The BS Landscape Studies will be graduating out over the next 3 years, with its final admits from Fall 2018. The degree is currently being re-designed, and will debut Fall 2019. The program re-design was prompted after the merger of the two departments: Landscape Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning.
If you are interested in restoration ecology, understanding and conserving cultural landscapes, or finding ways to minimize the environmental impacts of daily living, this major, which provides an introduction to landscape studies, might be of interest to you.
The Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Degree, Major: Landscape Architecture is concerned with landscape studies. It emphasizes the knowledge and skills needed to address current and future challenges of sustainable land use and the conservation and management of healthy natural and cultural systems. The goals are to prepare students for:
- Positions in the private sector, public agencies or non-profit NGOs specializing in ecological restoration, interpreting and managing cultural landscapes, and/or land-use planning, or as data analysts or geo-technology specialists.
- Graduate work in such fields as Landscape Architecture, Urban and Regional Planning, Architecture, Law, Environmental Studies, Environmental Design, and Ecology.
- Informed participation and leadership in local and national policy-making decisions related to cultural and natural landscapes.
The curriculum draws on courses from across the University as well as from within the Landscape Architecture program to provide you with a multi-discipline foundation in the natural and physical sciences, social studies, and in the arts and humanities. The requirements, also include courses in spatial design and planning techniques; spatial problem-solving approaches; methods of facilitating public participation in land use decision-making; how to inventory and evaluate site resources; and data gathering and manipulation techniques, with an emphasis on the use of geographic information systems (GIS). In addition, students complete a capstone project and one of three specialization tracks: (1) Cultural and Historic Landscapes; (2) Environmental Planning; and (3) Ecological Restoration.
B.S. Curriculum
Here is a link to the list of courses needed for this major and an example of a four-year course schedule. If you have further questions about these and other requirements, contact Debi Griffin in the Department of Landscape Architecture.
Students can choose to follow a Restoration Ecology and/or Ecological Design track for this major. Students will learn about restoring a natural landscape or how to incorporate natural elements into their landscape design. Learn more about the Restoration Ecology option. Here are examples of classes to take for students who choose to follow the Restoration Ecology track for this degree.
B. S. Goals and Objectives
The Essential Learning Outcomes for the BS Major of the Landscape Architecture program are based on (1) the Department’s overall curricular goals; (2) the University’s “ Essential Learning Outcomes”; and (3) the goals of the program.
Graduates of the program will be able to:
- Integrate social, cultural, ecological and technological dimensions in solving novel problems concerning the conservation or management of sustainable natural and cultural landscapes.
- Demonstrate critical thinking and the ability to explore ideas and synthesize information, both independently and in collaboration with interdisciplinary team members.
- Demonstrate competence and critical judgment in applying the intellectual and technical skills necessary for site and landscape-scale natural and cultural resource conservation planning and management; in particular the skills of: site inventory and analysis, spatial and temporal analysis; geographic information systems; programming; synthesis; communication; implementation; and evaluation.
- Understand, apply and evaluate the principles, theories and recent research findings underlying at least one of the following fields of landscape studies, in particular cultural and historic landscapes, environmental planning, and ecological restoration.
- Demonstrate advanced communication skills, including visual, verbal, and written presentation skills.
- Be able to perform as a member of a public or private natural or cultural resources conservation or preservation office or agency.