Each of us makes decisions on how to guide our programs in the context of our respective institutions and this has given LA programs a diverse identity which is very healthy. We are living in a time when state supported universities are scrambling to survive in the face of diminishing public support and rapidly increasing expenses. This white paper has undertones of “woe is me, we are not understood” without a hint of how landscape architecture might relate to this transition of public universities.
There are those of us who have been around long enough to have a sense, or at least an opinion, as to why we are having difficulties with “Sustaining a Diversely Qualified Design Faculty.” Several decades ago first professional graduate programs were proliferating like rabbits. There were any number of fine explanations for the trend but few people were willing to discuss what impact this might have on the profession, especially in academia. We are now harvesting the product of that sowing.
Our pool of applicants for faculty positions is predominately people with a first professional degree in landscape architecture at the masters level. It is difficult to explain to an administrator, with a science background, how an individual can acquire professional competency in this discipline in three years, that the resulting degree is also the terminal degree, and that this individual is ready to perform research that will add to the discipline’s body of knowledge. I doubt that this white paper can compare or balance those qualifications against faculty in other fields who have a bachelors, masters and PhD followed by post-doc experience prior to joining a faculty to teach and do research. Architecture and the fine arts distinguish b...
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...ould consider what it wants to be when it grows up. Do we want to be service based and feed the profession on the office level or do we want to be science based and feed the body of knowledge? It is doubtful whether we can continue to do both for very long under the present system regardless of the accreditation standards. Forces well beyond our control, universities and state legislatures, are going to do it for us if we do not begin to make the decisions for ourselves. Regardless of whether we let them do it or we do it, the issue of promotion and tenure is going to be moot and the issue of fairness of promotion and tenure between science based and studio based faculty is so far off the radar screen that it is not remotely a consideration in the scheme of things. Deal with the problem, not the symptoms. In the words of Daniel Burnham, “Make no little plans.”
in English and taught as a part time instructor. It’s a garden that he describes as “overgrown and seemingly unmanaged...perhaps the only place left at the university that is not meticulously landscaped and stage-managed for tour groups and the website”. While the “aesthetic conformity” of the school is not the only issue, DeBoer’s portrayal of the campus sets the mood of his statement. The juxtaposed descriptions of the natural versus managed spaces on campus reflect the bigger picture; namely universities are more focused on marketability than education. He backs this up with other information, but it is this personal example that will likely stick with the audience. The garden might seem like a trivial issue, but it represents DeBoer’s personal stake in the subject. “That’s precisely why I love the garden: It’s one of the last little wild places left at Purdue”, he says, “Naturally, it’s slated for demolition”. This particular statement is a powerful ending to his introduction because it depicts the weakness of campus culture and freedom against university
No matter whether it is a facility being upgraded or a volunteering opportunity being organized, a university primarily strives to stimulate students’ enthusiasm, find their real interests, and establish a careful view of the world. Edmundson claims that universities undergo such changes because “Schools want kids whose parents can pay the full freight” (43). Despite the construction projects and campus upgrades, the quality of educational diversity relies on the students, a group of talents that is carefully selected by the admission office. The admission rate for elite universities has remained low for years. With more competition in the educational market, universities are still strict on their principle of recruiting talents. The better resources provided the more quality that schools expect to see from their students. The quality of teaching and the standard of education do not decline as a result of funding
Dell Upton is a historian and renowned professor of architecture and Urbanism at the University of California. He has published several books on architecture; one of them is “Architecture in the United States”, published in 1998. In this book, Upton analyzes the architecture of the United States in different aspects, such as nature, money and art, thus depicting the great variety in architectural forms, and how throughout the decades, different interests have lead communities to different ways of building, different purposes and materials, thus reflecting their way of thinking and their relationship with the environment. By exploring so many different architectural styles, Upton reveals the great diversity and richness that has always, and continues to characterize American architecture.
In today’s world, diversity is the highest point and people of many different backgrounds, races, gender, or religion. This diversity can provide better performance in real world situations. In the article, “Diversity in STEM: What It Is and Why It Matters,” Kenneth Gibbs, Jr., an author who has a Ph.D. in immunology and trains the next generation of scientists, discusses why he believes diversity is important in the real world and how a lack of it may result in some issues. Gibbs, Jr. proposes how diversity influences and benefits the STEM fields and other fields by providing testimonial evidence. The author argues that diversity will enrich the STEM field and provide it with a great deal of problem solving. Gibbs, Jr. discusses the meaning
Landscape architecture has been around since the beginning of time, but it was not until Frederick Law Olmsted came along that the idea of integrating design into the landscape with plants, water, and structures that it turned into a thriving profession. To many, Olmsted is considered “a pioneer in the profession of landscape architecture, an urban planner, and a social philosopher, one of the first theoreticians and activists behind the national park and conservation movements” (Kalfus 1). Growing up, he did not ever graduate from formal schooling and just sat in on a few classes while at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut. Instead, he acquired his education from being out in the world through traveling and reading. He had a hard childhood. His mother died when he was just four years old and on his journeys around the world to Europe and China, he became sickly with seasickness, paralysis of the arm, typhoid fever, apoplexy, sumac poisoning, and at times suffered from depression. For many years he went on a journey within himself to find out whom he really was and what he wanted to do with his life, career wise. Frederick had one brother, John Hull, who died in 1857. This left Olmsted feeling empty and at loss of what to do. That was when Calvert Vaux came and filled the space in Olmsted’s life that his brother left. Vaux convinced Olmsted to enter the Central Park Commissioner’s design competition with their design entitled the “Greensward Plan.” With the success in that project, Olmsted figured out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, which was to become a landscape architect. Olmsted practiced from the years of 1857 up until he retired in 1895. Olmsted’s two boys, adopted son John Charles and biological son Frederick La...
