Dr. Bethany Harris is the Center for Urban Agriculture Director, where she has the opportunity to work with multiple groups, including industry clientele, Extension agents, professional associations, government agencies, and non-profit organizations to tackle a wide variety of urban challenges in the areas of nursery and landscape, food production, sustainable turfgrass, pest management, and urban forestry.
Before her time at UGA, Bethany served as program coordinator and instructor at Southern Crescent Technical College, where she taught courses including Landscape Installation, Sustainable Agriculture, Urban Landscape Issues, Small Scale Food Production, Pest Management, and Woody and Herbaceous Plant Identification. She also previously served as the Director of Education and Director of the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center at Callaway Gardens. In this role, Bethany had the opportunity to provide horticulture and entomology outreach to K5-12th grade students, homeowners, and industry groups, as well as oversaw all educational programming, workshops, school group visits, and a large-scale volunteer program. One of the highlights of her role was overseeing the USDA-regulated 7,000-square-foot tropical butterfly conservatory, which featured over 25 species of butterflies native to Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Philippines, Africa, and throughout South America. In her capacity, she led programs, including the Monarch Tagging Program, Butterflies 101, Blue Morpho Month, and the Butterfly Festival.
Becky Griffin is University of Georgia (UGA)’s Community & School Garden Coordinator where she works with Extension agents across the state helping create impactful gardens. She is also a Pollinator Health Associate and a Georgia certified beekeeper. Emphasizing the ecosystem of the garden and teaching workshops on beneficial entomology and integrated pest management are important parts of her work. Becky is the coordinator of the Great Southeast Pollinator Census which is a passion project for her.
Becky has been with UGA Extension for almost 11 years and enjoys the collaborations and friendships that working with the University brings. Becky represents the Southeastern US region on the Community Seed Network Advisory Panel and sits on the board of directors for The Bee Cause. She is also part of the University’s Native Plants and Beneficial Insects Working Group and works with the Pollinator Plants of the Year program.
Rolando Orellana is the Urban Water Management Agent at the Center for Urban Agriculture.
Whitney Ottinger works as the Sustainable Urban Agriculture Educator located at the Urban Agriculture Center in Griffin. Whitney manages the SARE program with Dr. Coolong, assists on the Journeyman Farmer Program statewide, and serves as a liaison with Metro Atlanta Sustainable Agriculture organizations such as Aglanta, Georgia Organics, Foodwell Alliance, etc. She also assists Becky Griffin with school and community garden work. Whitney will be seeking out grants to help metro agents provide small producer programming.
Whitney has recently joined the team as of September 2022. The aspect she is most excited about is collaborating with agents and their programs that support sustainability and resilience within the community – particularly focusing on urban community farms.
Kimberly Allen is the Administrative Associate at the Center for Urban Agriculture.
Rich Braman is the Systems Administrator and Developer at the Center for Urban Agriculture.
Beth Horne is the Event Coordinator for the Center for Urban Agriculture where she works with UGA Extension Agents statewide planning trainings, workshops, meetings, webinars and conferences. She creates online registration, marketing, on-site assistance during the event, CEU credit approval and reporting, and evaluation of the event as needed. She also works with the Horticulture and Entomology departments on the UGA Griffin Campus providing the same level of expert knowledge and professionlism for their programs.
Beth has been with the UGA Griffin Campus since 2007 and with the Center since 2012. She is the Event Team Coordinator for the UGA Griffin Events Team which sponsors events for the Campus consisting of: Chili/Soup Lunch, Team Appreciation Day, Watermelon Social, Ice Cream Social, Thanksgiving Lunch and the annual Christmas Breakfast. The Campus annual Dawg Dash, a 5K run/walk, was organized by Beth and the Events Team.