Twin Cities campus

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Twin Cities Campus

Horticulture M.P.S.

CCAPS Graduate Programs Instruction
College of Continuing and Professional Studies
Link to a list of faculty for this program.
Contact Information
College of Continuing and Professional Studies, Master of Professional Studies in Horticulture Program, 20 Ruttan Hall, 1994 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108 (612-624-4742; fax: 612-626-2800)
Email: ccapshort@umn.edu
Website: https://ccaps.umn.edu/horticulture-masters-degree
  • Program Type: Master's
  • Requirements for this program are current for Fall 2021
  • Length of program in credits: 30
  • This program does not require summer semesters for timely completion.
  • Degree: Master of Professional Studies
Along with the program-specific requirements listed below, please read the General Information section of this website for requirements that apply to all major fields.
The master of professional studies in horticulture is designed to enhance the capacity of those currently working in the horticulture industry and to provide the knowledge base needed by others interested in beginning new careers, starting their own business, or pursuing personal interests in horticulture. The degree provides a solid foundation of contemporary horticultural knowledge, yet is flexible enough to allow individuals to focus on the specific skills they wish to hone.
Program Delivery
  • via classroom (the majority of instruction is face-to-face)
Prerequisites for Admission
The preferred undergraduate GPA for admittance to the program is 2.80.
To be admitted, students must have a bachelor's degree from an accredited post-secondary US institution or its foreign equivalent.
Other requirements to be completed before admission:
Evidence of knowledge of current, introductory, college-level concepts of algebra, chemistry, biology, botany, or plant propagation is required for admission to the program. Prerequisite coursework may be completed at the University of Minnesota or at other educational institutions subject to transfer review. In all cases, documentation of completed, equivalent coursework combined with professional experience will be considered for application toward fulfillment of the prerequisites for admission to the M.P.S. in Horticulture. A minimum grade of C will be the standard for admission for all prerequisite coursework. Undergraduate prerequisite coursework must come from the following areas: algebra, chemistry, biology, botany, or plant propagation. Please refer to the program website for further details.
Special Application Requirements:
The application package must include official transcripts of all baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate work, a current resume, two letters of reference, a written statement of purpose (no more than two pages) which addresses pertinent aspects of the student's background and academic qualifications as related to admission to the program and demonstrates a strong interest in horticultural science including documentation of any relevant experiences in the field of horticulture. Application deadlines are in spring for fall semester admission, and in fall for spring semester admission. Refer to the program website for further details.
International applicants must submit score(s) from one of the following tests:
  • TOEFL
    • Internet Based - Total Score: 84
    • Internet Based - Writing Score: 21
    • Internet Based - Reading Score: 19
    • Paper Based - Total Score: 563
  • IELTS
    • Total Score: 6.5
    • Reading Score: 6.5
    • Writing Score: 6.5
  • MELAB
    • Final score: 84
Key to test abbreviations (TOEFL, IELTS, MELAB).
For an online application or for more information about graduate education admissions, see the General Information section of this website.
Program Requirements
Plan C: Plan C requires 30 major credits and up to credits outside the major. There is no final exam. A capstone project is required.
Capstone Project: See department for more details.
This program may be completed with a minor.
Use of 4xxx courses toward program requirements is permitted under certain conditions with adviser approval.
A minimum GPA of 2.80 is required for students to remain in good standing.
Students who have not completed relevant introductory coursework in soils, plant pathology, and entomology, either during or subsequent to completion of their bachelor's degree, may be required to complete courses in these areas as part of their M.P.S. degree requirements in consultation with the M.P.S. in Horticulture Director of Graduate Studies. These courses are not prerequisites for admission. Depending on the specific courses included in the student's program, some additional coursework may also be required over and above the 30 graduate credits required for the degree. All prerequisites associated with courses included in the student's course program must be completed as part of the student's degree requirements, unless exempted in writing by the instructor for the course and approved by the student's advisor and the program director of graduate studies (DGS) prior to taking the course. Excluding the capstone course, a maximum of 3 credits taken S/N may be applied toward the minimum requirements for the degree. The student's course program must be approved by the DGS and M.P.S. Steering Committee. Only coursework for which the student has earned a grade of B- or better will be counted toward the minimum of 30 semester credits required for the degree.
Horticulture Coursework (15 credits)
15 credits of Horticulture (HORT) courses are required. A maximum of 9 credits total at the 4xxx level may be applied to the program in consultation with student's advisor. A maximum of 3 credits of HORT 5090 Directed Studies may be used.
