Dr. Bethany Harris is the Center for Urban Agriculture Director where she has the opportunity to work with multiple groups including industry clientele, Extension agents, professional associations, government agencies, and non-profit organizations to tackle a wide variety of urban challenges in the areas of nursery and landscape, food production, sustainable turfgrass, pest management, and urban forestry.

Prior to her time at UGA, Bethany served as program coordinator and instructor at Southern Crescent Technical College where she taught courses including Landscape Installation, Sustainable Agriculture, Urban Landscape Issues, Small Scale Food Production, Pest Management, and Woody and Herbaceous Plant Identification. She also previously served as the Director of Education and Director of the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center at Callaway Gardens. In this role, Bethany had the opportunity of providing horticulture and entomology outreach to K5-12th grade students, homeowners, and industry groups as well as oversaw all educational programming, workshops, school group visits, and a large scale volunteer program. One of the highlights of her role was overseeing the USDA-regulated 7,000 square foot tropical butterfly conservatory which featured over 25 species of butterflies native to Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Philippines, Africa, and throughout South America. In her capacity, she led programs including the Monarch Tagging Program, Butterflies 101, Blue Morpho Month, and the Butterfly Festival.

Jose Rolando Orellana is the Urban Water Management Agent where he serves as the coordinator for the Urban Water Management/Irrigation program for the University of Georgia Center for Urban Agriculture, and is also the co-chair of the UGA Spanish Professional Extension Committee. Rolando has been part of the green industry in Georgia for almost two decades.

Born and raised In Bronx New York, his horticulture bug bit him when his maternal grandmother whose yard was all willow trees had him stick a branch into the ground and it miraculously rooted. He and his grandmother continued to work with different plants rooting them and watching them grow.

At 16 Wayne traveled one and one half hours to a special high school in Queens, NY that offered an agriculture program which was the catalyst to get into a Landscape design program at a two year college in Cobleskill NY. From there he transferred to the University of Georgia where he got a BS in Ornamental Horticulture and also a second degree for Ag Education.

In 1973 he was teaching Horticulture at the High School level at Cherokee High School. In 1979 he found his dream job he began a 30-year career at Pike Family Nurseries where he began a 30-year career at Pike Family Nurseries where he developed a training program the Pike employees from Orientation to manager Training.

Since 1982 Wayne has trained over 1500 people to become Georgia Certified Plant Professionals. He continues to train students in Georgia and North Carolina to take the state Certification test in His Yard has over 285 plant species where he allows the students to use his yard to train in. They can see how the plant actually grows and better visualize the cuttings that are on the certification test

In 2008 Wayne started a Company called the Garden Specialist Plant doctor LLC, a specialty Landscape design install company out of Roswell Georgia. He had 15 years of a successful business and has just closed part of the company. He will continue to teach Plant ID and basic horticulture classes for private companies.

Over the 55 years in the Horticulture industry, Wayne has been recognized by his for his excellence in the green industry with many awards from Young Nurseryman of the year in 1981 and Then Nurseryman Of the year in 1993., Educator of the year in 2010.

He has served on many different boards and committees with State and Local Horticultural Societies. Including his working with the FFA. Those young people with an interest in Horticulture are our future.

His passion for plants and creativity with both woody plants and herbaceous has inspired many a gardener.