Master of
Landscape Architecture The University of Georgia
Ta b l e o f
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Welcome from The Dean 3 Letter from The MLA Coordinator 4 The University of Georgia 6 The Profession of Landscape Architecture 7 The College of Environment & Design 8 The MLA Program 9 Students of Landscape Architecture 11 Preparation 12 MLA Curriculum 13 MLA Tracks 14 Focus Areas for Individual Students 15 Course Descriptions 17 Faculty 21 Publications 26 Financial Information 27 Tuition Waivers and Assistantships 28 Admission to The Program 30 The On-Campus Interview 31 Application Requirements 32 Application Deadlines 33 Application Timetable 34 Application Check List Back Cover
Table of Contents
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letter from the dean
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TO:
Prospective Students
FROM:
John F. Crowley, Dean College of Environment and Design
On behalf of the faculty and staff, welcome to the College of Environment & Design at the University of Georgia. Our College is nationally respected and Georgia is among the top public universities in the country. You have an opportunity to receive an outstanding education here and to take full advantage of many activities beyond the classroom. Environmental Design has a very rich tradition of field studies, visiting lecturers, internships, design studios and studies abroad. Extra-curricular activities at the University and in the community of Athens are unmatched. This handbook has been prepared to assist you in charting your course through our program, and to provide some of the policies and procedures that have been implemented to help make the College run smoothly. It is our goal to provide an outstanding graduate education in Landscape Architecture that will prepare you for a challenging and rewarding professional career. The program here is rigorous, requiring commitment and excellence. We welcome your interest and are available to assist you during the application process in any way that we can. Welcome!
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Georgia welcomes applicants from all over the country and all over the world with all kinds of backgrounds. Admission is highly competitive; Georgia's students are capable, articulate, disciplined and committed. We are prepared to give those with strong liberal arts and other non-design backgrounds a fundamental grounding in landscape architecture, and those with prior landscape architectural degrees further professional development and intellectual content in their work. We must emphasize that completing your application by December 31 is greatly to your advantage. The MLA Admissions Committee begins to review complete applications in late January, and the class is usually full by March. We must also emphasize the importance of an early oncampus interview. Although we do not require interviews for applicants more than a half-day's drive from Athens, information obtained during an on-campus interview is often decisive in a student's choice of a MLA program. If after reading our catalog you have any further questions about our school, please don't hesitate to contact us or to arrange for an on-campus admissions interview.
Allen D. Stovall, FASLA MLA Coordinator, and Professor 706-542-4704 astovall@uga.edu
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Coordinator's letter
G e o r g i a
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U n i v e r s i t y
o f
G e o r g i a
The oldest state-chartered university in the U.S., the University of Georgia encompasses over 32,000 students, together with state-ofthe-art facilities. UGA’s considerable strengths in ecology, geography, natural resource management, and fine arts provide strong interdisciplinary reinforcement to the study of landscape architecture. The campus is located in Athens, some 65 miles northeast of Atlanta. As a center of music, culture and education, Athens has been called the "most enlightened city in Georgia". It is the center of a region where mountain, coastal, and urban landscapes are all within reach. This is one of the fastest-developing region of the country; in this region the skills and insights of landscape architects are in demand to solve urgent problems of land use, environmental protection, and quality of life.
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The university
T h e
Although the profession of landscape architecture is small in terms of numbers of people, it is broad and versatile in application. Its science is founded in cultural and ecological analysis. Its art is to create places that are meaningful. Its ethic is the care of land and the people who live with it.
Profession
the profession
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of
L a n d s c a p e
A r c h i t e c t u r e Landscape architects design communities and environments that aim to be ecologically sound, functionally efficient, and preserve community values. They solve problems of development, protection, and restoration. The land use contexts in which they work range from wilderness to city; the scale ranges from multi-state regions to the design of gardens and courtyards. Employment of landscape architects comes from the private sector, such as consulting firms, development corporations, and mining and forestry companies. It also includes public agencies such as the National Park Service or state and local parks, planning, and environmental agencies. Landscape architects work in cooperation with planners, building architects, engineers, historic preservationists, and natural and social scientists. Job demand and the average salary for graduates of landscape architecture programs have been increasing in recent years. The reasons to pursue landscape architecture are love of the work, and believing you can do some good with it -- if so, then it may be the best thing that ever happened to you. MLA graduates are important to the profession and society. Most of the country's leading practitioners, most of the recent American Society of Landscape Architects presidents, and essentially all of the country's landscape architectural educators hold MLA degrees.
The College of E n v i r o n m e n t & D e s i g n 8
On this large University campus, the College of Environment and Design and the MLA program are small units where people who share their commitment to disciplinary focus and ethic work hard together on a daily basis.
The School's computer labs in Caldwell Hall, Denmark and Broad Street Studio are updated regularly to support classes and projects. The Founders Memorial Garden , adjacent to the School, was constructed as a memorial to those who founded the nation's first garden club here in 1891. Today, Georgia is the largest school of landscape architecture in the United States, with the largest and most complete landscape architectural faculty anywhere. It is the only school with faculty representing a full and balanced spectrum of landscape architecture specializations and viewpoints. Within that spectrum, the School has strengths in the environmental and historic preservation aspects of landscape architecture. Small MLA classes take advantage of the School's considerable resources with personalized instruction and guidance. Each year about 16 new students are selectively admitted to the program.
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the college
The program is based in Denmark Hall (1), with additional facilities in Caldwell Hall (2), Broad Street Studio (3) and the Founders Memorial Garden and House(4) in the University's historic "north campus".
The program is accredited by the American Society of
the mla program
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Program M a s t e r
o f
Landscape Architects.