Take 15 or more credit(s) from the following:
· HORT 4xxx
· HORT 5xxx
· HORT 6003 - Masters of Professional Studies in Horticulture Professional Experience Program: Internship (1.0-3.0 cr)
· HORT 6011 - Plant Propagation (4.0 cr)
· HORT 8xxx
Related Fields (12 credits)
Select at least 12 credits, such as the following, from related fields coursework offered across the University. Other courses can be selected in consultation with the advisor. A maximum of 9 total credits at the 4xxx level, in consultation with the advisor, can be applied to program requirements.
Take 12 or more credit(s) from the following:
· AGRO 5321 - Ecology of Agricultural Systems (3.0 cr)
· APS 5103 - Integration of Sustainable Agriculture Concepts (3.0 cr)
· APS 5101 - Ecological Design for Horticulture (3.0 cr)
· APS 5102 - Garden Design: Theory and Application (2.0 cr)
· ENT 5011 - Insect Structure and Function (4.0 cr)
· ENT 5021 - Insect Biodiversity and Evolution (4.0 cr)
· ENT 5051 - Scientific Illustration of Insects (3.0 cr)
· ENT 5081 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· ENT 5121 - Applied Experimental Design (4.0 cr)
· ENT 5341 - Biological Control of Insects and Weeds (3.0 cr)
· ENT 4361 - Aquatic Insects (3.0 cr)
· HORT 4xxx
· HORT 5xxx
· PLPA 5103 - Plant-Microbe Interactions (3.0 cr)
· PLPA 5202 - Field Plant Pathology (2.0 cr)
· PLPA 5203 - Introduction to Fungal Biology (3.0 cr)
· PLPA 5300 - Current Topics in Molecular Plant Pathology (1.0 cr)
· PLPA 5301 - Large Scale Omic Data in Plant Biology (3.0 cr)
· PLPA 5444 - Ecology, Epidemiology, and Evolutionary Biology of Plant-Microbe Interactions (3.0 cr)
· PLPA 5480 - Principles of Plant Pathology (3.0 cr)
· PLPA 5660 - Plant Disease Resistance and Applications (3.0 cr)
· PLPA 8005 - Supervised Classroom or Extension Teaching Experience (1.0-2.0 cr)
· PLPA 8103 - Plant-Microbe Interactions (3.0 cr)
· SOIL 4xxx
· SOIL 5xxx
· HORT 6011 - Plant Propagation (4.0 cr)
· HORT 8xxx
Capstone: HORT 6002 (3 credits)
Intended as a capstone experience that integrates the knowledge gained from coursework, personal research, and the student's academic and professional experiences. Enrollment is limited to students who have completed 18 or more credit hours. Students should register for 3 credits.
HORT 6002 - Problem Solving in Horticulture (2.0-3.0 cr)
 
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· College of Continuing and Professional Studies

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· Fall 2022

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HORT 6003 - Masters of Professional Studies in Horticulture Professional Experience Program: Internship
Credits: 1.0 -3.0 [max 6.0]
Grading Basis: S-N only
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Professional experience in horticulture firms or government agencies attained through supervised practical experience. Students evaluate reports, consult with faculty advisers and with employers. prereq: Masters of professional studies in horticulture student, completed internship contract, instr consent
HORT 6011 - Plant Propagation
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hort 1001/Hort 6011
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall
Principles/techniques of propagating plants by seeds, cuttings, grafts, buds, layers, and division. Lectures on principles, labs on practice of various propagating techniques. Reading/discussion of related primary literature. prereq: Master of Professional Studies or instr consent
AGRO 5321 - Ecology of Agricultural Systems
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Agro/Ent 5321
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Spring
Ecological approach to problems in agricultural systems. Formal methodologies of systems inquiry are developed/applied. prereq: [3xxx or above] course in [Agro or AnSc or Ent or Hort or PlPa or Soil] or instr consent
APS 5103 - Integration of Sustainable Agriculture Concepts
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall
Biodiversity, ecological balance, nutrient cycling, soil quality. Organic practices of tillage, fertility management, weed control, insect control. Specific practices compared with conventional/integrated pest management. Economic analysis of both organic/conventional practices. prereq: AGRO 1101 or AGRO 1103 or BIOL 1001 or BIOL 1009 or HORT 1001 or HORT 6011 or instr consent, [sr or grad student admitted to MPS in horticulture] Because of the 5xxx level, undergraduates need permission numbers to register. Students can obtain permissions by writing to: reefx001@umn.edu
APS 5101 - Ecological Design for Horticulture
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Polyculture and Ecological Design is the design science of assembling plants into ecologically balanced systems. Natural polycultures are self-supporting plant communities in forests, wetlands, and prairies. Investigate ecological functions and services that are important components for sustainable horticultural design. Learn to apply the ecological landscape design language and technique while using the permaculture design process to create ecologically functional plant communities. Crucial discussions will assess the solutions in horticultural design for adapting to accelerated climate disruption, and follow natures momentum as a guide to sustainable production systems. Lab sessions will demonstrate, and you will develop, the skills and foresight needed to assess, research, concept, design, and present polycultures in a sequential and professional process.
