York College of PA Constructing Facility to Accommodate Growing Environmental Horticulture Program

York College of Pennsylvania is constructing a campus building to accommodate its growing Environmental Horticulture program. The Appell Horticulture Center, located on Main Campus, is being funded by the Powder Mill Foundation.  

The two-story building will include a soils lab, plant/insect lab, plant pathology lab, student research lab, herbarium, prep rooms, study areas, meeting rooms, faculty offices, and support spaces. In addition to programmatic spaces, the Center will feature a living wall and plant display area that will serve as educational opportunities for students and a display of the College’s commitment to Environmental Horticulture.

“This is essential in order for us to deliver the program beginning next fall,” said Dr. Charles MacVean, Dean of the Kinsley School of Engineering, Sciences and Technology. “Thanks to generous collaboration from the Biology Department, we have been able to temporarily house the Horticulture program in existing classrooms and labs. However, the new facilities are necessary to deliver advanced components of the major.”

“Horticulture requires hands-on application and certain aspects of our field require the use of large instruments or long-lasting experiments that cannot be easily used in a shared space,” said Hannah Zinn, a sophomore Environmental Horticulture major from White Hall, Md. “Learning in the classroom is one thing, but being able to have a space to execute that new knowledge is another. This places us at an advantage when we begin applying for jobs following graduation, as employers want staff who are well educated on the field as a whole, not just information in a textbook.”

The Center is currently under construction and scheduled to open for the fall 2023 semester.

The Environmental Horticulture major at York College was available to students beginning in fall 2021. The program was created with a multimillion-dollar commitment from the Powder Mill Foundation, established by the late Louis J. Appell Jr. With a focus on environmental sustainability, the Appell Environmental Horticulture program also offers hands-on learning opportunities at Millbourne, Appell’s 50-acre private estate in York.