L a n d s c a p e
The Georgia MLA program aims to assure a basic professional grounding in landscape architecture, to allow individual students to develop special focus areas within the profession, and to stimulate and train them to make lasting contributions to the profession and to society. Here we offer one of the oldest graduate landscape architecture programs in the country, having been initiated in 1954. Among Georgia's MLA alumni are Presidents and Fellows of the American Society of Landscape Architects, repeat winners of national design competitions, heads of prestigious university departments, senior editors of national journals, leaders of the National Park Service and other public institutions, most of the designers of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic venues, and leading practitioners all over the world. Georgia provides landscape architecture education that is distinctively broad and adaptable to the interests of individual students. Georgia employs its considerable resources and studentdefined research to develop the unique professional roles of
A r c h i t e c t u r e
individual students, and to produce graduates who can use the powers of scholarship, design and communication to discover and advocate superior solutions to landscape problems. The largest full-time landscape architecture faculty in the country creates a well rounded MLA program. All specializations within landscape architecture are represented here. Dialogs among competing viewpoints frequently occur. In this large, diverse, and active school, small graduate classes are supportive of intellectual and social debates. This is a good program for students who have the self-motivation and selfdirection to explore alternative viewpoints, to define for themselves what their roles in the profession will be, and to seek out the specific resources that contribute most directly to those roles. Different students are tracked through 3-, 2- or 1-year programs depending on their educational and professional backgrounds. Students in the three-year track add to a solid liberal arts background with their first professional degree. A
Students are tracked through 3-, 2- or 1-year programs depending on their educational and professional backgrounds.
practitioners, and to make real contributions to the field.
Careful advisement is essential to effective individual discovery and planning of a course of study. The MLA Coordinator meets with each student every semester to review the prospective course of study. Selected professors suggest further refinements in the course of study and give direction toward elective courses, additional readings, and conception of a thesis. In turn, the program demands of each student self-definition and self-motivation, for choosing a coherent combination of electives, orderly initiation and timely completion of thesis, and preparation for specific types of roles in practice.
Each summer the School of Environmental Design offers study abroad programs. Foremost is our long-standing program in cooperation with UGA’s School of Art in Cortona, Italy, a Tuscan hill town located 1 1/2 hours from Florence and mostly removed from the flow of tourists. For those students seeking an experience in Central America, programs offered by our School in association with the Institute of Ecology, at UGA’s 162 acre San Luis site in the cloud forest region of Costa Rica. In recent years SED students have also participated in UGA study abroad programs in Ghana, Germany, and England.
In the concluding written thesis, students learn to utilize the latest published literature, rigorous design, and evaluation skill to develop new and valid solutions to landscape problems. The approaches of some theses are artistic, some are scientific, some are historical, and some are theoretical. All respond to contemporary needs. This exercise trains students to address open-ended questions of the types posed to advanced
Programs and events in all parts of the University campus support growth in landscape architecture. A series of endowed lectures brings distinguished practitioners of landscape architecture, architecture and historic preservation for major lectures and extended meetings with students. The Red Clay Conference is an annual environmental law conference, held each spring in the law school's facilities adjacent to the School of Environmental Design. Seminars and lectures in environmental ethics, ecology, and the humanities are held yearround. UGA has been home to the first American conference on landscape ecology, two annual conferences of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, and the first two international conferences on environmental ethics.
Summer Abroad Study
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the mla program
structured series of initial courses directs these students to acquire professional fundamentals in a systematic way. These students also experience the breadth of specialties and viewpoints within the profession and related fields through their exposure to the school's numerous faculty, the school's numerous professional speakers, and active interdisciplinary connections. Seminar courses introduce theory as a tool to penetrate practical problems and to question conventional design assumptions and other rules of thumb. Students with prior degrees in landscape architecture or architecture enter Georgia's 2-year or 1-year track, seeking further professional development and intellectual content in their work. All advanced students define their individual roles in the profession by taking elective courses and identifying specific faculty for focused study. In the final year of study, when all students are working on specialized courses and individual research, students who discovered landscape architecture only a few years before often work side-by-side with licensed practitioners with 10 years or more of professional experience.
Georgia has traditionally been particularly attractive to those who want to emphasize the environmental or historic preservation aspects of landscape architecture, those who wish to take advantage of the professional self-direction implicit in Georgia's program, and those who simply wish to participate in a school with a solid, long-standing professional reputation.
Students of
the mla students
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Landscape Architecture Georgia's MLA students come from all types of backgrounds, bringing unique viewpoints and powerful skills. They come from all over the country and all over the world.
All Georgia students are academically excellent as a result of selection for admission from a large pool of applicants. Georgia's MLA students have received Honor/Merit Awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects for their work in design, research and communication; published the results of their theses in national professional journals; and been cited biographically in Who's Who Among American College and University Students. Essentially all students enter in the fall semester and stay together as a class through the sequence of courses. The numbers of men and women are usually about equal. Students and professors are all on a first-name basis. Team design projects are common. Through their shared commitment and experience, classmates tend to get to know each other very well, and to support and stimulate each other's learning. Most of the students participate in the three-year track, coming to landscape architecture from a liberal arts background. Their college majors were in every field from biology to business to religion. Some three-year students come to the MLA with one or two years' experience as a preprofessional intern in landscape architecture offices. Some come with prior graduate degrees in fields such as ecology or planning. With their diverse backgrounds and independent viewpoints, they converge upon their common interests in landscape architecture. The students' diversity stimulates the learning experience of the program, but emphasizes the importance of the early, basic professional courses for students entering landscape architecture for the first time.
Our graduates not only learn basic facts and skills; they prepare to make lasting contributions to the profession, the environment, and society.
Students with prior professional design degrees enter Georgia's 2-year and 1-year tracks, where they join the 3-year students in their second and third years of study. These students are seeking further professional development and intellectual content in their work. Georgia's MLA students not only learn basic facts and skills; they prepare to make lasting contributions to the profession, the environment, and society.
