UT Gardens' Staff

Dr. Sue Hamilton
Director of UT Gardens (Retired)
Email: sueham@utk.edu

Dr. Sue Hamilton is director of the University of Tennessee Gardens which serve as a living laboratory for students, a platform for research, and as a hub for Extension programing. Additionally, over 100,000 visitors enjoy their beauty and educational programing each year. Under Hamilton’s leadership, the Gardens have been named the State Botanical Gardens of Tennessee and a network of UT Garden locations have been established statewide with sites in Knoxville, Crossville, and Jackson. These Gardens are important “proving grounds” of landscape performance in Tennessee for hundreds of new plants each year. Also an associate professor of horticulture in the UT Plant Sciences department, Hamilton is the founding director of the Public Horticulture Program for undergraduate and graduate studies. She teaches courses in Public Garden Mgt. & Operations, Plant & Garden Photography, and oversees Botanical Garden Practicums and Internships. Dr. Sue has co-authored the book “The Best Garden Plants for Tennessee” and writes a monthly gardening column for the Knoxville News Sentinel. She is also a contributor to various magazines including Tennessee Farm & Home, Tennessee Gardener, Fine Gardening Magazine, and coordinates the UT Gardens’ monthly e-newsletter and bi-annual magazine. During her tenure at UT, Hamilton has represented the Institute of Agriculture in five countries and throughout the USA leading several botanical trips abroad. She was the recipient of the 2002 UT Chancellor’s Honors Women of Achievement Award, the 2005 UTIA William T. Miles Memorial Award for Community Service, and the 2001 Gamma Sigma Delta Teaching Award.

James Newburn
Interim Director of the UT Gardens, Knoxville
Email: jnewburn@utk.edu

Since 1992, James has put his expertise toward the success of the UT Gardens as we see it today. He received a B.S. in horticulture from UT. He started working for UT as a student in 1992, and became floriculture research greenhouse manager upon his graduation in 1995. James received an M.S. in Public Horticulture in 2008.

After serving as the UT Gardens Curator since 1999, James is now the Interim Director. His duties include day-to-day operations of the gardens and training and oversight of garden staff and student interns.

Derrick Stowell, Ph.D., HTR, CTRS
Education and Horticultural Therapy Program Administrator
Email: dstowell@utk.edu

Derrick has been working for the University of Tennessee Gardens since 2012. He is the Education and Horticultural Therapy Program Administrator for the UT Gardens. Derrick is responsible for directing education programs and horticultural therapy programs for the UT Gardens, Knoxville location. He received his bachelor’s degree from Maryville College in 2003 with a double major in environmental studies and outdoor recreation. After graduating, Derrick spent a year as an AmeriCorps volunteer in Knoxville working with Ijams Nature Center and its Earth Flag program teaching environmental education to students in Knox County schools. Derrick went on to complete his master’s degree in therapeutic recreation from the University of Tennessee in 2006. He spent five years directing the national camp program for the Amputee Coalition of America and was also their Annual Giving Manager. He received​ his Ph.D. in plant, soil and environmental sciences from the University of Tennessee. 

Derrick has developed numerous programs for the UT Gardens including horticultural therapy​ programs. He is a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS). In 2015 he became a registered Horticultural Therapist (HTR) through the American Horticultural Therapy Association. Derrick served on the Board of Directors for the American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA) from 2016-2018. He has also presented on therapeutic gardening at national and regional conferences. In 2016, he received the Rhea McCandliss Professional Service Award from the AHTA for his contributions to the horticultural therapy profession. 

Beth Willis
UT Gardens Membership/Volunteer Coordinator
Email: ewillis2@utk.edu

Beth joined the UT Gardens as the Herb Garden Curator in 2004 while completing her B.S. in Plant Sciences at UT. She continued in that role while pursuing an M.S. in Public Horticulture, while also taking a more active role in the annual trials program as part of her master’s project.

Holly Jones
Manager of Edible Horticulture/Social Media & Event  Rental Coordinator
Email: hjones3@utk.edu

Holly began working for the UT Gardens as the Perennial Curator in 2004 while completing her B.S. in Plant Sciences. After graduation she accepted an internship and then an employee position at the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens in Santa Barbara, CA. At the same time she worked with Growing Solutions Restoration Education Institute, propagating native plants and managing their website. From there, she went to Maui where she worked in an organic food garden for a yoga retreat center and later as the lead gardener at a private estate.

Alexandria Smith
UT Gardens Horticulturist/
Plant Collections Curator
Email: asmit288@vols.utk.edu

Alexandria began working at the UT Gardens in 2015 as a student intern with responsibilities including greenhouse maintenance and production, garden maintenance and design, and collection inventories. She joined the UT Gardens staff upon graduation in 2016 with a B.S. in Plant Sciences focusing in Public Horticulture. Her current responsibilities include plant curation and collection management, garden maintenance and horticulture research, contributing writer for print and online publications, greenhouse management, and assisting with event planning. Her interests include furthering understanding of people-plant relationships and creating spaces to encourage interaction with nature.

PJ Snodgrass
UT Gardens Horticultural Therapy Education Assistant
Email: pj@utk.edu

P.J. retired from the University of Tennessee after 33 years of service in 2017 and came to work for the Gardens in 2019 in the Horticultural Therapy program. As a life-long learner, she is working towards registering as a Horticultural Therapist with the American Horticultural Therapy Association. She is also a Tennessee Master Gardener. P.J. holds Master's and Doctoral degrees from the University of Tennessee.

Working at the Gardens is joy for her as she has also been a Gardens volunteer for 20+ years. Being able to use her skills in teaching, training, and program development to help grow the Horticultural Therapy program is very rewarding. Being able to teach someone the simple joy of planting a seed or potting a flower is priceless!

As gardening and all things outdoors are important to her she is a hiker and avid home gardener. She also enjoys walking her two dogs Sassy and Pippin and being an active member of her neighborhood association. For the past two years, she has worked with other neighbors to obtain grants from the City of Knoxville to design and install a series of pollinator gardens in the neighborhood.

Whitney Welch
UT Gardens Education 
Program Assistant
Email: wwelch9@vols.utk.edu

Whitney is a Garden Educator as the Extension Program Assistant. She directs the summer and fall camps, coordinates the Homegrown homeschool program, and strives to create other engaging educational programs at the Gardens. In 2019, she graduated from UT with a B.S. degree in Geology and Environmental Studies. During her time at UT as a student, she interned and volunteered over two-hundred hours at several interesting places including Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and Ijams Nature Center. Through her experiences she learned that her passion was environmental education, and particularly in providing experiential learning opportunities for youth and adults. Her goal as a Garden Educator is to create impactful outdoor experiences for children and adults that provide an opportunity for them to connect with the environment in which they live.