Landscape Architecture

Landscape architecture is an environmental design and planning profession of broad scope concerned with the creation, protection, restoration, and management of landscapes. Landscape architecture is founded on an awareness of our deep connections to the natural world and how people and their work are part of the web of life. The profession is deeply attentive to how places serve human needs and support sustainable and resilient cities and other landscapes. A healthy society rests on a commitment to sound landscape design, planning, and conservation that respects the land, its processes, its integrity—and that of human-ecological processes, helping to fulfill human potential. 

Both a science and an art, landscape architecture involves creative decision-making based on scientific knowledge of natural processes coupled with awareness of historical, cultural, and social dynamics. The profession also makes intensive use of technologies for landscape construction and environmental management—digital graphics, geographic information systems, and computer-aided design. These are applied to making richly supportive places for people and ecosystems that are beautiful and healthy, responding to human needs and to local natural and socioeconomic systems. 

As a profession, landscape architecture includes design at many scales, including ecologically based planning activities, transformation of urban and rural landscapes, service to disadvantaged communities, and design of parks and gardens. As an academic discipline, it provides opportunities for personal development through environmental problem-solving, graphic and oral communication, and project-oriented study in which small groups of students work with instructors to address pressing contemporary problems through detailed development of land and sites. 

Jacques Abelman, assistant professor (social justice, landscape infrastructure, food systems). BA, 1996, Amherst College; MA, 2002, University of the Arts, London; MLA, 2014, Amsterdam Academy of Architecture; reg. landscape architect, Netherlands. (2016) 

Elisabeth Chan, associate professor (design representation, design theory). BA, 1993, Hampshire; MLA, 2000, Cornell. (2001) 

Arica Duhrkoop-Galas, instructor (plants, planting design, landscape construction). BA, 1998, Portland State; CE, 1999, Cambridge; MLA, 2005, Oregon; reg. landscape architect, Oregon. (2010) 

Mark Eischeid, assistant professor (landscape history, design theory, critical practice). BS, 1994, Stanford; MLA, 2000, California, Berkeley; MFA, 2010, Edinburgh; reg. landscape architect, California. (2014) 

Chris Enright, instructor (landscape planning, landscape analysis, geographic information systems). BA, 1984, California, Santa Barbara; BLA, 2003, MLA 2006, PhD, 2013, Oregon. (2013) 

Michael Geffel, visiting professor (design processes, design experiments, construction techniques). BS, 2006, Oregon; MLA, 2013, Virginia. (2017) 

David Hulse, Philip H. Knight Professor (alternative futures analysis, river restoration and management, landscape ecology). BSLA, 1981, Colorado State; MLA, 1984, Harvard. (1985)  

Bart Johnson, professor (climate change adaptation, ecological restoration, urban ecosystems). BS, 1987, Cornell; MLA, 1992, PhD, 1995, Georgia. (1995) 

Harper Keeler, instructor (civic agriculture, landscape biodynamics, urban farm director). BLA, 1995; MLA 2011, Oregon. (2010) 

Yekang Ko, assistant professor (urban sustainability, energy landscapes, climate-responsive design). BS, 2005, Korea; PhD, 2012, California, Berkeley (2016) 

Jun Hak Lee, instructor (geographic information systems, data visualization). BS, 1999, MS, 2001, Korea; PhD, 2010, California, Berkeley. (2016) 

Dennis “Whitey” Lueck, instructor (horticulture, field studies, landscape biodynamics). BS, 1974, Pennsylvania State; MS, MA, 1980, Oregon State. (2005) 

Robert G. Ribe, professor (landscape planning and analysis, visual resource management, landscape economics). BS, 1977, California, Riverside; MSLA, 1981, MA, 1987, PhD, 1990, Wisconsin; Fellow, American Society of Landscape Architects. (1988) 

Kory Russel, acting assistant professor (water, container-based sanitation, informal settlements). BS, 2003, MES, 2005, Taylor; MS, 2012, Stanford. (2016) 

Brad Stangeland, instructor (landscape construction, computer-aided design, professional practice). BLA, 1983, Oregon; reg. landscape architect, Oregon. (2003) 

Roxi Thoren, associate professor (productive landscapes, cultural identity, design theory). BA, 1996, Wellesley; MArch, 2001, MLA, 2002, Virginia. (2004) 

Emeriti 

Jerome Diethelm, professor emeritus. BArch, 1962, Washington (Seattle); MLA, 1964, Harvard; reg. architect and landscape architect, Oregon. (1970) 

Kenneth I. Helphand, professor emeritus. BA, 1968, Brandeis; MLA, 1972, Harvard; Fellow, American Society of Landscape Architects. (1974) 

Robert Z. Melnick, professor emeritus. BA, 1970, Bard; MLA, 1975, State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry; Fellow, American Society of Landscape Architects. (1982) 

The date in parentheses at the end of each entry is the first year on the University of Oregon faculty.