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The Bachelor of Science Program in Landscape Architecture focuses on visual, physical, ecological, cultural, and design issues encountered in the urbanizing landscape. Its primary objective is to educate and train professionals who are prepared to engage future design problems and advance the state of the art. A diverse and internationally recognized faculty is much involved in educational, research, and professional activities in Landscape Planning, Design, and Computer Applications.

Our fundamental concern is the wise use of land and natural resources. As the public becomes increasingly aware of and sophisticated about environmental issues, opportunities for professional landscape architects can be expected to increase rapidly.

Landscape architects serve as mediators between developers and a site to ensure that development does not unduly disrupt natural systems, fits within the cultural context, and is aesthetically pleasing. They design and plan parks, residential communities, university campuses, corporate headquarters, and open space networks. The landscape architect’s planning and design decisions are of critical significance to both the immediate and long-term future.

Opportunities exist in the program for study abroad.  The department has an annual funded exchange program with Brazil, and students may go to a variety of locations including Copenhagen, England, and New Zealand.  Faculty-led field study classes are also offered each year with recent trips focusing on Belize, France, Germany, Guatemala, Holland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

Students who enroll in the program as freshmen can earn a B.S. degree in Landscape Architecture in four years. In addition to the university’s General Education requirements, the landscape architecture core curriculum consists of five interrelated areas or sequences as follows:

Design Studio Sequence
The twelve studios that run through the second, third, and fourth years are the core of the landscape architecture program. Students learn the principles, methods, processes, and techniques of landscape architecture design. Each studio provides progressively more complex problems with studios divided into two seven-week segments. Each segment has a different instructor to ensure a diverse range of project types, scales, and points of view.

Natural and Cultural Factors Sequence
Five courses include: introduction to environmental design, city planning, and landscape pattern and process. They are intended to acquaint students with the natural and cultural processes that have shaped the landscape from past to present.

History Sequence
Courses provide students with an understanding of the historic forces that have shaped the man-made environment and the role that landscape architects have played.

Skills Sequence
The six courses in this sequence teach students the skills and knowledge required to implement landscape architectural projects. Included are courses in graphics, construction materials, site engineering, and professional practice, writing in Landscape Architecture, and computers in Environmental Design.

Computer Requirement
All students are required to have a laptop computer, equal or greater to the specifications provided by the department. The department will also provide a list of required software (including version).