receiving her Master’s degree in Horticulture at the University of Georgia, she worked at Goodness Grows Nursery in Lexington, GA where she fell further in love with perennials. The opportunity to teach and work at a public garden brought her to UNC Charlotte where, for the last 17 years, she has taught courses on botany, plant identification, and economic botany–which is the study of all the ways people utilize plants for practical purposes. “Sharing the World of Plants with People” at the Botanical Gardens keeps her exploring the interactions between the two and was inspiration for co-authoring the book Bizarre Botanicals with Larry Mellichamp. Whether sharing the secrets of orchid blooms that mimic bees or recommending a favorite garden plant, her passion for the green world is contagious.
Larry Mellichamp, Ph.D.
Larry is a recently retired Professor of Botany and Horticulture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he taught for over 39 years. He was also director of the University’s Botanical Gardens with its 10 acres of outdoor gardens including many native plants. The new Mellichamp Natives Terrace Garden demonstrates the use of natives directly for the homeowner. Larry is an expert on native wildflowers, trees and shrubs, and also studies carnivorous plants, especially Sarracenia pitcher plants.
He has written many technical and popular articles on plants and gardening, and has co-authored five books: including The Winter Garden (1997); Bizarre Botanicals with Paula Gross (2010), and most recently (2014), Native Plants of the Southeast (and their garden uses). He has traveled extensively in the United States, and has made trips to see unusual plants in Costa Rica, South Africa, Borneo, China, Australia and most recently, Madagascar.
Denise Furr, BA
Denise Furr is the Adjunct Curator of Malacology at the
Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia.
Malacology is the study of mollusks, and her current specialty is terrestrial species. She surveys public and private property for snails and sifts dirt to find the minuscule. As a result, she has encountered and learned many of the tiny fauna in the soil. Denise has a B.A. from UNC Asheville in Biology and Chemistry and is currently in graduate school at UNC Charlotte in Environmental, Ecological and Evolutionary Biology.
Don Boekelheide, MS Agriculture
Don’s background in agriculture and education (he holds teaching credentials from K – adult) is a part of what makes him such a fascinating lecturer. He has trained with the Peace Corps, holds facilitator credentials from The American Gardening Association, and Landscape for Life through the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (https://landscapeforlife.org/ )which focuses on Sustainable Gardening practices, and has published in several outlets including Organic Gardening Magazine. While the majority of his focus has been on community gardening (he originated Mecklenberg County’s Master Composter Program) he says “I want everyone to have a place to garden!”
Deborah Langsam, PhD 
Debbie received her doctoral degree from Duke University with a specialty in the taxonomy of the lower fungi. Her interest in fungi began during studies for her master’s degree in oceanography; a course in marine mycology introduced her to the fascinating shapes, colors, and textures of fungal spores and the role of fungi in aquatic and terrestrial environments.
Debbie is a retired Associate Professor of Biology at the University of North Carolina at
Charlotte. A winner of the NCNB (now Bank of America) Teaching Excellence Award, she
taught courses in Introductory Biology, Botany, and Mycology at UNC Charlotte for almost 25 years. She currently serves as an Adjunct Curator of Fungal Collections at the Schiele
Museum of Natural History. Her continuing interest in teaching finds Debbie working as a
docent with the Mint Museum of Charlotte. Her ongoing fascination with shape, color, and
texture has translated into post-retirement activities as a fiber artist.
Judith Walker
As an official ‘bird nerd’ for almost 40 years, Judy has taught about birds and bird watching to a wide assortment of people from preschoolers to senior citizens. Recently retired from the University of North Carolina Charlotte as a professor/education librarian, Judy’s area of expertise has been in teaching STEM concepts to PreK-12 students and their teachers. Currently a Mecklenburg Audubon board member, her activities with the group include serving as president, presentations and leading many of their local field trips. Judy also participates in a variety of community science projects such as local Christmas Bird Counts; Great Backyard Bird Count (as both participant and reviewer), Spring Counts, Breeding Bird Surveys, and Project Feeder Watch. She is also an avid supporter of Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird program