Fall 2022 Landscape Architecture Newsletter
Featured NEWS
Faculty and student success is important this academic year as we prepare the Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board (LAAB) Self Evaluation Report. The LAAB team will conduct a visit in Fall 2023 to review the MLA program at UTA. You may be called to meet the LAAB team next year, and I hope you will respond. One of the program's biggest measures is its alumni's success, support, and opinions. We want to thank you all for your efforts! In that regard, we are holding an All LARC Welcome and Alumni Homecoming during Mav Week. It is a chance for alumni to meet the students of both Landscape Architecture Programs and for us to show our appreciation.
Regards,
Diane Jones Allen
Landscape Architecture Director
Upcoming Events
Join us for the Landscape Architecture Fall Welcome gathering. We have invited all students in the Landscape Architecture Program, Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Urban Design and Master of Landscape Architecture to join us on that day. You are also invited to the LARC Alumni Homecoming. Come and be green....orange and blue!
Thursday, September 8th at 5:00 pm in the Richard B. Myrick Courtyard.
Supporting the Landscape Architecture program
We ask for your support for the Landscape Architecture Excellence Fund. Your gift will support our talented students and enhance the learning environment at The University of Texas at Arlington. Thank you for your generosity, click on the button to show your support.
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Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Urban Design (BSSUD)
The BSSUD program housed under Landscape Architecture began in Fall 2021. A cohort of 17 students began the program, which focuses on providing students with an understanding of the elements and topics in urban design that should be considered when addressing sustainability. We are very excited to announce that this 2022-2023 academic year, 58 students applied to the BSSUD, and we accepted 34. The program has taken off, in part, due to the enthusiasm and expertise of the existing Landscape Architecture Faculty, including Assistant Professors Joowon Im, Ph.D., and Letora Anderson, PLA, who both are teaching courses in the BSSUD. The success of this degree program will benefit all of Landscape Architecture at UTA, especially as we conceive of it as a feeder to the MLA.
EPA’s Campus Rain Works Challenge Pilot Technical Assistance
EPA’s Campus RainWorks Challenge Pilot Technical Assistance is intended to highlight the merits of past Campus RainWorks designs and create new incentives to advance green infrastructure implementation at institutions of higher education while bridging the communication gap between academic departments (researchers, teachers), operational staff (facilities), administrators, and community. EPA invited the UTA faculty advisor and the University of Texas Arlington (UTA) to participate in this pilot. UTA is one of two national institutions invited to participate due to its previous participation and successes with EPA’s Campus RainWorks Challenge since 2012. This technical assistance pilot sponsored by EPA is valued at $85,000.
UTA and EPA Design Team started the pilot preparations early this summer with the plan to have a major design charette and series of visioning sessions in the Fall of 2022. Faculty advisor Dr. Taner R. Ozdil serves as the lead and initial point of contact with EPA’s design team and acts as a liaison between EPA and other university stakeholders such as operational staff, administrators, students, campus sustainability coordinators, community members, and other key stakeholders.
The core team includes but is not limited to:
Taner R. Ozdil, Ph.D., ASLA, Center for Metropolitan Density (CfMD), UTA-College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs (CAPPA)
Don Lange, Assistant Vice President for Facilities and Campus Operations, UTA
Jeff Johnson, Director of Maintenance Operations & Special Projects, UTA
Meghna Tare, Chief Sustainability Officer, UTA
Lyndsay Mitchell, Strategic Initiatives & Arlington Urban Design Center (AUDC), City of Arlington.
Oren Daniel Mandelbaum, Master Student in Landscape Architecture, CAPPA
Hanan Boukhaima, Ph.D. Student in Public Affairs and Planning, CAPPA
EPA Design Team: Clark Wilson, Office of Wastewater Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Justine Shapiro-Kline, One Architecture & Urbanism Lot Locher, One Architecture & Urbanism Joyce Coffee, Climate Resilience Consulting Christopher Riale, Sherwood Design Engineers Rachel Still, Sherwood Design Engineers.
FACULTY HIGHLIGHT
Professor Elizabeth Heise
Last year we were very fortunate and excited to have Dr. Elizabeth Heise join Landscape Architecture. She will be teaching Introduction to Sustainable Urban Design for the BSSUD program this fall 2022. Dr. Elizabeth Heise joined the faculty at UTA in the Spring of 2021 when she became the Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs. She is excited to teach sustainability in several classes. Her journey in teaching sustainability began decades ago in Brownsville, Texas, where she engaged students in projects to have the campus and community use and reuse sustainable practices in the day-to-day activities.
