Awards & Internships

The North Carolina Botanical Garden is a vibrant part of the academic life of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Through internships, fellowships, and student awards, we offer a variety of opportunities for students to become stewards of the natural world.

The Mary McKee Felton Internship

Friends, classmates and colleagues of Mary McKee Felton (1917 – 2001) honored her and her years of service to the herbarium and the university community by establishing an endowment account to fund an internship in the herbarium. This internship supports employment of a student for a semester in the UNC Herbarium. Students may apply or be nominated by faculty and selections will be made by the Herbarium administration. If you are interested in applying for the Mary McKee Felton Herbarium Internship, please contact Alan S. Weakley, Director of the Herbarium, at (919) 962-0578 or by email at weakley@unc.edu. Any internship candidate should demonstrate keen interest in the flora of the southeastern United States, have good typing skills, and have an interest in learning how to use and curate herbarium specimens.

Current Felton Interns and their projects:

• John Kees: Southeastern Flora Project, research on Eryngium and the Mississippi/Alabama Jackson Belt
• Daniel Fradenburg: Herbarium curation, fossils

Former Felton Interns and their projects:

• Dan Meyers: Taxonomic work in the mycological collection, documentation of W.C. Coker type specimens.
• Dylan Caskie: Collection digitization
• Tyler Pasour: Collection digitization
• Greg Sollom: Collection digitization
• Philip Straughn: Collection digitization
• Cassandra Karlsson: Taxonomic work on Hydrophyllum and Eryngium
• William Marinello: Collection digitization
• Derick Poindexter: Miscellaneous taxonomic issues in the Southeastern United States flora.
• Hannah Meeler: Basics of herbarium curation, focusing on Violaceae of the Southeastern United States.
• Kristie Wendelberger: Develop coding and maps for production of “Weakley’s Flora”.
• Marylou Kidd: Annotate, database, and correctly re-file all specimens of Andropogon worldwide according to the most current nomenclature and taxonomic concepts.
• Lisa Giencke: Database and create distribution maps of the ferns and fern allies of the Southeastern United States

The Charles T. Mohr Herbarium Internship

Elizabeth Burch Heston graduated with a B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1954. She currently lives in Hanover, New Hampshire, and her passion is gardening – the cultivation of daylilies in particular. Her sister, Barbara Safford, UNC-CH class of 1959, lives in Connecticut.  Together they have established the Charles T. Mohr Internship to honor their great-great-grandfather, botanist Charles Theodore Mohr (1824 – 1901). Charles Mohr was one of Alabama’s first botanists. He was granted an honorary Ph.D. in 1893 by the University of Alabama in recognition of his contributions to the knowledge of the State’s flora and geology. He is best known as the author of Plant Life in Alabama, published in 1901. If you are interested in applying for the Charles T. Mohr Herbarium Internship, please contact Alan S. Weakley, Director of the Herbarium, at (919) 962-0578 or by email at weakley@unc.edu. Any internship candidate should demonstrate keen interest in the flora of the southeastern United States, have good typing skills, and have an interest in learning how to use and curate herbarium specimens.

Current Mohr Interns and their projects:

• Torin O’Brien: Southeastern Flora Project, curation, research on the genus Packera
• Wes Knapp: Southeastern Flora Project
• Josh Williford: Research on the genus Packera
• Elizabeth Fleming: Research on the genus Packera

Former Mohr Interns and their projects:

