Meetings

Upcoming Meetings

August 15th, 2023: TORCH Business/Curator Meeting in Fort Worth, TX

This year’s Texas Oklahoma Regional Consortium of Herbaria (TORCH) meeting is scheduled to coincide with the Texas Plant Conservation Conference (TPCC; fwbg.org/tpcc), which will be held in Fort Worth, Texas, 14-15 August 2023. The 2023 TORCH business/curator meeting will begin at 1pm on Tuesday, 15 August 2023, in the BRIT building (1700 University Dr, Fort Worth, TX 76107-3400). Anyone affiliated with or in support of a herbarium is welcome to attend! A professional development training opportunity may immediately follow the conclusion of the business meeting. 

Registration is not required, but for those planning to attend who are not already registered for the separate but concurrent TPCC event, we’d love if you could let us know by filling out the form here: https://forms.gle/LgFVRepvhou2Sd536. Please email herbarium@brit.org with any questions. 

Most Recent Meeting

August 10th, 2022: TORCH Meeting in Fort Worth, TX

The Steering Committee of the Texas Oklahoma Regional Consortium of Herbaria (TORCH) is pleased to invite you to attend the 2022 annual TORCH meeting on August 10th, 2022, in Fort Worth, Texas, at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden and Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

 

PROGRAM NOW AVAILABLE! 

To download the program in PDF format, please click here.

 

There will be no registration cost for the meeting; however, registration is required.

Register here: https://forms.gle/mH3HCQZuJTLKUvvK6 (deadline: 29 Jul)

This 1-day, in-person conference is ideal for students and professionals associated with TORCH herbaria, as well as herbaria that are involved in the currently funded TORCH digitization grant from the National Science Foundation. Highlights will include oral presentations and a poster session, as well as a business meeting to elect new members to the Steering Committee and to discuss matters of import to the Membership.

We are now accepting title submissions for oral presentations and posters. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, research and projects involving botany of Texas and Oklahoma, floristics, plant biogeography, plant ecology, digitization, herbarium management and protocols, educational and outreach activities, and public involvement in herbaria.

Oral presentations will last 15 minutes, with 12 minutes for presentation and 3 minutes for questions. Speakers will be notified of the final schedule ca. August 3rd. Posters should be printed for display within a 4′ x 4′ area, and presenters will be asked to stand by their posters during a dedicated session. Otherwise, posters will be up for display the entire day.

Submit a poster or oral presentation here: https://forms.gle/9GPm7x3dKYVc3nAr8

(deadline: 20 Jul) Extended deadline: 29 Jul

Please stay tuned for further agenda details. Email for questions or comments: herbarium at brit.org

Logistics: 

Lodging: Each attendee will arrange their own lodging. We have negotiated a discounted rate at a local hotel: 15% off discount at Home2Suites by Hilton Fort Worth Cultural District

Hotel: Home2 Suites by Hilton Fort Worth Cultural District, located at 1145 University Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76107

Company Name: Fort Worth Botanic Garden – BRIT

Booking Link: https://www.hilton.com/en/book/reservation/deeplink/?ctyhocn=FTWCDHT&corporateCode=560036084

Food/beverages: tea/coffee breaks will be provided during the conference, but attendees are responsible for their meals. There will be a lunch break during which attendees can pick-up lunch or arrange for delivery; please check back for a list of recommendations.

COVID safety: We very strongly encourage the wearing of masks indoors to protect one another. Keep up to date with current conditions: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker.

We hope you’ll join us at this event, as our community is improved by having the contribution of all your voices!

Best Regards,

TORCH Steering Committee


Past Meetings

August, 2020: TORCH Meeting

October, 2019: iDigBio 2019 Summit

Links to past meeting flyers, workshop materials, progress reports, presentations, and group photos below this list.