The students designed and implemented projects that embodied the “Think Globally, Act Locally” motto. Some of the projects included using recycled glass cullet as a substitute for sand in beach nourishment and other projects, rainwater catchment for irrigation of community gardens to limit erosion and runoff, and using rainwater catchment to irrigate native plant propagation for coastal dune replanting. As you can see, the art of bringing together multiple strategies to create solutions is at the heart of the projects. She will bring the same energy and ideas to UTA and the DFW area.
FACULTY EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS
Associate Professor David Hopman
David Hopman used the planting design class in the spring of 2022 to develop a new design for a courtyard at UTA that honors indigenous people. The Land Acknowledgement Courtyard is in a very high visibility location by the old planetarium roundhouse just north of the main library at UTA. The students undertook considerable research to make sure that the project represents and elevates the first Americans of North Texas. Meetings were held with leaders from the Caddo, Pawne, Keechi, Tawakoni, Waco, Wichita, Potawatomi nations, and others to gauge preferences for this important milestone for inclusion at UTA. All the plants selected for the design have ties to the indigenous nations, are native to the DFW area, and celebrate our North Texas ecosystems. Phase one of the project will open on Indigenous people’s day, October 10. After fundraising activities, future phases involving planting designs, water features, hardscape improvements, and indigenous art will be implemented.
The courtyard opening on October 10, 2022, will feature a bronze plaque cast by UTA art professor Daryl Lauster mounted on a large granite boulder with the following statement:
UT Arlington respectfully acknowledges the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes upon whose historical homelands this university is located. Their ancestors resided here for generations before being forcibly displaced by U.S. settlers and soldiers in the mid-1800s. We recognize the historical presence of the Caddo Nation and other Tribal Nations in the region; the ongoing presence and achievements of many people who moved to the area due to the Indian Relocation program of the 1950s and 1960s; and the vital presence and accomplishments of our Native students, alumni, faculty, and staff.
Associate Professor Taner Ozdil
Taner R. Ozdil completed his term as Vice President of Research and Creative Scholarship (VPR) for CELA in March 2022 and received the CELA Triad Award. He is appointed as the Past VPR, a new role on the CELA Executive Board. In addition, Dr. Ozdil completed and published Landscape Research Record Issue # 10 as the Editor-in-Chief in the Spring of 2022 and will continue as Editor-in-Chief for Landscape Research Record Issue #11, which is planned to be published in 2023.
Assistant Professor Joowon Im
In collaboration with the Institute of Urban Studies at CAPPA, Dr. Joowon Im has received two grants to address the educational gap that minority high school students have been facing due to a lack of available resources and awareness of its importance in STEAM education. The research team developed a GIS lab course focusing on transportation and environmental justice that was integrated into existing courses at partner high schools. The first pilot research project, started in March 2021, was funded, by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) ($25,287), to set the foundation of the research while working with CityLab in Dallas.
The second phase of the research project was funded by the Center for Transportation Equity, Decisions, and Dollars (CTEDD) ($80,659.18) to expand the impact of education and improve the developed curricula for diverse groups of students from two high schools in Southern Dallas. The chosen schools present distinguished profiles from each other. The second phase project began in August 2021. The research team expects to expand its impact on student success through this research by reaching out to more schools and developing a credit system integrated with the GIS lab course as the next step.
Assistant Professor Letora Anderson
Letora Anderson Assistant Professor, is a recipient of the 2022 Geisel Grant to create landscape designs for the City of Paris, Texas's JJ Culbertson Fountain site, and the city's Main Street and 1st Street downtown streetscape. The project designs will consist of beautification improvements incorporating usable, flexible spaces and native plant materials that highlight the JJ Culbertson Fountain as a downtown centerpiece. Letora is also working with Adjunct Assistant Professor Amanda Aman (Architecture) to conduct a study for the organization Parks for Downtown Dallas (PDD) to quantify the benefits of five urban parks located in the Dallas core. The result of this study will aid in acquiring funding to support future park maintenance and development.
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We are pleased to share our new official Landscape Facebook page @utalarc and @utacappa
**We hope this will allow you to stay current on the latest LARC happenings from near or far**