IN MEMORIAM

Ellen G. Sutter

Professor of Plant Science - Pomology (Emeritus)

Davis

1945 – 2005

Professor Ellen G. Sutter died on Thursday, November 3, 2005 at her home in Davis, CA at the age of 60. At the time of her death she was a Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences (formerly Department of Pomology) at the University of California, Davis. Ellen’s academic career spanned five decades starting with a Bachelor of Arts degree (biology) from Brandeis University in 1967. She earned a Master of Arts degree (psychology) from Columbia University in 1972 and a Master of Science degree (floriculture and ornamental horticulture) from Cornell University in 1978. She completed her graduate education with a PhD degree (floriculture and ornamental horticulture) from Cornell University in 1981 where she studied under the guidance of Professor Robert Langhans. Her first academic position was that of Assistant Professor at Iowa State University in Ames, IA in 1980. From there she went to the University of California, Davis in 1982 moving through the Assistant, Associate and Full Professor ranks.

 

Ellen’s particular areas of expertise included plant propagation, plant cell, tissue and organ culture, and the detection of endogenous plant growth substances. These research interests led to her authoring or co-authoring more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and the submission of more than 30 abstracts to professional, scientific meetings held worldwide. She was a member of several professional organizations including the American Society for Horticultural Sciences, International Plant Propagators’ Society, Plant Growth Regulator Society of America, Iowa Academy of Sciences, and Graduate Women in Science as well as honorary societies like Sigma Xi and Pi Alpha Xi.

 

Ellen’s professional passion was focused on teaching, advising and contributing to the advancement of students on the Davis campus. She regularly taught two courses, Plant Propagation and Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture that were always well-received by her students. She also taught other courses including seminars and, in recent years, she enjoyed participating in the Davis Honors Challenge. Ellen served as an advisor for the Plant Science Undergraduate Major, Exploratory Major, Graduate Group in Horticulture and Agronomy and as Master Advisor for the Plant Biology Graduate Group. During her 23-year career at UC Davis she served on myriad committees most of which focused on some aspect of either teaching or advising of students.

 

At the time of her death she had just completed a successful three-year term as Director of the Teaching Resources Center, the central resource for teaching support on the Davis campus. In the TRC, Ellen designed and developed tutorials for faculty on tools that could be used to create effective learning packages. Some of these tutorials are still used by TRC in faculty instruction. She served as an effective guide and administrator for the many activities sponsored by the TRC and earned the respect of the staff and consulting faculty for her support of the program and her innovative ideas about TRC's role on the campus.

 

Ellen was a campus “early adopter” of computer-based technologies focused on the improvement of teaching and learning. She was a participant in the first Summer Institute on Technology in Teaching (SITT) sponsored by the Teaching Resources Center. It was immediately clear that she was an advanced participant and she ended up serving as an informal facilitator/tutor even that first year, concentrating on Mac users with questions. From the second year on, she was on the SITT coordinating committee and served as an instructor at SITT itself. She made significant use of computers and digital images in her teaching efforts and was always ready to help her less computer-savvy colleagues in their not infrequent periods of computer chaos and computer-generated angst.

 

In her personal life Ellen was generous to a number of humanitarian and environmental charities. She greatly enjoyed gardening, traveling, and assembling a large horticultural library and blown glass art collection. She derived many years of pleasure from her canine companions Sasha, Beau, Poppy and Cinder. She enjoyed the companionship of her friend of many years, Maryann Owens who has begun the Ellen G. Sutter Scholarship Fund for the benefit UC Davis students.

 

Ellen was known for her openness, generosity, sense of humor, and positive outlook on life. She cared about her students, colleagues and friends. In the final months of her life she took the time to let us know the joy she had derived from each of us.

 

David Burger

Louise Ferguson

Gale McGranahan

Steven Weinbaum