Meetings

Upcoming Meetings

July 9th, 2024: TORCH Meeting in Norman, Oklahoma

Access the Program

The Steering Committee of the Texas Oklahoma Regional Consortium of Herbaria (TORCH) is delighted to welcome registrants to the 2024 annual TORCH meeting on 9 July 2024 hosted by the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. The theme this year is “Carrying the TORCH: The increasing value and importance of herbaria.” Please see our code of conduct here.

This 1-day in-person conference is ideal for professionals, students, and anyone participating in or advocating for collections-based botanical research and conservation, and herbaria. We would especially encourage attendance by individuals associated with herbaria that are involved in the currently funded TORCH digitization grant from the National Science Foundation, as that grant is drawing to a close. Conference highlights will include oral presentations, lightning talks, a poster session, and a business meeting. There will be a half-day no-cost morning field-trip on July 10th; spots are limited so make sure to indicate your interest when completing the registration form. Registration fees for this conference will be $25 for professionals, and $10 for students (fees will be used to cover conference costs such as lunch and coffee breaks). Participants should be prepared to arrange their own lodging and meals outside of the conference session. We hope you’ll join us at this event as our community is improved for having the contribution of all your voices!

Logistics:

The conference will be held Tuesday, 9th of July, starting as early as 8:30am, and concluding as late as 6pm [see updated program above]. The agenda will be shared with registrants and posted to this website as soon as it is finalized.
The meeting will be a single-track event, held in the Dale Hall Tower Building at 441 W Lindsey St., Norman, OK 73019 on the University of Oklahooma campus. Parking passes will be required and carpooling is recommended (further details to registrants).
The optional field trip will be to the Kessler Armospheric and Ecological Field Station on Wednesday, 10th of July (further details to registrants that expressed interest in this).
Accommodations: The following hotels are within a reasonable distance from the conference site (minutes walking from hotel to Dale Hall listed in parentheses):
- NOUN Hotel, Norman: 542 S University Blvd; Norman, OK 73069 (5 minutes)
- La Quinta Inn & Suites: 930 Ed Noble Dr; Norman, OK 73072 (10 minutes)
- Courtyard Norman: 770 Copperfield Drive; Norman, OK 73072 (12 minutes)
- Holiday Inn Express: 2500 Conference Drive; Norman, OK 73069 (15 minutes)
- Comfort Inn and Suites: 840 Copperfield Drive; Norman, OK 73071 (12 minutes)
- Hilton Garden Inn: 700 Copperfield Drive; Norman, OK 73072 (12 minutes)

Most Recent Meeting

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

The 2023 Texas Oklahoma Regional Consortium of Herbaria (TORCH) meeting was scheduled to coincide with the Texas Plant Conservation Conference (TPCC; fwbg.org/tpcc), which was held in Fort Worth, Texas, 14-15 August 2023. The 2023 TORCH business/curator meeting began 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.

Past Meetings

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

2022 – TORCH, held at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden and Botanical Research Institute of Texas on 10 August 2022. The meeting consisted of contrbuted papers and posters, anda Curators’ Meeting. See the 2022 program.
Attendees at the 2022 TORCH Meetings in Fort Worth, Texas
2020 – TORCH August meeting.
2019 – TORCH at the iDigBio 2019 Summit
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.
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