Dr. McCaskill finds roots at NGCSU
Sofia Bork
Issue date: 1/8/10 Section: News
"If it weren't for plants, we wouldn't be here," Dr. Ashlee McCaskill matter-of-factly stated, while wrapping her slender fingers around a porcelain coffee cup.
It was a surprisingly balmy day for North Georgia, especially in the middle of November, but that didn't stop her from drinking warm tea in her office.
Her office is somewhat reminiscent of indoor hanging gardens of Babylon, with plants strewn all over the cabinets, their green tendrils spreading, as if thinking about taking over the office itself.
This, of course comes as no surprise, since McCaskill is the new botanist at NGCSU.
With a PhD from Cornell University in plant molecular biology, McCaskill is an embodiment of a love for all things green.
While moving from Ithaca, N.Y., to the quaint town of Dahlonega may come as a shock to some, McCaskill is quite familiar with the small-town scene; she is from the small town of Stuttgart, Ark.
As a child she was "always digging in the dirt" and admitted to the childhood ambition of being a florist, but never considered majoring in biology or botany.
Over the years, she enveloped herself with gardens and plants but never gave her interest in gardening any real thought as to how it may bear the fruit of a future career
It wasn't until she was an undergraduate at the University of Arkansas when she stumbled into botany while working on a landscape architecture project. It was then that she discovered her true calling to botany, and then went on to pursue a doctorate degree at Cornell University.
A degree in teaching soon followed as she discovered it to be a newly-awakened passion. While she never really considered the option of teaching, it was never too far from her. Her mother was an art teacher and her father was a food scientist.
Yet, it was not the childhood reminiscence of the small-town setting that drew McCaskill to Dahlonega. Rather, it was the people and the fact that she wanted to teach at a smaller school as opposed to the large universities that she often encountered.
It was a surprisingly balmy day for North Georgia, especially in the middle of November, but that didn't stop her from drinking warm tea in her office.
Her office is somewhat reminiscent of indoor hanging gardens of Babylon, with plants strewn all over the cabinets, their green tendrils spreading, as if thinking about taking over the office itself.
This, of course comes as no surprise, since McCaskill is the new botanist at NGCSU.
With a PhD from Cornell University in plant molecular biology, McCaskill is an embodiment of a love for all things green.
While moving from Ithaca, N.Y., to the quaint town of Dahlonega may come as a shock to some, McCaskill is quite familiar with the small-town scene; she is from the small town of Stuttgart, Ark.
As a child she was "always digging in the dirt" and admitted to the childhood ambition of being a florist, but never considered majoring in biology or botany.
Over the years, she enveloped herself with gardens and plants but never gave her interest in gardening any real thought as to how it may bear the fruit of a future career
It wasn't until she was an undergraduate at the University of Arkansas when she stumbled into botany while working on a landscape architecture project. It was then that she discovered her true calling to botany, and then went on to pursue a doctorate degree at Cornell University.
A degree in teaching soon followed as she discovered it to be a newly-awakened passion. While she never really considered the option of teaching, it was never too far from her. Her mother was an art teacher and her father was a food scientist.
Yet, it was not the childhood reminiscence of the small-town setting that drew McCaskill to Dahlonega. Rather, it was the people and the fact that she wanted to teach at a smaller school as opposed to the large universities that she often encountered.
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