For initial information about the program
contact Sandi Potyrala, Graduate
Secretary.
Overview
As
suburban growth threatens to destroy the environment and quality
of life; as social and economic equity becomes ever more elusive
in our cities, towns and countryside; as the information age
transforms both the environment and the methods by which we
work within it and as intensified pressures of contemporary
living result in ever-more dehumanized, depersonalized life-styles,
the need for useful and inspiring physical landscape spaces
grows and the inter-relationship between local, regional and
global interventions in the environment becomes more apparent.
Whether in broad geographic regions, cities or gardens no profession
stands as ready to deal so comprehensively with the problems
of planning and designing the twenty-first century world as
does landscape architecture.
Our Master's Program in Landscape Architecture
is designed to prepare students to become leaders throughout
the broad range of professional activities which define the
scope of this profession. Specifically, the program seeks to
provide:
- An understanding of the
history of peoples' relationships to the land;
and of the fundamental theories of planning
and design intervention.
- An
understanding
of the physical,
cultural and
biotic forces
which influence
environment design.
- An
opportunity
to
creatively
engage
a
broad
range
of
real
contemporary
problems
in
planning
and
design.
- A
working
knowledge
of
the
information,
processes
and
techniques
used
in
the
landscape
planning
and
design
professions.
- The
capacity
to
communicate
with
specialists
in
relevant
social,
natural
and
physical
sciences;
and
in
the
arts.
Program
Graduates of the program
work in numerous capacities as environmental
stewards and as guardians of our cultural landscape
heritage; as avant-garde designers whose forms
and spaces express the fundamental issues of
our times; as private and public planners whose
design perspective uniquely qualifies them to
evaluate, interpret and create the policies which
in turn shape our environmental framework; as
private practitioners who imaginatively interpret
and resolve environmental problems and as educators
who continue to explore and teach an array of
important subjects in colleges and universities
throughout the world.
The Landscape Architecture
Master's Program is designed to serve three groups
of people. The first group of students are those
who have discovered an interest in landscape
architecture after earning a college degree.
These people take a year of preparatory courses.
Then they take an additional 48 credits toward
their Master's degree, which is typically granted
within a three year period. This professional
degree is accredited by the American Society
of Landscape Architects.
The second group of students
are those who have earned a degree in a related
field such as environmental design and architecture.
These students can enter into the second year,
but they often need to take several of the core
requirements of the first year preparatory curriculum.
These students usually take such required courses
in lieu of the elective courses of the second
and third year curricula.
The third group of students
are those with a degree in landscape architecture,
many from an accredited school in the U.S.A.
These students enter the master's program to
expand their knowledge in a special area of interest,
and often work with a particular faculty member
on a funded research project.
Overall, students from
a great diversity of cultural and educational
backgrounds enrich the program with broad-ranging
perspectives which are brought to bear on common
planning and design problems. In a studio-centered
curriculum, students experience expert guidance
while engaging real landscape problems ranging
across all scales and types, including greenways,
gardens, housing and open spaces, suburbs, cities,
workplaces and recreation. Through a series of
lecture and discussion classes, labs and workshops;
as well as through research projects students
gain the scholarly context necessary for the
applied problem-solving of the studios.
Generally, the curriculum
endeavors to first provide beginning students
with a broad framework of the history, theory
and practice of landscape architecture; then
to promote either the continued study of the
interrelationship between all aspects of environment
design, or to support a more specialized inquiry
into specific areas of concentration.
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