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for the study of Landscape Architecture
Landscape, environment, and quality of life: Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture Robert D. Bullard, Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities of Color Tony Hiss, Experience of Place James Howard Kunstler, The Geography of Nowhere Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac Ian L. McHarg, Design with Nature William Murtaugh, Keeping Time Michael Pollan, Second Nature James Rose, Gardens Make Me Laugh Ann Whiston Spirn, The Granite Garden, Urban Nature and Human Design William H. Whyte, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Examples of region-specific environments and issues: [Add publications about your own region to these examples]
Henry M. Caudill, Night Comes to the Cumberlands Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, The Everglades, River of Grass Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert, the American West and Its Disappearing Water Janice Ray, Ecology of a Cracker Childhood Journals:
American Forests Architectural Record Historic Preservation Landscape Architecture Landscape Journal Restoration and Management Notes Urban Land
All students can prepare best for advanced training in landscape architecture by obtaining balanced liberal educations encompassing both the arts and the sciences and ensuring ability in oral and written communication. Students without prior design backgrounds should test their commitment to landscape architecture and obtain preliminary training by taking courses at colleges, technical schools, botanical gardens, architectural centers or nature centers in fine art, design, plant identification, horticulture, environmental issues, or CAD. They should visit the offices of local practitioners, to see the kind of work being done and the kind of people who are doing it - ask them what their background was for their work, and what they would advise. They should take a preliminary drawing course at a community college or a local continuing education center - the purpose is to introduce them to the "courage to put pencil to paper" that is needed to perform creative design tasks and to continue studying design graphics productively at the graduate level. All students should request information from a number of MLA programs around the country. The various programs present landscape architecture to their students in different ways and with distinctive emphases. Georgia is concerned that every student end up at the right program to meet their individual needs and expectations.
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Preparation for mla
All students should read at least some of the following publications, or ones like them, before entering Georgia's MLA program. They are preliminary to landscape architecture: they deal more with values and perceptions than with techniques. Some of them may be out of print and available only in libraries, not bookstores; that does not reduce their value to you as background to landscape architecture.
Georgia seeks students who are academically capable, who know what to expect from graduate study in landscape architecture, who are prepared to be committed and productive when they get here, and who have the self-discipline to focus on, analyze, and evaluate advanced landscape architecture problems.
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georgia curriculum
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The MLA curriculum balances basic instruction in broad, necessary professional skills with independent, specialized focus and development. Each semester is dominated by a central studio course. Clustered around the studio are supporting lecture and seminar courses in construction, ecology, theory, and elective subjects. The progression of courses assures confidence in the grasp of necessary professional skills, thorough exercise in design applications, and synthesis of material from different courses.
Tracks to the MLA Applicants without the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (or other professional landscape architecture or architecture degree) enter the threeyear track. Certain three-year students are exempt from some early courses as a result of their previous study; Students are these students can begin their tracked through study in focused elective courses 3-, 2- or 1-year early. Students with MCP or programs other related graduate depending on professional degrees may be their educational exempted from a limited number and professional of elective courses. All course backgrounds. exemptions are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
All students begin their studies in the fall semester.
Applicants holding the BLA (or other professional landscape architecture or architecture degree) enter directly into the second year of study.
Applicants holding the BLA degree with 10 or more years experience in responsible professional positions enter directly into the third year, accelerating their study into a one-year program emphasizing specialization. All students begin their studies in the fall semester.
With their diverse backgrounds and independent viewpoints, Georgia’s MLA candidates converge upon their common interest in landscape architecture. This diversity stimulates the learning experience of the program while emphasizing the importance of a basic landscape architecture curriculum.
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Year 2
Fall
LAND 6010 LAND 6210 LAND 6310 EDES 6550
Landscape Studio Representation I Ecology History of the Built Environment I
Spring
LAND 6020 LAND 6220 LAND 6320 LAND 6340 EDES 6520
Garden Studio Representation II Plant Materials Landscape Engineering History of the Built Environment II
Fall
LAND 6030 EDES 6530 LAND 6330
Sustainability Studio Ideas of Nature Landscape Construction Elective
LAND 6030 EDES 6530
Sustainability Studio Ideas of Nature Landscape Construction Elective
Spring
LAND 6040 EDES 6540 LAND 6710 EDES 6900
Community Studio Ideas of Community Professional Practice Research Strategies Elective
LAND 6040 EDES 6540
Community Studio Ideas of Community Elective Research Strategies Elective
Summer
Year 3
2-Year track
EDES 6900
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Fall
LAND 7050 EDES 7350 EDES 7550
Place Studio Landscape Management Values in Design Elective
LAND 7050 EDES 7350 EDES 7550
Place Studio Landscape Management Values in Design ElectiveDES 7350 EDES 7550
EDES 6900 LAND 7050 EDES 7350 EDES 7550
Research Strategies Place Studio Landscape Management Values in Design ElectiveDES 7350 EDES 7550
Spring
LAND 7300
Thesis Elective
LAND 7300
Thesis Elective
LAND 7300
Thesis Elective Elective
Applicants without the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (or other professional landscape architecture or architecture degree) enter the three-year track.
Applicants holding the BLA (or other professional landscape architecture or architecture degree) enter directly into the second year of study.
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1-Year track
Elective Internship
Elective Internship
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mla tracks
Year 1
3-Year track
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Applicants holding the BLA degree with 10 or more years experience in responsible professional positions enter directly into the third year.
focus areas
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Individual Georgia students envision their roles in landscape architecture based on their unique backgrounds, expectations, and motivations. Specific areas for focused study are associated with fields of practice, work styles, employment opportunities, ethical imperatives, and measures of professional success.
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Preservation Studies: This is the certificate arm of the school's historic preservation program. For information contact MHP Coordinator, School of Environmental Design, 609 Caldwell Hall, University of Georgia, Athens GA 30602, (706) 542-4720. Conservation and Sustainable Development: This program enhances decision-making skills in conservation and development, which involve both ecological and social issues. Several landscape architectural professors serve on the interdisciplinary faculty. For information contact Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development Certificate Program, Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens GA 30602, (706) 542-2968. Environmental Ethics: Environmental ethics attempts to guide environmental decisions involving competing values. Several landscape architectural professors serve on the interdisciplinary faculty. For information contact Environmental Ethics Certificate Program, Founders Garden House, 325 S. Lumpkin Street, University of Georgia, Athens GA 30602, (706) 542-0935. Geographic Information Science: Required GIS courses in the Geography Department are supplemented by cartography, statistics, and remote sensing. For information contact Department of Geography, 204 GGS, University of Georgia, Athens GA 30602, (706) 542-2345.
