Charles and Sarah P. Becker ’27 Arboretum Director Emeritus
Glenn served as the first full time Arboretum director from 1988 to 2018. He oversaw all department functions including planning, land management, public education, collection curation, research, and fundraising. Mr. Dreyer reported to the Provost/Dean of the Faculty, and worked closely with faculty and students to facilitate the use of the Arboretum as an academic resource.
Upon his retirement, the Arboretum's bog was renamed in his honor: the Glenn Dreyer Bog. The bog, located southwest of the pond, serves as an important habitat for wildlife and is the site of numerous teaching and research initiatives. To improve access to the bog for use as a living laboratory, a boardwalk was constructed in the fall of 2016. Mr. Dreyer designed, secured financial support and oversaw building of the new boardwalk that allows one to really experience this wonderful, yet previously largely hidden, resource in the Arboretum. This was just one of many projects Mr. Dreyer championed for the College during his nearly four decades of service.
Glenn Dreyer began working for the Arboretum in a landscape maintenance capacity while still a graduate student in 1982. The next year he became Assistant Arboretum Director under William A. Niering. In 1988, he was appointed to the position of Arboretum Director. Mr. Dreyer was also an adjunct professor of botany and the executive director of the Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment. His professional and research interests are at the interface between ecology and horticulture, and he conducts research in vegetation management, invasive plants, plant community ecology and urban forestry. He is the author of the books:Connecticut’s Notable TreesandGreening Connecticut’s Cities and Towns: Managing Public Trees and Community Forests, in addition to many professional and popular articles.