• Madi Radford
• Ella Engstrom: Taxonomy of southern Appalachian Gentiana.
• Hannah Medford: Taxonomy of Croton septentrionalis complex and Carex intumescens complex.
• Cassandra Karlsson: Taxonomy of Eryngium yuccifolium complex  and Hydrophyllum virginianum complex.
• Ellie Kravets: Cataloging specimens given to NCU by Jesup Herbarium of Dartmouth College, especially those collected by Herbert H. Smith in Colombia, 1898-1901.
• Kevan Schoonover: Imaging & databasing phycological collection of the University of Alabama for National Science Foundation Macroalgae Digitization Project.
• Derick Poindexter: Typification & variation in Pycnanthemum and taxonomic re-evaluation of Stipulicida; morphology-based reassessment of Marshallia.
• Christine Gang: Morphometrics of Trichostema of the Southeastern United States.
• Daniel Adams: Reorganization of the Mycological Collection at NCU.
• Kevan Chuang: Basics of herbarium curation, focusing on 19^th century specimens given to NCU by Jesup Herbarium of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Fred and Virginia Houk Sustainability Internship

Students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are invited to apply for the Fred and Virginia Houk Sustainability Internship. The primary goal of the internship is to advance the Sustainable Practices of the North Carolina Botanical Garden by evaluating each department’s activities, event procedures, vehicle fleet use, and related areas of operation. There are also opportunities to represent the Botanical Garden at community events. The Sustainability Intern helps the Garden achieve its mission to advance a sustainable relationship between people and nature.

Former Houk Interns and their projects:

• Gray Ratcliff : NCBG plastics usage audit
• Malvika Venkatesh: Green Features scavenger hunt, Sustainable Building Virtual Tour, guest speaker for multiple NCBG webinars/virtual classes on sustainability and reducing environmental impact
• Emma Wilson: Sustainable Workplace Assessment, monthly Sustainable Living Newsletter, NCBG waste audit, and Workplace Wellness initiative.

The Martha Decker DeBerry Internship

This internship was established in by former President of the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation, Arthur DeBerry, in honor of his late wife Martha Decker DeBerry. The primary focus of this internship is summer garden maintenance of the five-acre, over 100 year old Coker Arboretum and regular duties include weeding, watering, mowing, path maintenance and pruning. Occasional activities include seed collection and processing, plant propagation and invasive species removal.

Current and former recipients:

• 2023: Emma Lovelace
• 2022: Ella Howie, UNC class of 2025
• 2021: Eli Bradley, UNC class of 2022
• 2019: Caroline Blythe, Stanford class of 2023
• 2018: Ella Engstrom, UNC class of 2020
• 2012: Anna DiMartino, UNC class of 2014
• 2010: John Benning, UNC class of 2010

The Ellen McFarland Johnson and Charles Sidney Johnson Jr. Student Internship

Ellen and Charles Johnson established this student intern endowment to allow the North Carolina Botanical Garden to annually hire one or more summer or academic year student interns.  Ellen is a long time Garden guide and Green Gardener volunteer.  The student interns’ work could include, but is not limited to, projects benefiting the conservation lands, horticultural displays, plant collections, natural areas, the Coker Arboretum, Battle Park, educational programs, children’s activities, exhibits, summer camp, or any other projects in the managed lands of the North Carolina Botanical Garden or the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation, Inc.

Current and former recipients:

• 2023: Megan McKinsey
• 2022: Maddy Graves

North Carolina Botanical Garden Student Intern Fund

Honoring the pioneer employees of the North Carolina Botanical Garden

This endowment fund provides an annual distribution for the North Carolina Botanical Garden to hire student interns, in honor of specific North Carolina Botanical Garden pioneer employees. The interns’ work could include projects benefiting the conservation lands, horticultural displays, plant collections, natural areas, the Coker Arboretum, Battle Park, educational programs, children’s activities, exhibits, summer camp, development activities, administrative work, or in any other projects in the managed lands of the North Carolina Botanical Garden or the Botanical Garden Foundation, Inc. Each student internship provided from this fund will recognize and honor a specific pioneer employee, through a named internship title for the duration of the seasonal internship, for example, the Charlotte Jones-Roe student intern for conservation.

Click here to give to to the North Carolina Botanical Garden Student Intern Fund.