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for individual students
Students develop their focus during the progression of MLA courses, selection of elective courses, and definition of thesis ideas. Required MLA courses round out their understanding of and appreciation for the whole organism of landscape architecture.
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Advisement by the MLA Coordinator and selected faculty is frequent and careful. Categories are used during advisement to help students’ awareness of the options available and to identify the courses, faculty and outside reading that can help develop those options:
focus areas
The following certificate programs have been attractive to MLA students in the past:
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Computer applications Ecological restoration + natural resource management Garden design and plant management General landscape design Golf course design Historic landscape preservation Human design and community participation Land development Landscape history and criticism Recreation and open space design Rural planning and preservation Urban design and planning
Some students fall squarely into one of these categories; others do not. Alternative elective courses may be selected; components of different areas may be mixed. Ultimately, with advisement and exploration of detailed resources, each student participates in developing an individually defined track. Some focus areas are associated with interdisciplinary graduate certificate programs. A certificate program is a way to organize, set goals for, and acquire certain skills, and to document your achievement. MLA students are free to take some or all of any program's courses within the elective portion of the MLA curriculum. However, careful planning is necessary to allow completing all of a certificate's requirements without prolonging a student's course of study.
3 year track required course descriptions
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C o u r s e s
r e q u i r e d
f o r
3 - y e a r
M L A
s t u d e n t s
o n l y
These courses are also available as electives for students in the 2-year and 1-year tracks
LAND 6010
Landscape Studio
4 credits
Introduction to design - projects demand a wide range of approaches
LAND 6020
Garden Studio
4 credits
Landscape design using the garden as the central metaphor in a variety of societal and environmental contexts
LAND 6210
Representation 1
3 credits
Introduction to manual and computer drawing, drafting, and image processing
LAND 6220
Representation 2
3 credits
Advanced drawing, drafting, presentation graphics, CAD, image processing, and their applications in practice
LAND 6310
Ecology
3 credits
Introduction to the interaction of landforms, geology, hydrology, soils, and biota in the formation and processes of landscapes
LAND 6320
Plant Materials
3 credits
History and ecology of garden plants and their applications in different cultures
LAND 6330
Landscape Engineering 3 credits
The design and specification of grading, drainage, and street alignment
LAND 6340
Landscape Construction 3 credits
The design and specification of streets, pavements, structures, and irrigation
EDES 6550
History of the Built Environment I
3 credits
History of gardens, architecture and town planning from Antiquity to the Renaissance
EDES 65600
History of the Built Environment II
3 credits
History from Renaissance to the post-modern era
LAND 6710
Professional Practice
2 credits
Professional landscape architecture licensure, office management, client relations, and ethics
2 + 3 year track required c o u r s e s
r e q u i r e d a r e
a l s o
f o r
a v a i l a b l e
2 a s
a n d
3 - y e a r
e l e c t i v e s
f o r
M L A
s t u d e n t s
i n
t h e
s t u d e n t s 1 - y e a r
t r a c k .
LAND 6030
Sustainability Studio
4 credits
Landscape design based on the issue of sustainability and the importance of natural systems
LAND 6040
Community Studio
4 credits
Landscape design based on the issue of community and the importance of social and cultural systems
EDES 6530
Ideas of Nature
2 credits
Nature as an archetypal concept throughout history, with implications for environmental sciences, design arts, and humanities
EDES 6540
Ideas of Community
2 credits
Relationship between the idea of community and the environments that are designed to foster personal and societal commitment
All MLA students required C o u r s e s T h e s e
c o u r s e s
r e q u i r e d
a r e
a l s o
a v a i l a b l e
a s
f o r
a l l
e l e c t i v e s
f o r
M L A s t u d e n t s
s t u d e n t s i n
t h e
1 - y e a r
t r a c k .
EDES 6900
Research Strategies
1 credit
Alternative materials and methods necessary for individual design research, including the development of a thesis proposal
LAND 7050
Place Studio
4 credits
Landscape design based on the issue of significance of place, including alternative interpretations in a variety of contexts
EDES 7350
Landscape Management 3 credits
Landscape management techniques based on values of environmental conservation and historic preservation
EDES 7550
Values in Environmental 2 credits Design
The societal values that attach cultural significance to some places and not others, and their relevance to design form
LAND 7300
MLA Thesis
An inquiry into a selected landscape architectural issue, maintained by research findings and supporting an application in design
9 credits
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course descriptions
C o u r s e s T h e s e
elective courses course descriptions
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Elective courses in the School of Environmental Design Additional courses available as electives for students in the 2-year and 1-year tracks are listed on the previous page.
EDES 6620
Evolution of American Architecture
EDES 6640
History of Urban Planning 3 credits
Major movements and monuments in urban planning history, from ancient times to the present
EDES 6650
City Planning
Planning and regulatory processes and techniques used to achieve urban community goals
EDES 6660
Environment and Behavior 2 credits
Interactions between people and their physical environments, and implications for design for specific populations and places
LAND 6400
Plant Communities of the 3 credits Southeast
Botanical and design characteristics of native plant communities, and their ecological controls
LAND 6700
Landscape Architecture Internship
Professional office and field experience. A minimum of two months full-time supervised employment is required
LAND 6800
Field Study in 3 credits Contemporary Landscape
Field observation of significant landscape architectural firms, individuals and projects
LAND 6910 LAND 6911 LAND 6912
Directed Independent Projects
1-6 credits
Special study or project to pursue research interests or significant applications, under the direction of faculty
HIPR 6000
Introduction to Historic Preservation
3 credits
Survey of historic preservation theory and practice, and its relationship to the concept of environmental quality
HIPR 6350
Building Materials Conservation
3 credits
Introduction to restoration and rehabilitation practice, including structural systems, materials, and moisture problems
HIPR 6150
Rural Preservation
3 credits
Survey of rural landscape evolution, aesthetic values, preservation problems, preservation resources, and open space planning
HIPR 6320
Historic Resource Documentation
3 credits
Graphic and photographic techniques of documenting historic resources at basic and archival levels
HIPR 6600
Design Guidelines in Historic Districts
3 credits
Evaluation of character of change in historic districts, and development of design guidelines
3 credits
2 credits
3 credits
Survey of American architecture, including both the built forms and the intellectual and social currents that influence them
other electives
O t h e r
s e l e c t e d
c o u r s e s
a v a i l a b l e
a s
e l e c t i v e s
M L A s t u d e n ts a r e f r e e t o ta k e a n y c o u r s e o n t h e G e o r g i a c a m p u s t h a t f i ts l o g i c a l l y i n t o t h e i r i n d i v i d u a l p r o f e s s i o n a l d e v e l o p m e n t . M L A s t u d e n ts m a y a l s o t r a n s f e r f r o m o t h e r u n i v e r s i t i e s a l i m i t e d n u m b e r o f g r a d u a t e e l e c t i v e c r e d i ts t h a t h a v e n o t b e e n c o u n t e d t o w a r d other degrees.
