Administration

Mission & Objectives

The Department of Landscape Architecture provides the highest quality professional educational experience for its students in a unique natural California landscape. With a learning-centered educational approach to Landscape Architecture, students will develop the skills and knowledge needed to make valuable contributions to a changing profession and global society. We prepare our graduates to play active leadership roles in the planning, design and management of numerous aspects and scales of our environment. Faculty commitment to excellence in teaching and to the core values of the profession assists students in developing a holistic approach to the profession of Landscape Architecture while fostering an appreciation for life long learning.

The department has identified the following broad goals in support of our mission:

1. Promote a professional, responsible, humanistic and sustainable approach to Landscape Architecture.

2. Provide contemporary and necessary landscape architectural skills and knowledge to prepare students for a variety of professional roles.

3. Provide our students with a diverse, integrated and learner-centered set of experiences that stimulate and nurture life long learning.

4. Present the landscape architect as a leader and integrator of information from allied disciplines, the arts, technology and the natural and social sciences.

5. Structure an understanding of natural and cultural systems in the context of site, community, urban and regional design, planning and implementation.

6. Support teaching, scholarship and community service opportunities for faculty, staff and students.

Through the efforts of a creative and dedicated faculty and staff, and an innovative curriculum, graduates of the department will be expected to meet the following outcomes:

i) Integrate natural and cultural systems in projects at multiple scales

ii) Incorporate sustainable practices throughout the design, planning and implementation process

iii) Comprehend and demonstrate the relationships among analysis, concept development, design development and implementation

iv) Apply critical thinking and analytical problem solving throughout planning, design and implementation

v) Demonstrate knowledge of theory, history and contemporary practices of landscape architecture

vi) Apply professional communication skills including written, oral, graphic and digital formats

vii) Identify the role of landscape architects in professional interdisciplinary settings

viii) Apply technical skills in site engineering, material explorations and detailing, construction documents, plant materials and planting design

ix) Apply professional standards, ethics and practices in the field of landscape architecture

x) Integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion into landscape architecture related projects