School of Landscape Architecture

Return to: College of Architecture and Design

Associate Professors
Fulton, Gale (Director), MLA – Colorado

Assistant Professor
Bolivar, Sarah, MLA - Harvard
Madl, Andrew, MLA - Harvard
McDaniel, Scottie, MLA - Harvard
Nixon, Faye, MLA/MArch - Pennsylvania
Ross, Mike, MLA – Texas Tech

Lecturers
Gordon Krute, Emily, MLA - Harvard
Manley, Chad (Tennessee Landscape Architecture Fellow), MArch - British Columbia
Shoemaker, Caley, MLA – Tennessee                                                

Mission: The mission of the School of Landscape Architecture at the University of Tennessee is to advance the discipline of landscape architecture as a robust field of inquiry and application.

We accomplish this mission by:

• Preparing a diverse population of students to critically and creatively engage the complex, multiscalar, socio-ecological challenges and potentials of the 21st century, thereby positioning them for leadership across a range of career trajectories.
• Developing and disseminating scholarly research and creative activity that makes meaningful contributions to advancing the discourse of the discipline and elevating living conditions in the communities it serves.
• Engaging local, state, and regional communities as a means to educate and excite the public imagination, develop, demonstrate and deploy innovative planning and design practices, and advocate for the advancement of the field.

Values: The School of Landscape Architecture is guided by the following values:

1. We are committed to the engagement of the medium of landscape as a critical, cultural practice, mindful of the incredible diversity of precedents, practices, and populations that are inherent in it.
2. We are committed to a progressive, evolving, integrated curriculum, which prepares students for speculative and practical realms of planning and design and that is situated in the context of grand socio-ecological challenges facing contemporary society.
3. We are committed to a discursive educational environment that engenders respect for diversity in all of its forms and meanings, and which privileges the production of diverse ideas and new modes of thought and action.
4. We are committed to the unique landscapes and cultures of our local and regional context, as well as to the reality that the local is inextricable from larger global flows, processes, and policies.
5. We are committed to the development of relevant, contemporary, technical skills, which are critically informed by the evolving theories, influences, and technologies shaping the field.

Landscape architecture is an intercollegiate program composed of faculty from the College of Architecture and Design and the Herbert College of Agriculture

More information on the School of Landscape Architecture application process and deadlines is available on the College of Architecture and Design website, under Academic Programs.

The School of Landscape Architecture offers four degree pathways: the Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA), the Master of Arts in Landscape Architecture (MALA), the Master of Science in Landscape Architecture (MSLA), and the Dual Master of Architecture/Master of Landscape Architecture. The four landscape architecture degree options are distinguished from each other by the number of credit hours required and the focus of study.

The Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) is a design-based professional degree that concludes with a design thesis or advanced design project. The MLA has a first-professional track (MLA-Track 1) that is designed to prepare students as critically-engaged practitioners, and a post-professional track (MLA-Track 2) that provides opportunities for research-oriented studies in areas of speculation and specialization.

The Master of Arts in Landscape Architecture (MALA) and the Master of Science in Landscape Architecture (MSLA) are for students who hold a bachelor’s degree, an advanced degree in any field, or a first professional degree in landscape architecture. Students in these degree programs work with faculty advisors to craft a course of study in line with their career trajectory interests.

Retention in the school is contingent upon evidence of satisfactory progress toward the degree. Individual student progress will be reviewed each semester by the director. The School of Landscape Architecture Committee will review any questions regarding progress.

Return to: College of Architecture and Design