David C. Michener is a faculty curator at the University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum. He is best known publicly for his co-authored book Peony, which made the New York Times Best Summer Reads the year it was published. He established the sister-garden relationship with the Central Botanical Garden – Minsk – National Academy of Sciences of Belarus in part with work in peony conservation and viral genomics; before that he participated in two significant field expeditions in the Russian Far East. He is on the Board of Directors of the American Peony Society and an author for the chapters on Chamaecyparis andKeckiella in the Flora of North America.
For 20 years he was on the faculty steering committee of the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate Schools Museum Studies Program. In one trajectory, and intentionally out of the public eye, David has worked with Anishinaabek partners for more than 20 years. Key partners include the Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation and Repatriation Alliance (MACPRA) as well as programs of the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) and the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways. In 2020, the Regents of the University of Michigan and MACPRA signed an Agreement framing ways forward. In 2022 the ‘Ice Out’ Ceremony marked the formal shift away from a University-centered approach to a future envisioned and in accord with Tribal partners from across the region (more in our Session.) With Professor Jennifer Gauthier of the College of the Menominee Nation’s Sustainable Development Institute, David co-leads the Midwest Hub of the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science. This is an ambitious $30,000,000 5-year initiative funded by the National Science Foundation.
David received his Bachelor’s in Botany from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, and both his MA and PhD in Botany from the Claremont Graduate School – Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden. He was a Research Taxonomist at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University for 6 years, funded by the National Science Foundation. He has been at the University of Michigan since 1990.
For more information:
- Izhi-Minoging Mashkikiwan – Place Where Medicines Grow Well (Thesis advisor)
TSN Conference 2025:
- January 24th, 2025 (Friday) // 8:35 am – 9:35 am // Big Ten Room // “Developing Partnerships with Indigenous Communities”
- January 24th, 2025 (Friday) // 10:00 am – 11:00 am // Red Cedar // “Building Relationships: Perspectives from Non-Tribal Stewards & Researchers”