MEDIA, Pa. — Penn State Brandywine is deepening its connection to nature and sustainability through its membership in the Commonwealth Arboreta Network. Founded in 2023, the Penn State Commonwealth Arboreta Network is a community dedicated to uniting campuses across Pennsylvania through environmental and tree knowledge. Conservation of tree and plant life allow campuses to become intertwined, providing resources for education, research and community engagement.
Penn State Brandywine has also been accredited as a Level 1 arboretum by ArbNet, an interactive community of arboreta and tree professionals designed to support the common purposes and interests of tree-focused public gardens.
Both of these achievements required fulfilling specific requirements and standards.
As an inclusive resource, the Commonwealth Arboreta Network brings together faculty, staff, students and campuses large and small to study and observe tree and plant life. Together, individuals can share data and develop teaching and learning strategies collaboratively. The long-term vision of the network is to establish an arboretum at each of Penn State’s commonwealth campuses.
Participation in the network signals that Penn State Brandywine is deeply committed to thoughtful tree stewardship and landscape management. It also helps Brandywine’s specific priorities align with University-wide goals across facilities, philanthropy, faculty and staff offerings, and student enrichment.
Since Brandywine joined the CAN in the summer of 2025, the campus has been a proactive participant and has demonstrated collaboration with other campuses already in and new to the network. Each member campus brings a unique tree collection to the larger network that can influence research opportunities and information shared within and beyond the network. Some highlights at Brandywine are an impressive American sycamore ("Platanus occidentalis"), American beech ("Fagus grandifolia"), heritage oaks ("Quercus spp.") and tulip poplars ("Liriodendron tulipifera").
Regional Chancellor Marilyn J. Wells shared her enthusiasm for the campus’ new involvement, reflecting on Brandywine's roots.
“Penn State Brandywine’s property was once a dairy farm and then an apple orchard, and to now become a part of the Arboreta Network is a wonderful way to carry forward our history,” Wells said.
At Brandywine, the vision is built upon an existing commitment to environmental conservation. Across its 112-acre landscape, the campus integrates biodiversity with natural areas that are home to an abundance of plant and tree species. An initial inventory documented 65 species across 654 trees. This did not include the more heavily wooded areas of campus, ensuring future opportunities for applied learning with forest inventories and research.
Pursuing and maintaining arboretum status encourages the activation of the campus as a living laboratory. With resources like the campus inventory ArborScope, students can collect and analyze their own ecological data, participate in planting initiatives and collaborate with industry professionals.
Brandywine was among the first CAN campuses to take advantage of Penn State’s partnership with Bartlett Tree Experts. In October 2025, a Bartlett representative presented the campus’ ArborScope data to two classes. Tracy Lea-Dorsey, assistant teaching professor of biology and Brandywine’s CAN faculty representative who organized the visits, shared during a network meeting that students really enjoyed the experience and remarked that it was enhanced by having access to their campus-specific data.
Brandywine also supports sustainability through a commitment to its campus garden and partnerships with nearby conservation areas. One location in particular, Ridley Creek State Park, helps to provide additional opportunities for education and research.
Kay Fleischner, Commonwealth Arboreta Network assistant at Penn State, shared how Brandywine is in an important area of the natural system, allowing for partnerships with surrounding parks.
“For Brandywine, Southeastern Pennsylvania is known for stormwater management challenges, so any opportunity to collaborate with areas like Ridley Creek State Park to improve riparian barriers has an impact on the campus and beyond,” Fleischner said. Additionally, the forested areas of campus are essential habitat corridors for migrating birds.
The connection between the campus’ natural environment and student learning is central to Brandywine’s mission.
“At the core of our mission is student success, and for our students to have the opportunity to take the classroom outdoors gives them a unique and impactful experience that they wouldn’t otherwise have,” Wells said.
In describing the campus’ environmental commitment, Fleischner explained how Brandywine’s involvement in the network directly reflects its mission.
“Through tree care, ecological restoration and environmental study, Brandywine advances knowledge while serving the community — bringing the land-grant tradition to life in visible and meaningful ways,” she said, adding that Brandywine’s unique climate, plant palette and history position it well to be a distinctive representative of Penn State in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Through its involvement in the network, Penn State Brandywine is working to further celebrate its natural assets by turning existing campus areas into purposeful educational resources. Tree inventories and conservation efforts encourage students, faculty and visitors to engage with the environment around them while supporting the campus’s natural resources. This approach aligns Brandywine with Penn State’s broader mission of leveraging natural resources to further support academic inquiry and sustainability.
“Students at Brandywine have the ability to view their campus in a new way through a tree-focused lens and the campus can increase offerings for programs such as student-led plantings for stormwater management or specialized research opportunities that examine topics of sustainability and environmental education,” said Fleischner.
For Brandywine, achieving arboretum status means engaging students, faculty, staff and local communities with outdoor learning opportunities and opening doors for academic collaboration efforts, from sustainability research to wellness programming and education.