course descriptions
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Faculty School
of
Environmental
Mary Anne Akers
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faculty @ georgia
William E. Beery
Wayde Brown
Jose R. Buitrago
Pratt Cassity
Gregg A. Coyle
Marianne Cramer
John F. Crowley
Design
Mary Anne Alabanza Akers, Associate Professor, teaches city planning, environment and behavior, and community development. She coordinates community-based revitalization initiatives in economically distressed urban areas. BA and MA, University of the Philippines, Ph.D in urban planning, Michigan State. William E. Beery, Associate Professor Emeritus, teaches professional practice. Recently published Business Law for Landscape Architects. His landscape drawings have been published by the University. BSLA, MLA Michigan State.
Wayde Brown, Assistant Professor, teaches cultural resources, preservation planning studio, advocacy, and resource documentation. He has worked in architectural offices in Canada and Lesotho (Africa), and for public preservation agencies including Parks Canada and the Nova Scotia Museum. BEnvDes, BArch, Dalhousie, MA (Arch Conservation), York, UK. Jose R. Buitrago, Assistant Professor, has worked in private practice with design and restoration work in the U.S., Barbados and Puerto Rico. His interest is in native Flora of the Caribbean Basin. BLA Pennsylvania, MLA Harvard.
Pratt Cassity, Director of Public Service and Outreach, teaches and works in preservation and community planning throughout the U.S., Europe and west Africa. Executive Advisor to the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions. BS Mississippi State University, MS Georgia State.
Gregg A. Coyle, Associate Professor, director of undergraduate internships, teaches plant taxonomy and graphic communication. BFA Peru State College, MLA Iowa State.
Marianne Cramer, Associate Professor, teaches design and construction studios, contemporary landscape design theory, and landscape management. As chief planner for New York City’s Central Park, she co-authored Rebuilding Central Park, A Management and Restoration Plan. BA biology, Thiel College, MLA UGA. John F. Crowley, Professor and Dean, has expertise in urban design, planning and development, transportation, commercial and mixed use real estate, and public private partnerships. He was director of State DOTs, corporate real estate and regional planning commissions. PhD urban geography and hydrology, University of Oklahoma.
Joseph Disponzio
Joseph Disponzio, Associate Professor, teaches history of the built environment, research strategies, and reading the landscape. His research interests focus on the origins and history of landscape architecture and on the meaning and implications of human intervention in the landscape. MLA University of Virginia, PhD. Columbia.
Bruce K. Ferguson
Bruce K. Ferguson, Professor and Director, School of Environmental Design, teaches environmental analysis, sustainable design and landscape construction. He has participated in irrigation conservation work on the White House lawn and watershed restoration projects across the country. BA Dartmouth, MLA Pennsylvania.
Ian J. W. Firth
Georgia Harrison
MaryCarol Hunter
Marguerite Koepke
Brian J. LaHaie
William A. Mann
Ian J. W. Firth, FASLA, Professor, teaches design studios and courses in reading/preserving cultural landscapes. He advises the National Park Service and other bodies on cultural landscape preservation. MA Oxford, MPhil London, Dip LA Edinburgh.
Georgia Harrison, Assistant Professor, teaches courses in design, engineering, construction, graphics and planting design. She is focusing her research on the work of landscape architectural modernists in the southeast, including a study of Robert Marvin. BS University of Memphis, MLA University of Virginia. MaryCarol Hunter, Assistant Professor, teaches applied landscape ecology, urban design and site planning. Her research interests focus on merging artistic design with green engineering practices. MLA- University of Georgia, PhD Ecology- SUNY, Stony Brook, BA Zoology- University of California, Berkeley
Marguerite Koepke, Associate Professor, teaches design, planting design, therapeutic landscape design, and digital publishing/portfolio development. She directs the Governor's Teaching Fellows, a statewide faculty development and instructional technology program. BSLA Iowa State, MLA Kansas State. Brian J. LaHaie, Associate Professor, teaches design, construction, and environmental planning. Brian is a registered landscape architect and continues a small practice emphasizing native landscapes, ecosystem restoration and environmental interpretation. MLA University of Illinois. William A. Mann, Professor, teaches landscape history and site planning, hand and computer graphics. He is the author of Landscape Architecture: An Illustrated History in Timelines, Site Plans and Biography. BSLA Michigan State, MLA Harvard.
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faculty @ georgia
Kwesi DeGraft-Hanson
Kwesi DeGraft-Hanson, Assistant Professor, teaches landscape planning, design and construction while researching paving materials and irrigation methods. BA University of Ghana, MLA Georgia.
