The Plant Press

Departures

MaryAnn Apicelli has worked in the Department of Botany since January 2001, most of the time as an Administration Specialist. Apicelli retired from her position on April 30, 2025. During her 24 years she worked with department chairs John Kress, Warren Wagner, Larry Dorr, Eric Schuettpelz, and Jun Wen. She was an integral part of many aspects of operating the department. She was always extremely helpful, responding quickly and efficiently to many diverse situations. She worked creatively to look for the best solution for each issue. She helped the entire department and was always cheerful and considerate.

Prior to joining the Smithsonian, she worked for over 20 years in medical administration and medical assistance in both the federal and private sector. Her federal work began at the DeWitt Army Community Hospital, Fort Belvoir, Virginia in the Radiology Department as a transcriptionist and later as an administrative support assistant (and frequently as a medical assistant) to the Chairman of the Department of Family Practice Residency Program. She also worked for a private practitioner as a physician liaison, an emergency room physician recruiter, and as a practice manager. With a desire to return to the federal government, she applied to the Smithsonian and was eventually hired into an open position in the Botany administrative office by Kress when he was Chair.

Apicelli is very proud of her time in Botany sharing that her position allowed her to do everything except the science, from calling the plumber to fix a leak, to guiding staff members through the tricky travel system when planning their excursions, to being the point of contact for foreign visitors trying to maneuver through the department and museum, as well as doing the appointment paperwork for fellows, visiting researchers, and contractors. She was the principal liaison for the department chair and meetings and acted for many years as an official timekeeper for the staff. She most enjoyed meeting visitors from all over the world—Myanmar, Brazil, Siberia, China, Japan, Korea, Spain, Venezuela, Mexico, the Caribbean, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Peru, as well as visitors from within the U.S. 

Apicelli said, “I have found it most rewarding to be a part of such important work and to be around such amazing people during my tenure. I am so grateful for such a phenomenal experience as it certainly has been one of the best experiences of my life!”

The Department is grateful to MaryAnn for all that she has contributed to assisting staff, fellows, students, associates, and visitors who have made their way through Botany over the past few decades.

Marilyn Hansel began working for the NMNH Department of Botany in 1987, first as a volunteer, then a contractor, and back to a volunteer. She has worked on various projects for Pedro Acevedo, Aaron Goldberg, the Herbarium Support Unit, and the Biological Diversity of the Guiana Shield (BDG) Program. Hansel says, “It’s been an interesting place to work, and I always feel like I’m learning new things -- and you know, when you stop learning, it’s curtains.” For the BDG Program, she databased and barcoded historical collections from the Guiana Shield region of South America, filing plant specimens in the herbarium, and other plant related jobs. After the end of the BDG Program and the Covid pandemic, she returned to continue working with Acevedo and Carol Kelloff on various collection related projects. In May, Hansel and her husband, John, left Washington, D.C., for their family home in Wisconsin. After over 38 years of working in the Department of Botany we are sad to see them go but happy as they embark on a new adventure.