Linda Jennings is the Collections Curator at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Herbarium, Beaty Biodiversity Museum, housing the third largest natural history ‘plant’ collection in Canada. For the past 15 years Linda has curated this century old collection of preserved plants and algae specimens from around the world. Through exhibits, tours and workshops she shares the collections and their stories, developing innovative tours with hands on activities that include the public in ‘real data science’. Linda earned her B.Sc. and M.Sc. from UBC where her studies focused on population genetics of a rare and federally protected sunflower, which she continues to have a great love and curiosity of rare plants to this day. She is passionate about the history of botany and collectors, with a specialization in the history of female botanists, and greatly enjoys using the collections in teaching, research and outreach. Previously working for the UBC Botanical Garden and teaching in the Department of Botany, she also instructs the Intermediate and Advanced Master Gardeners courses and holds pressing plant workshops, open to all the general public, in the hopes that you too will take notice and stewardship of all biodiversity.
