#  No Desk, No Screens: Class in the Canopy 

 





February 10, 2026

 

 

     ![hand holding a twig on a tree](/sites/g/files/omnuum6811/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/Friedman_Freshman%20Seminar.jpg?itok=RLYRjYUZ) 

 



 

The course is simply titled *Tree*, yet it is anything but simple for Harvard freshman. [FRSEMR52C](https://plantmorphology.org/teaching/) requires no classroom or textbooks. Instead, Professor Ned Friedman — Director of the Arboretum — holds class among the trees. Designed in 2020, the course aims to cultivate a deep, lasting bond between a student and a single tree.

Each student selects one arborescent partner for the semester, from an 80-year-old dawn redwood to species rooted in cultures such as Korea or China. The chosen tree becomes the teacher. Rather than studying trees biology only, students immerse themselves in the tree’s culture and ecological world — reading centuries-old Japanese poems, examining handwritten letters between Charles Darwin and Harvard botanist Asa Gray on plant migration, and engaging with contemporary works like Richard Powers’s “The Overstory.”

By unplugging from electronics and forming a personal bond with one tree, students helped turn the course into a phenomenon so distinctive it was featured in [*The New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/realestate/starting-at-harvard-and-falling-for-your-first-tree.html)*,* where students reflected on the bonds they built with their tree and its world.



 

 

 



 

 See also:- [ Faculty News ](/news-type/faculty-news)
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