APS 5102 - Garden Design: Theory and Application
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
This course provides an overview of the garden design process, the analysis and conceptual design of the landscape, exploration of the design characteristics of plants, sustainable design and a descriptive journey into several historical garden styles. You will be introduced to a variety of topics, including the design process, basic design principles, and the basic concepts of graphic communication in garden design. A working knowledge of design process and principles is critical to quality design. This course is intended to strengthen student awareness and knowledge of design rather than fully develop the skills necessary to draw, develop and implement garden designs. This course is different from fact-based horticulture science courses. Although you will be held responsible for learning a broad range of principles and processes in this course, there are typically no absolute right answers relative to design assessment and critique. What is more important is that you gain the ability to articulate and assess design character and quality and give evidence of your thought process.
ENT 5011 - Insect Structure and Function
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Spring
Comparative study of insect structures/functions from evolutionary perspective. Introduction to physiology of digestion, respiration, other organ systems. prereq: 3005 or instr consent
ENT 5021 - Insect Biodiversity and Evolution
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: Ent 3021/Ent 5021
Typically offered: Every Fall
Insects are the most diverse group of organisms on Earth with almost 1 million described species. Millions more remain to be described, especially in tropical regions of the world. Insects come in a remarkable array of sizes, colors, and shapes. Taxonomists use this morphological complexity as the primary means of identifying insects, but also for inferring evolutionary relationships. In this course, we will learn how to identify insects, explore methods of collection and curation of insects, discuss their evolutionary relationships, see how insects fit in the natural world, and discuss exciting new efforts to inventory, describe, and conserve the remarkable diversity of insects.
ENT 5051 - Scientific Illustration of Insects
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Spring Even Year
Techniques for preparing and observing insects for subsequent illustration. Traditional illustration techniques using the drawing tube and ocular grid on the microscope, including pencil sketching and pen and ink line drawing. Other ?traditional? rendering methods will include line and ink, stippling, cross-hatching, color illustration. Major emphasis will be in computer-assisted techniques of scientific illustration using Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, including instruction on preparing full body, true-to-life, color illustrations of insects on the computer.
ENT 5121 - Applied Experimental Design
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: Agro 5121/Ent 5121
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Principles of sampling methodologies, experimental design, and statistical analyses. Methods/procedures in generating scientific hypotheses. Organizing, initiating, conducting, and analyzing scientific experiments using experimental designs and statistical procedures. Offered with AGRO 5121. prereq: Stat 5021 or equiv or instr consent
ENT 5341 - Biological Control of Insects and Weeds
Credits: 3.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: Ent 3341/Ent 5341
Typically offered: Every Spring
Biological control is the suppression of pests and weeds using living organisms. It involves fascinating interactions between organisms such as plants and herbivores, and insects and the predators and parasitoids that attack them. These interactions can provide spectacular protection from invasive species but risks to the environment are possible as well so biological control interventions must be undertaken with great care. We will explore these interactions and interventions in depth in this class. The class is online.
ENT 4361 - Aquatic Insects
Credits: 3.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall, Spring & Summer
Introduction to the classification, ecology, and identification of insects that are dependent on aquatic habitats during portions of their life cycle. The goal of the course is to provide the student with essential technical skills to perform research, using field and laboratory methods, on insect communities in aquatic ecosystems. Students will develop skills to identify insects to family without reference to taxonomic keys as a way to successfully pass the Family-Level Proficiency Certification administered by the Society for Freshwater Sciences. prereq: ENT 1005 or BIOL 1009 or Instructor consent
PLPA 5103 - Plant-Microbe Interactions
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Every Spring
Genetics, physiology, molecular biology of plant-microbe interactions. Communication between plant/microbes, signal transduction, control of gene expression, symbiosis/parasitism, plant host response mechanisms, plant disease physiology. prereq: Intro course in plant pathology or molecular biology or equiv
PLPA 5202 - Field Plant Pathology
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Grading Basis: S-N or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall
Characteristics of a variety of plant diseases. Field trips to observe symptoms and effects of diseases, and to learn about prevention and control of diseases in field, forest, golf course, greenhouse, nursery, orchard, and urban environments.
