Horticulture professor’s abrupt exit creates uncertainty among students

Dr. Sven Svenson, a professor of horticulture and agribusiness at Southeast Missouri State University, unexpectedly retired less than a month before the fall semester, leaving students and faculty in a state of uncertainty.

In a startling email sent to all his students, Svenson urged them to consider drastic changes, such as transferring to another university or switching majors.

“Two options that remain to you: 1) attend a different university; 2) change majors at SEMO. Another option is to switch to a General Education major, retain horticulture or agriculture as a minor, and then graduate as soon as you have 120 total credit hours. If you leave your major unchanged, I hope the Department of Agriculture and SEMO provide a professional and useful program supporting your success.” Svenson wrote.

Svenson has not responded to any requests for an interview.

The email says that after 16 years in Missouri, Svenson and his wife have decided to move away, with no indication of where they are going or why they are leaving.

On the Monday following Svenson's email, Dr. Tammy Randolph, Interim Chair of the Department of Agriculture and the College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, sent another email reassuring students that their department is safe and they should not change their academic plans.

While the university declined to comment directly on Svenson’s email, Provost Dr. Doug Koch said the university acknowledged his retirement and confirmed that his classes will be given to other professors.

“We have excellent faculty that will be taking over those classes and teaching those courses, and we have plans for that program to continue on and grow and strengthen in the future,” Koch said.

Koch also noted that the university did not approve of Svenson’s email before it was sent and announced plans to assemble a committee to replace him later in the semester.

Many of his students were surprised by Svenson’s sudden retirement, as they had not received any indication of his departure before the email.

Multimedia journalism major Kora Siebert was part of an online class with Svenson this summer. She said Svenson was very active in teaching the online class; however, the day after the class ended, Svenson announced his retirement.

“I had no idea that he was just going to [leave] the very next day after our class ended,” Siebert said.

Meanwhile, many of the horticulture students are left in the dark about why their professor left and the fate of their program.

Senior agribusiness horticulture major and vice president of the horticulture club Trinitie Walker said that because Svenson was so involved with the horticulture program, she felt unsure of what would happen to his many responsibilities.

“I'm worried that the horticulture and cannabis degree path is going to be either separated or it's going to be discontinued because Svenson did a lot. He really did, and he took such care. And if it's not going to be segmented at all, then I can just see it not being the way it used to be. He was involved with a lot. He did [Nemanick Alternative Agriculture Garden] stuff, he taught many different kinds of classes, he got the cannabis part of the degree up and running, and he's the advisor for the [horticulture] club… so I can't see that continuing on with just one person doing it, not in the way that he did,” Walker said.