Don Rakow is an associate professor of horticulture in the Cornell School of Integrative Plant Science.  He served as Executive Director of Cornell Botanic Gardens between 1996 – 2013.  He leads or co-leads the Cornell MPS program in Public Garden Leadership, the Nature Rx@Cornell program, and the Campus Nature Rx Network.  He is lead author of ‘Public Garden Management’ (Wiley & Sons, 2011), ‘Nature Rx: Improving College Student Mental Health’ (Cornell Univ. Press, 2019), and ‘Public Gardens and Livable Cities’ (Cornell Univ. Press, 2021).  He conducts research and writes on the human benefits of time in nature.  He and his wife Sue live and garden in Ithaca, NY.