John M. Herr, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Biology, USC-Columbia, Chair
John B. Nelson, Curator of the A. C. Moore Herbarium, USC-Columbia
Lucrecia Herr, Midlands Master Gardeners Association
Harry Shealy, Professor of Biology, USC-Aiken
Douglas A. Rayner, Professor of Biology, Wofford College
W. Michael Dennis, President, Breedlove, Dennis, & Associates, Longwood, Florida
Mark Dutton, Fort Jackson, Columbia, SC
Vinnie Suarez, Senior Director of Development, College of Arts and Sciences, USC-Columbia

Dr. Batson with current Spring Flora students, April 2003.

May 7, 2002 marked the 90th birthday of Distinguished Professor Emeritus Wade T. Batson, "Dr. B" to his colleagues and students. It is easy to recall Dr. B to his former students because they will probably never forget the field trips they took with him in all kinds of weather. Throughout his career, Dr. B served as the first official curator of the A. C. Moore Herbarium at USC, and he worked tirelessly to maintain and enlarge it. Today it is the repository of over 110,000 specimens and provides significant service to the Department of Biological Sciences and to the community as well. Citizens throughout the Southeast and elsewhere may request identification of plants they have found, and the herbarium provides this service free of charge.

To commemorate Dr. B's long service to the herbarium and to honor him on his 90th birthday an endowment was established in the USC Educational Foundation to support the herbarium and assure its continuation as an important scientific and service facility at USC. Through the efforts of many of Dr. B's former students, colleagues, and friends throughout South Carolina, the endowment has undergone significant growth, but is still far from the committee's initial goal of $200,000. We hope you will want to become a part of this effort. Contributions can be made online or by a check payable to the USC Educational Foundation and marked for the Batson Endowment for the Herbarium. "Batson" and "Herbarium" must appear on your check in order for your gift to be placed in the proper fund. Contributions should be sent to:

USC Educational Foundation
Gift Processing
University of South Carolina
1027 Barnwell Street
Columbia, SC 29208

The herbarium for the most part relies on external support from grants and contributions to carry out its mission. You may be aware that USC and the Department of Biological Sciences face serious budget shortfalls. Be assured that your gift will be prudently used.