  • 2018 -TORCH XI, held at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas on April 14th. The meeting was held in conjunction with the 64th Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Association of Naturalists (SWAN), April 12-15th 2018. The meeting consisted of contributed papers and posters (submitted through SWAN), and a Curators’ Meeting.
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  • 2017 -TORCH X, held at Cameron University, in Lawton, Oklahoma on April 15th. The meeting was held in conjunction with the 64th Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Association of Naturalists (SWAN), April 13-16th 2017. The meeting consisted of contributed papers and posters (submitted through SWAN), and a Curators’ Meeting.
  • 2016 -TORCH IX, held at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas in Fort Worth, TX, on August 13th. The meeting will include the TORCH business meeting/ curators’ meeting, presentations from successful NSF-funded Thematic Coordination Network participants, a presentation about Symbiota portals, and further discussion about seeking support for a regional TORCH portal. There will be the opportunity for attendees to brief the group on changes and updates in their collections.
  • 2014 – TORCH VIII and iDigBio workshop, held at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, TX, May 23-24. The meeting included a field trip to Livermore Ranch (thanks to Will Godwin for organizing this and to our host John Barnett), the TORCH business meeting/ curators’ meeting, a presentation from Cullen Hanks and Jason Singhurst from Texas Parks & Wildlife, and an all-day digitization workshop led by Joanna McCaffrey and Deb Paul from iDigBio, with lightning-round presentations from participants. This workshop has a wiki page on the iDigBio website at https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/TORCH_VIII_%2B_iDigBio_Workshop, where presentations, notes, resources, and recordings of the day are preserved.
  • 2013 – TORCH VII and Saline Prairies Conference, 16-18 May 2013, Jarvis Christian College, Hawkins, Texas. The East Texas Natural History Collection at Jarvis Christian College hosted the Texas Oklahoma Regional Consortium of Herbaria as part of a special conference on the saline prairies of East Texas. The meeting schedule included several speakers and exciting field trips to unusual sites, including the Morton Salt Mine. The meeting announcement can be seen at http://easttexasnaturalhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Salines.
  • 2012 – TORCH VI and Specify 6 Workshop, 17-19 May 2012, OU Biological Field Station on Lake Texoma, Oklahoma. A report on this workshop has been submitted to NSF and is available below, in the list of files. Andy Bentley of the University of Kansas presented two full days of Specify 6 instruction to 18 TORCH members, including 10 curators, one recent graduate, and seven students whose travel was supported by the extension of a grant from the National Science Foundation (award #1055682). Photos from the workshop are posted below in the file list.
  • 2011 – TORCH V, 8-10 April 2011, Junction, Texas. Funding for this workshop was provided by a grant from the National Science Foundation (award #1055682).
    A report on this workshop has been submitted to NSF and is available below, in the list of files. Presentations made available for the TORCH website include “The other half of the elephant: Tools and resources to meet the challenge” by Amanda Neill, Botanical Research Institute of Texas, live on Prezi at http://prezi.com/s_llcorffmzq/the-other-half-of-the-elephant/ and the following with PDF links below: “Consortium of Pacific NW Herbaria” by Ben Legler, University of Washington; “The Specify Software Project and data output interface options” by Andy Bentley, University of Kansas; “Imaging Practices and Priorities in the BRIT Herbarium” by Tiana F. Rehman, BRIT; and “The Apiary Project: A Framework and Workflow for the Extraction and parsing of Herbarium Specimen Data” by Jason Best, BRIT. Visit BRIT’s Facebook page to see the group photo of workshop participants, or view the JPG below.
  • 2010 – TORCH IV @ SWAN, April 2010, Junction, Texas; nested within the annual meeting of the Southwestern Association of Naturalists (SWAN).
  • 2008 – Herbarium Curators/TORCH @ SPNHC 2008, May 2008 on the University of Oklahoma campus, Norman. TORCH III was nested within the annual meeting (13-16 May) of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections and Natural Science Collections Alliance (SPNHC/NSCA).
  • 2007 – TORCH II @ SWAN, April 2007, at Tarleton State University, Stephenville, Texas; nested within the annual meeting of the Southwestern Association of Naturalists (SWAN).
  • 2006 – Inaugural TORCH meeting, 6 May 2006 @ Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), Fort Worth

Documents

TORCH_VI_Program_2012

TORCH_VI_Information+Registration2012

TORCH workshop agenda 2011 final

TORCH_I_Program TORCH_II_Program

TORCHherbaria.TX+OK.July2010

Specify 6 workshop agenda

TORCH2013_ReseachPerformanceProgressReport_Template

TORCH VIII Registration

TORCH_III_Program

TORCH2011_interim report

NSF_TORCH_BRCFinalReportJul2014+photo

TORCH2014_InformationPackage

TORCH2011_Rehman_DigitizationAtBRIT

Legler-TORCH-2011 Specify 6

Apiary-TORCH2011

Group and Workshop Photos