Hank Methvin
Roger D. Moore 23
faculty @ georgia
Darrel G. Morrison
David Nichols
William L. Ramsey
James K. Reap
Mark Reinberger
Fausto Sarmiento
Ronald B. Sawhill
Hank Methvin, Assistant Professor, teaches urban design and architecture studios. Hank has worked as an architect and urban designer for many years. His research explores alternative ways of studying urban environments. BA North Carolina, M.Arch. Georgia Tech, Urban Design student at Harvard. Roger D. Moore, FASLA, Associate Professor, teaches computer graphics applications, environmental analysis and project development. Honored with the Outstanding Educator Award from the CELA among other awards. BFA Illinois, MLAUD Harvard. Darrel G. Morrison, FASLA, Professor and Dean Emeritus, teaches native plant communities of the Southeast, ecologicallybased design, and landscape restoration. He received the CELA Outstanding Educator Award from the American Horticultural Society's Teaching Award. BSLA Iowa State, MSLA Wisconsin. David Nichols, Associate Professor, teaches plant materials, landscape engineering, and site planning and construction. He recently oversaw an award-winning development of land development provisions to protect urban runoff quality. BS Tennessee, MLA Louisiana State. William L. Ramsey, Jr., Associate Professor, teaches site planning and site engineering studio. Active in real estate, he is planning commissioner in Oconee County. He is a recipient of the CELA Award of Distinction. BLA Georgia, MLA Harvard.
James K. Reap, Public Service Associate, teaches introduction to historic preservation, preservation law, and international issues in heritage conservation. He conducts training for historic preservation commissions and is active in ICOMOS. A.B. Univeristy of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and J.D., University of Georgia. Mark Reinberger, Associate Professor, teaches architectural history and preservation planning. He writes on early American architecture, decorative arts, American city planning, and has practiced preservation for 25 years. BA Virginia, MA and PhD Cornell. Fausto Sarmiento is Director of the Office of International Education and graduate faculty in the Department of Geography and the Institute of Ecology. His research focuses on restoration of neotropical montane landscapes. BS, Catholic University of Ecuador, MS, The Ohio State University, Ph.D, Georgia. Ronald B. Sawhill, Assistant Professor, teaches both graduate and undergraduate design studios, construction, engineering and planting design. He has practiced landscape architecture since 1980 and is registered professionally in Georgia and South Carolina. BLA Georgia, MLA Georgia.
RenĂŠ D. Shoemaker
David Spooner
RenĂŠ D. Shoemaker, Director, Owens Library and Gallery, is librarian for the College and oversees library galleries, archives and slide collections. As a fiber-artist, she exhibits in the southeast. BA UGA, MLIS USC.
David Spooner, Assistant Professor, teaches Urban Design Studio, Planting Design, and Construction Methods and Application. His research focus is centered on the relationship between physical form and human behavior. BS Horticulture, NC State, MLA, Georgia.
Allen Stovall
R. Alfred Vick
Judith Wasserman
John C. Waters
E. Neal Weatherly
Scott Weinberg
Richard Westmacott
R. Alfred Vick, Assistant Professor, teaches applied ecology, reading the landscape and design studio. He specializes in storm water management, stream restoration, native planting design, sustainable landscape design/construction and landscape ecology. BS Illinois, MLA Georgia. Judith Wasserman, Assistant Professor, teaches urban design theory and design studio. She has published articles on meaning and place in Landscape Journal and Design/Builder. BA, MLA and MRP Cornell University, Certificate of Horticulture, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. John C. Waters, Associate Professor, MHP Coordinator, is the author of Maintaining a Sense of Place: A Citizen's Guide to Historic Preservation. He teaches preservation planning, cultural resource assessment, and landscape conservation. BLA and MLA Georgia. Neal Weatherly, FASLA, Associate Professor, teaches planting design, and plant materials. He coordinates the Georgia LARE Review. Authored or co-authored 18 Extension publications. BLA, MLA Georgia.
Scott S. Weinberg, FASLA, Associate Dean, Professor and BLA Coordinator, teaches in both design and engineering. He has coedited two construction series books for the Landscape Architecture Foundation and is the computer editor for The Landscape Architect and Specifier News. BLA, MLA Iowa State. Richard Westmacott, Professor Emeritus, teaches rural conservation and landscape engineering. He is the author of Gardens and Yards of African-Americans in the Rural South, and co-author of New Agricultural Landscapes: for England's Countryside Commission. BS Reading (England), MLA Pennsylvania.
faculty @ georgia
24 Allen Stovall, FASLA, Professor, MLA Coordinator, is author of The Sautee and Nacoochee Valleys-A Preservation Study. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, teaching natural and cultural landscape analysis and planning. BLA Georgia, MLA Pennsylvania.
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Publications b y l a n d s c a p e a r c h i t e c t u r e f a c u l t y, s t u d e n t s , & a l u m n i Akers, Mary Anne Alabanza. "Perceptions of Crowding in Lowincome Housing: The Case of a Philippine Mining Community," in Eniseiskii Architectural Book- Volume 2, Syrikov, 2000. Cassity, Pratt. Information: Maintaining Community Character: How to Establish a Local Historic District. Washington, D.C.: National Trust for Historic Preservation. 1992. Updated and Reprinted 2001. Coyle, Gregg. Review of "Sustainable Landscape Construction: A Guide to Green Buildings Outdoors" by J. William Thompson and Kim Sorvig in Landscape and Urban Planning Journal, Elsevier Science, 806. 2001. Ferguson, Bruce K. (Report) Re-Evaluating Stormwater: the Nine Mine Run Model for Restorative Redevelopment. Snowmass, Colorado: Rocky Mountain Institute ( with Richard Pinkham and Tim Collins). 1999 Firth, Ian. " Reading the Landscape- The Blue Ridge Parkway Historic Resource Study" Historic Landscape Resource Manual, Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation, Madison, Wisconsin. 1999 Firth, Ian J.W., Vegetation Management in Historic Landscapes in the United States and Britain, in International Federation of Landscape Architects Yearbook 1989. Fisher, Kathleen, Class Act, American Gardener vol. 77, no. 1, p. 2227, 1998 [on the philosophy and teaching of Professor Darrel Morrison]. Griswold. Mac, Georgia On His Mind, Garden Design June/July 1998 [on the residential garden of Professor Richard Westmacott]. Koepke, Marguerite L. "Portfolio Development: Multimedia Presentations for Designers," in Teaching with Technology, Seventy-five Professors from Eight Universities Tell Their Stories, by David G. Brown, Anker Publishing Co., Inc. July 2000 Morris, Philip A., Village Idiom, Landscape Architecture vol. 87, no. 2, p. 34-41, 1997 [on the work of Nimrod Long '78]. School of Environmental Design, 1998, A Watershed Event, Landscape Architecture vol. 88, no. 11, p. 58 [on the awardwinning work of the school in urban watershed protection] Wasserman, Judith, 1998, To Trace the Shifting Sands: Community, Ritual, and the Memorial Landscape, Landscape Journal vol. 17, no. 1, p. 42-61. Wasserman, Judith, "Monuments and the Landscape," in Designer/Builder: A Journal of the Human Environment, VI(8): 11-19. Fall 1999.