The Flora Caroliniana Award

The Flora Caroliniana Award was established by the North Carolina Botanical Garden and the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation “for enthusiasm and service to the preservation, restoration, and appreciation of the natural world around us.” The first Flora Caroliniana Award was given in 1988 to Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady, local flora advocate, and author of Wildflowers Across America when she helped the Garden launch its first fundraising campaign, “Celebrating Wildflowers”. The original award was a framed work of botanical art created by Dot Wilbur-Brooks. Subsequent awards are copies of the original artwork. As the highest honor the Garden can bestow, the award is infrequently given and only given to “those who make outstanding contributions toward achievement of the goals for which the Garden stands”.

• 2022: Dr. Larry Mellichamp for his lifelong contributions as professor of botany and horticulture and director of the Botanical Gardens at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
• 2018: Charlotte Jones Roe in honor of forty-four years of service to the North Carolina Botanical Garden.
• 2016: Thomas Wright Earnhardt in recognition of his lifelong contributions to conservation.
• 2000: C. Ritchie Bell to honor the Garden’s first director from 1961 to 1986.
• 1996: William Lanier Hunt to honor him as the Founder of the Botanical Garden Foundation.
• 1991: John Terres, naturalist and author known for his work, From Laurel Hill to Siler’s Bog: The Walking Adventures of a Naturalist.
• 1988: Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady, local flora advocate, and author of Wildflowers Across America.

The C. Ritchie Bell Award

The C. Ritchie Bell Award, created in 2015 by a gift from Robert Edward Wyatt and Ann Hudson Stoneburner, honors the memory of C. Ritchie Bell, the first Director of the North Carolina Botanical Garden at UNC-Chapel Hill. An active and influential scientist, Bell enthusiastically advanced the appreciation and conservation of native plants, especially in the southeastern United States. The C. Ritchie Bell Award ensures that a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student and/or young professional at the North Carolina Botanical Garden has a place at the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference. The winner of the award is announced at the conference and is selected from the applicant pool.

Former Bell Awardees:

• 2023: Shakita Holloway (NCBG Curatorial Technician)
• 2022: Katarina Holocek (NCBG Horticulture Intern, UNCCH)
• 2021: Tyler Johnson (Battle Park Intern, UNCCH) and Torin O’Brien (Horticulture and APPLES Intern, UNCCH)
• 2020: Cullowhee Conference cancelled due to COVID.
• 2019: Alyssa Chen (NCBG Conservation intern, UNCCH)
• 2018: Ella Engstrom (NCBG Coker Arboretum intern, UNCCH)
• 2017: Courtney Belohlavek (NCBG work study and intern, UNCCH)
• 2016: L. Caroline Durham (NCBG Conservation intern, UNCCH)

The North Carolina Botanical Garden Award

The North Carolina Botanical Garden Award is a $300 prize given by the Garden (through the Southeastern Section of the Botanical Society of America and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society).  The award is for a presented paper at the annual ASB meeting that best advances our understanding of the biology and conservation of southeastern plants and thus contributes to the mission of the North Carolina Botanical Garden.  Of special interest to the Garden are the rare plant species of the Southeast: why they are rare; how they interact with plants, animals, and their environment; and what can be done to ensure their survival. As noted below, the paper may deal with a broad area including systematics, ecology, and conservation. The presentation is evaluated by a committee at the time of presentation and the Award is presented at the annual ASB Banquet. Click here to view the NCBG Award Criteria.

Former Awardees:

• 2023 – Skyler Fox, Furman University
• 2022 – Ben Brewer, Appalachian State University
• 2021 – Emily Oppmann, Middle Tennessee State University
• 2019 – Logan Clark, Appalachian State University
• 2018 – Byron Burrell, Appalachian State University
• 2017 – Lauren Whitehurst, Columbus State University
• 2016 – Erin Fegley, East Carolina University
• 2015 – Jesse E. D. Miller, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• 2014 – A. Renee Fortner, Department of Biology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC
• 2013 – April P. Punsalan, Department of Biology, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC
• 2012 – Andrea R. Benson, University of Tennessee Chattanooga, TN