Nominated Awards
Each year, the Landscape Architecture Department nominates students to receive certain awards based on particular criteria. These awards do not have an open application; nominees are voted on by faculty to select a final candidate. Awards include professional scholarships and department honors:
CLASS Fund University Scholarship
Each The California Landscape Architecture Student Scholarship (CLASS) Fund selection criteria includes student financial need, potential success in the profession, academic status, community involvement, and leadership capabilities. CLASS brings together landscape architects, contractors, suppliers, and affiliated members of the green industry for interaction and fellowship while generating operational and endowment funds for scholarships, internships and fellowships at institutions offering curriculums in landscape architecture and industry-related fields of study.
CLASS Fund Memorial Student Scholarship in Honor of Alec Balliet
This scholarship is in memory of Alec Balliet, a graduate from the Cal Poly LA program. It is awarded to a student who most embodies Alec's qualities: zest and a passion for life, highly developed creative skills, willingness to help others, and consistent selflessness and generosity.
LAF Olmsted Scholar Program
The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) Olmsted Scholars Program recognizes and supports students with exceptional leadership potential who are using ideas, influence, communication, service, and leadership to advance sustainable design and foster human and societal benefits.
Named for Frederick Law Olmsted, the LAF Olmsted Scholars Program is the premier leadership recognition program for landscape architecture students. Students are honored for past achievements and recognized for future potential to influence landscape architecture. The program recognizes one outstanding student from each accredited landscape architecture program in the U.S. and Canada, along with jury-selected graduate and undergraduate national award winners and finalists. National undergraduate winners receive a $15,000 prize (graduate winners receive $25,000). Learn more on their website.
CELA Fountain Scholar Program
The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) Fountain Scholar Program is an endowed annual award in recognition and support of Black, Indigenous, and students of color in landscape architecture with exceptional design skills and who use their skills and ideas to influence, communicate, lead, and advance design solutions for contemporary issues in a manner aligned with the original goals of Dr. Charles Fountain.
The CELA Fountain Scholar Program provides a $2,000 scholarship for one graduate or undergraduate landscape architecture student each year. Students are honored for past achievements and recognized for future potential to influence the landscape architecture profession. Learn more on their website.
ASLA Student Honor and Merit Awards
The ASLA Student Honor and Merit Award program, administered through ASLA chapters, recognizes academic achievement, design competence, and interpersonal skills. Faculty nominate senior students in their fifth-year studio to present their capstone projects to a panel of jurors who decide on awards. It is highly recommended that students nominated be Student ASLA members.
LA Department Community Impact Award
This award recognizes students who have contributed to DEI, social justice, community (landscape architecture, Cal Poly, or local), well-being, and leadership in the program. All students in the LARC program are eligible to be nominated by faculty, peers, or self, with a statement of interest. The call for nominations is typically announced in fall for a candidate to be selected in winter; and the recipient is recognized at the Department Scholarships & Awards ceremony in spring.
LA Department Senior Awards (5th Year)
Award for Academic Excellence: recognizes a student (per class) with the highest Cal Poly GPA during their time in the program.
Award for Outstanding Design: recognizes a student (per studio) who consistently exhibits excellence in design studios throughout their time in the program.
Award for Outstanding Design Process: recognizes a student (per studio) for how they research, innovate, and push their design over the course of all five years.
Award for Outstanding Senior Project: recognizes a senior project (per studio) that displays outstanding design and research: method, process, and execution. The capstone instructors nominate projects and faculty make the final selection(s) at the senior show.
Student Golden Eagle Award: intended for members of the fifth-year class to show their appreciation for a classmate that goes beyond what is expected in their day-to-day working relationship and supports others in times of need. Recipients receive $50 (per studio).