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sampling literature
A sampling of Georgia literature: The following is a small sample of recent publications by or about Georgia faculty, students and alumni, in addition to the books cited in faculty biographical sketches. Reading some of these will help you understand the kind of thinking individual Georgia practitioners are doing, and the kinds of contributions that can come out of a Georgia training.
Financial information Master of Landscape Architecture
financial information
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S c h o l a r s h i p s
a n d
F e l l o w s h i p s
Internal Awards
External Awards
In the second and third years of the MLA program, Georgia students are eligible for scholarships and fellowships that are funded by gifts, and administered by or with the School of Environmental Design for the exclusive benefit of Georgia students. These programs support various combinations of tuition, travel (ordinarily on the school's summer abroad program), and individual research. Examples of funding organizations area:
Georgia MLA students are eligible for, and are traditionally successful in obtaining, scholarships, fellowships, and postgraduate internships from additional organizations outside of the SED.
ERDAS (Earth Resources Data Analysis Systems), Inc. (for students interested in computer technology) Garden Club of Georgia Georgia Planning Association (Ron Davidson Scholarship) Patricia Roberts Harris Fellowship Program (for students from traditionally underrepresented groups) Peachtree Garden Club (various Neel Reid scholarships)
Cullowhee Conference on Landscaping with Native Plants (for students attending the conference) Florida Federation of Garden Clubs (for students from Florida) Fulbright Foundation (for students from overseas) International Council on Monuments and Sites Garden Club of America (for students from overseas) Landscape Architecture Foundation Longwood Gardens Sigma Lambda Alpha
School of Environmental Design Alumni Association University of Georgia Foundation (various named scholarships earmarked for SED)
Georgia's graduate assistants serve as student employees of the university while continuing their studies. The work of assigned students is overseen by individual faculty members. Students with assistantships have waived tuition and receive a stipend. MLA assistantships are assigned by the MLA Coordinator, based on funding from the School of Environmental Design, the University's Graduate School, and outside granting agencies. The criteria for assigning assistantships to students are academic standing; satisfactory completion of previous assistantship tasks; equitable distribution among all students and all benefiting faculty; and matching of individual students' skills to specific tasks needed by the school in teaching, research and administration. The criterion of equitable distribution gives some preference to students paying out-of-state tuition. Assignments are made on an annual or semester basis, in the spring for the following year. Students who are assigned assistantships are mostly in the second and third years of the program. At this time the students have acquired basic landscape architectural training that gives them value as assistants, and the school is aware, through firsthand experience, of the specific skills that students could bring to assistantship work. Most MLA students end up with 1 or 2 semesters of assistantship in their second year, and usually a semester in their third year. Also in the second year, students are eligible to apply for various scholarships, which are described on the previous page. In the first year of the three-year track, almost no students are assigned assistantships. Almost all students should expect to concentrate on their first-year courses without assistantships. The exception is students to whom the Graduate School awards "university-wide" assistantships. The Graduate School selects these assistants, based on academic merit and other criteria, from among those students whose applications were complete by December 31 and who were admitted in the first meeting of the MLA Admissions Committee. The competition for these positions is keen; at most only 2-3 entering MLA students per year obtain such awards. Candidates do not submit special applications for universitywide positions; the Graduate School makes the selection from within the pool of admitted entering students, supported by program coordinators.
For residents of some southeastern states other than Georgia, Georgia's MLA program is considered a unique program under the Southeastern Academic Common Market. Residents of participating states who are admitted to the MLA program and who are approved by their state coordinators may enroll here on an in-state tuition basis. Residents of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, South Carolina and Tennessee may be specifically eligible. For information contact the university's Graduate School at (706) 542-4795, or the Southern Regional Education Board at 1340 Spring Street, N.W., Atlanta, GA 30309, or the State Commissioner of Higher Education in your home state. For residents of other states, the university's Graduate School assigns regents' out-of-state tuition waivers to a limited number of highly qualified admitted students based on academic merit and other criteria. Georgia residency status, with the associated in-state tuition, may be available to students who move to Georgia from other states, who have been at the university for a year or more, and who comply strictly with University System requirements. These provisions are listed in the university's Graduate Bulletin.
Georgia's tuition, fees and estimated expenses are listed in the university's Graduate School Bulletin (http://graduate.gradsch.uga.edu). Need-based financial aid such as student loans is available through the University's Office of Student Financial Aid, 220 Academic Building, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-6114, (706) 542-6147. The programs listed above may affect students' financial status in other ways.
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financial information
Tuition Waivers and Graduate Assistantships
29
Admission
to
the
program
30
Competition for admission to Georgia's MLA program is very keen. In recent years there have been up to 100 applications for the 14 to 16 positions in each entering class. The school seeks applicants who are academically capable of studying landscape architecture at an advanced level, and who understand and sympathize with what landscape architecture is and the kinds of demands that will be made upon them. In its evaluation of applicants, the MLA Admissions Committee attempts to reach a full and balanced understanding of each applicant.
admission criteria
Admission criteria
Because of the different combinations of strengths that individual candidates offer, there are no fixed quantitative standards that guarantee admission or rejection. However the following characteristics of admitted students can be interpreted from admissions decisions in recent years. The average total GRE score (math + verbal) is about 1200; the grade point average is about 3.5. Admission continues to be competitive. Students admitted outside of this range have other extraordinary strengths to contribute to advanced study, the landscape architectural field, or productive professional work in society. For students from overseas, the College is very aware of English language ability. On the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), admitted applicants always score over 630, and usually over 650. Scores on the verbal portion of the GRE must also be adequate. All applicants should apply to a number of MLA programs. Admission of any applicant to a program as competitive as Georgia's cannot be guaranteed.
