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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:
- Promote a professional, responsible, humanistic and sustainable approach to Landscape Architecture.
- Provide contemporary and necessary Landscape Architectural skills and knowledge to prepare students for a variety of professional roles.
- Provide our students with a diverse, integrated and learner-centered set of experiences that stimulate and nurture life long learning.
- Present the Landscape Architect as a leader and integrator of information from allied disciplines, the arts, technology, and the natural and social sciences.
- Structure an understanding of natural and cultural systems in the context of site, community, urban, and regional design, planning and implementation.
- 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:
- Integrate the intertwined natural and cultural systems at the project, community, regional and global levels.
- Incorporate a sense of place, responsible management, environmental ethics, and the appropriate use of resources throughout the design, planning and implementation process.
- Comprehend and demonstrate relationships among analysis, design concept, development and implementation.
- Demonstrate a passion for creativity and the process of analytical problem solving.
- Apply the knowledge of world history, and theory of landscape architecture, as well as an understanding of contemporary philosophies and theories in the Profession of Landscape Architecture, to design solutions.
- Apply independent thinking to make cogent decisions in ambiguous environments.
- Demonstrate employable skills, and a mind open to learning in a professional setting.
- Demonstrate the ability and confidence to work in interdisciplinary settings and work environments.
- Comprehend the leadership role that landscape architecture plays in the design and development process.
- Apply written, oral, as well as manual and digital graphic skills to communicate design process, development and solutions.
- Apply professional standards, ethics and practices.