PLPA 5203 - Introduction to Fungal Biology
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Spring Odd Year
Fungi are a critical component of the diversity and function of terrestrial ecosystems, affecting decomposition, plant nutrient uptake, and agricultural practices. Key components of fungal biology, including ecology, genetics, life cycles and diversity. Labs provide hands on experience with a diverse range of organisms. prereq: BIOL 1009 or equiv
PLPA 5300 - Current Topics in Molecular Plant Pathology
Credits: 1.0 [max 2.0]
Grading Basis: S-N only
Typically offered: Every Spring
Current Topics in Molecular Plant Pathology is a highly interactive class in which students read, discuss, and critique pivotal publications in the field of molecular plant pathology. Specific topics will change from year to year, but will generally include subjects such as plant-microbe communication, diversity and evolution of plant-microbe associations, genomic analysis of pathogens (symbionts) and plant host responses, and mechanisms of pathogenicity. prereq: Introductory courses in plant pathology or microbiology; genetics; molecular biology or genomics; or consent of instructor
PLPA 5301 - Large Scale Omic Data in Plant Biology
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Introduction to large scale data in plant biology. Emphasizes model plants and important agricultural crops focusing on new approaches and technologies in the field. Fundamentals, acquisition, and analysis of high-throughput DNA and RNA sequencing, high-throughput plant phenotyping, functional and comparative genomics, epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and microbiomics. prereq: Intro course in genetics or instr consent
PLPA 5444 - Ecology, Epidemiology, and Evolutionary Biology of Plant-Microbe Interactions
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall
Concepts and recent research in the ecology, epidemiology, and evolutionary/coevolutionary biology of plant-microbe interactions spanning the range from parasitic to mutualistic in agricultural and natural habitats. prereq: Intro plant pathology or advanced biology coursework recommended
PLPA 5480 - Principles of Plant Pathology
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
This course is intended for graduate students and undergraduate students in their third or fourth year that are interested in learning about principles of plant pathology, diseases that affect plants, microbiology and microbial and plant interactions. In this course students will learn principles of plant pathology through lectures and demonstrations and exercises in laboratory. Students will gain knowledge of mycology and select diseases caused by fungi within Ascomycota, Basidiomycota and the fungal-like Oomycota. Diseases caused by bacteria, nematodes, viruses, parasitic plants and abiotic damage are also examined. Lectures will include information concerning the history and importance of plant pathology, mycology, bacteriology, nematology, virology, infection process, genetics of host and microorganism interactions, epidemiology of diseases and disease control strategies. In the hands-on laboratory period the student will learn laboratory skills, gain experience using the microscope, work with microorganisms, learn diagnostic skills, and be able to recognize 30 plant diseases. prereq: BIOL 1009 or equiv
PLPA 5660 - Plant Disease Resistance and Applications
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Spring
Fundamentals of disease resistance in plants and the genetics of host-parasite interactions as they relate to the sustainable control of plant diseases. Examples explored at the Mendelian, populational, and molecular level of organization. prereq: 2001, BIOL 4003
PLPA 8005 - Supervised Classroom or Extension Teaching Experience
Credits: 1.0 -2.0 [max 2.0]
Grading Basis: S-N only
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Teaching experience in Plant Pathology. Discussions about effective teaching to strengthen skills and develop a personal teaching philosophy. prereq: instr consent
PLPA 8103 - Plant-Microbe Interactions
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Every Spring
Genetics, physiology, and molecular biology of plant-microbe interactions. Communication between plants/microbes. Signal transduction, control of gene expression, symbiosis/parasitism, plant host response mechanisms, plant disease physiology. prereq: Intro course in plant pathology or molecular biology or equiv
HORT 6011 - Plant Propagation
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hort 1001/Hort 6011
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall
Principles/techniques of propagating plants by seeds, cuttings, grafts, buds, layers, and division. Lectures on principles, labs on practice of various propagating techniques. Reading/discussion of related primary literature. prereq: Master of Professional Studies or instr consent
HORT 6002 - Problem Solving in Horticulture
Credits: 2.0 -3.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: S-N only
Typically offered: Every Spring
This course is intended to be a capstone experience that integrates the knowledge gained from coursework, personal research, and the student's academic and professional experiences. Enrollment is usually limited to students who have completed 18 or more credit hours of their required 30 credits, and accounts for 2 of the minimum 30 credits required for the degree. These credits are not considered part of the horticulture core course requirements; an additional 15 credits in Horticulture are required for the MPS Hort degree. Prerequisites: HORT 6101, completion of 18+ towards Master of Professional Studies in Horticulture Degree, and instructor consent.