To arrange an admissions interview, call (706) 542-4720 or e-mail donnag@uga.edu
T h e
O n - C a m p u s
i n t e r v i e w
on-campus interview
31
The on-campus interview. On-campus interviews are required for all applicants within a half-day's drive of Athens, and very strongly encouraged for all others. Interviews are very important in reaching an understanding about what a school offers and whether it is the right "match" for an applicant. At Georgia's interviews, the school arranges for the applicant to meet students and multiple faculty. A customized itinerary is given to each applicant upon arrival. Candidates should plan to spend a day or longer seeing the facilities of the school and university, meeting students informally in the studios, and seeing the town. In recent years, essentially all admitted applicants who interviewed at Georgia have decided to come to Georgia.
Application requirements A timely and orderly admissions process is the only way to for the MLA Admissions Committee to make its way through the overwhelming number of students who apply here. Successful application for admission requires, among other things, the applicant's planning and organization to find out in a timely manner what information is required for a Georgia application, and to complete the application on time.
Letter of Intent: A letter of intent should outline the reasons for the applicant's interest in landscape architecture, the relevance of previous education and experience, and the applicant's aims and ambitions. The letter should include how the applicant found out about landscape architecture as a potential field of study and work, why landscape architecture is the right field for the applicant, and what kind of application or contribution within the field is anticipated. The letter of intent is also the applicant's opportunity to provide any additional information that might help the faculty to evaluate the applicant fully and accurately.
Application fee The application for graduate admission must be accompanied by the $50 application-processing fee. The fee is non-refundable and cannot be waived, deferred,or credited toward tuition. It may be rendered by personal check, drawn on a U.S. bank, or money order and made payable to the University of Georgia. Electronic applications are available at: http://www.gradsch.uga.edu/admissions A reduced application fee of $25 applies to applications from former UGA graduate students who are applying for new admission or readmission to enroll within four semesters of their last semester of UGA graduate enrollment. Prior UGA graduate students who apply for admission or readmission to enroll more than four semesters after their last semester of enrollment must submit the full $50.00 application-processing fee with a new application.
TOEFL:
applicants from foreign countries
Applicants from foreign countries where English is not the native language are required to submit TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores.
Design Portfolio: applicants with prior training or experience in landscape architecture or another design field must submit a design portfolio. There
are no restrictions on portfolio format; we request only that material be neat and easy to read. Slides are discouraged. If you wish us to return the portfolio by mail, you must enclose an appropriately stamped, self-addressed envelope.
Send application fee, transcripts and test scores to:
Send references, letter of intent and optional design portfolio to:
Office of Graduate Admissions, Boyd Graduate Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-7402
MLA Program College of Environment & Design 609 Caldwell Hall University of Georgia Athens, Georgia 30602-1845
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application requirements
All MLA applicants are expected to apply under the "prospective candidate for a degree" admission category. Essentially all admitted students enter in the fall semester.
application deadlines
33
T h e
I m p o r t a n c e
o f
a
t i m e l y
a p p l i c a t i o n
Completion of the application by December 31 is very important for you and for the school. A complete application includes test scores, letter of intent, references, transcripts, and optional portfolio. Completing you application by December 31 is to your advantage in consideration for admission. Later in the year, positions in the entering class have already been taken, and further admissions must be closed off, even for the best students. Georgia's admission decisions following the December 31 deadline are earlier than those made at some other schools to which you may be applying. Georgia's early decision helps you to plan in a timely way for your graduate education, and the school to plan for the incoming class. Georgia's Graduate School typically selects entering students for "university-wide" assistantships and Regents' out-of-state tuition waivers from among the students whose applications are complete by December 31 and who are admitted in the Admissions Committee's first meeting.
t i m e t a b l e
Sept-Dec On-campus interviews; to make an appointment call (706)542-4720. Dec 31 Deadline for applications to be considered at first admissions meeting. Jan-Feb Further on-campus interviews. Mar-Apr •On-campus interviews for any late applicants. August •Orientation
classes.
of entering students and beginning of
34
application timetable
A p p l i c a t i o n
Credits 35
Editor: René Shoemaker Art Director: Eleonora Machado Editorial Contributions: Bruce Ferguson Marsha Grizzle Deanna Kent Allen Stovall John Waters Scott Weinberg
Photography: Eric Baugher • Kevin Chastine • Barrie Collins Carmine Fischetti • Meg Gaffney Highway 441 Studio/Library • Mike Kidd Eleonora Machado • Darrel Morrison Mike Tymoff • Andrew Walters
The Dream Team Initiators: Pratt Cassity René Shoemaker Will Siler Tom Harwell Eleonora Machado
Production Specialists: Madie Critchfield • Hui Fang Chang Jessica Buesching • Kay Stanton • Will Hart
Send application fee, transcripts and test scores to:*
Office of Graduate Admissions, Boyd Graduate Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-7402 $50.00 Application fee Academic transcripts from all colleges and universities attended GRE scores Three references (forms are provided by the Graduate School )
Send references, letter of intent and design portfolio to:*
College of Environment & Design (MLA Program) 609 Caldwell Hall University of Georgia Athens, Georgia 30602-1845 Three references (forms are provided by the Graduate School)
A letter of intent Design portfolio On-campus Interview (to make an appointment call (706)542-4720).
*see page 32 -34 for details
application timetable on page 34 To arrange an admissions interview, call (706) 542-4720 or e-mail donnag@uga.edu ____________________________________________ College of Environment & Design School of Environmental Design Master of Landscape Architecture Program 609 Caldwell Hall Athens, GA 30602