Hill, John. "The Weakening Of Tenure And Post- Tenure Review: An Issue Analysis." Journal Of The Utah Academy Of Sciences, Arts & Letters 87.(2010): 111-120. Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
Sciame-Giesecke, S., Roden, D., & Parkison, K. (2009). Infusing diversity into the curriculum: What are faculty members actually doing?. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 2, 156-165.
When diversity is being discussed, there are a plethora of ideas that are associated with it. Whether people are talking being put on a waitlist for college, about people of color, or about representation in the media, the subject of diversity is not rare. Recently, the conversation of diversity has become more common because colleges want to demonstrate that they have diversified campus. How would diversity on campus be defined? Most importantly, diversity is more than having an extraordinary personality. Race, gender, sexuality, and social status are a few of the superfluous traits that make an individual unique in a college’s eyes. In Sophia Kerby’s article, “10 Reasons Why We Need Diversity on College Campuses”, she notes that, while there has already been an effort to diversify high schools and middle schools, accepting students of different backgrounds is not as apparent in higher education (1) . A university desires to diversify its campus in order to benefit the students that are attending the college. Students are not only likely to improve
Diversity is a must have when it comes to colleges and universities. Diversity is what separates the good universities from the great universities. Universities that have diversity help out their students more than anyone could imagine. It help students get ready to open up and understand one another on a more personal level. Some students grow up in segregated towns where there is not much diversity, but with the help of diversity from colleges, students will learn to learn and accept one another. It would be fresh new start for all of the students to learn about each other and their similarities and differences. The information college students could learn from someone that is from another culture is a great prize and will be remembered for the rest of their lives. “Diversity will further strengthen the United States as new minds with new views are added to the society. This is true of the country’s universities and colleges, as well”(Milligan).
¡@¡@During my freshman year, I joined the school's mountaineering club, where I served as a guide and also as president of its photography group. I went to many mountainous areas and ecological preserves, and saw that Taiwan is rich in natural resources; but I also saw that these precious resources are gradually disappearing due to poor planning and illegal land use. This realization solidified my determination to learn concepts of environmental planning and design. Due to my lengthy contact with nature while climbing mountains, I knew that landscape designers should treat nature and residential areas with respect. Over the next two years, I learned more in-depth concepts of landscape design, enhanced my basic abilities in environmental planning, and started developing an interest in urban design. I received commendations from my professors for my performance and ideas. In addition, I served as administrative head of the department student association during these two years, responsible for planning our department exhibitions and intercollegiate activities for exchanging ideas about landscape design. This experience increased my teamwork abilities and efficiency in problem solving, which will be of great help in my future pursuits.
...ving trouble working in the conditions that colleges are putting their faculty in, it is obvious that a change in their policies is really in the best interest of everyone involved. Although there’s not much colleges can change in the classroom, but they can change what they’re demanding from their faculty.
The world is currently undergoing a cultural change, and we live in an increasingly diverse society. This change is not only affect the people in the community but also affect the way education is viewed. Teaching diversity in the classroom and focusing multicultural activities in the programs can help improve positive social behavior in children. There is no question that the education must be prepared to embrace the diversity and to teach an increasingly diverse population of young children.
A city has to be beautiful, though the definition of “beauty” is so vague. The beauty can be physical, such as enjoyable parks, streetscapes, architectural facades, the sky fragment through freeways and trees; or it can be the beauty of livelihood, people, and history. As landscape architects, we are creating beautiful things or turning the unpleasant memorial.
Cultural diversity is a complex concept, which combines different characteristics and knowledge of a society together (Cathryn, Yong & Robert 2008, p.58). University is a huge society combined students from different places, even different countries. In university, cultural diversity provides benefits and drawbacks to students. This essay will discuss how three opponents can be changed into assets, such as cultural acceptance, loss of original culture, and slowing down the pace of classes.
According to David O. McKay (2013), multicultural education is constructed to prepare pupils for citizenship in a democratic society by facilitating them to take into account the needs of all individuals; it shed light on how issues of language, ethnicity, culture, religion race, abilities/disabilities, and gender are entwined with educational content and processes. A multicultural curriculum is needed to accommodate for diverse learning and teaching styles of facilitators and pupils and to expose biases, stereotypes, and policies that can restrict achievement. What is more, a multicultural curriculum is also needed to help pupils, faculty, and staff become advocates for multicultural awareness, to ensure that content is fair, accurate, and inclusive, and to prepare pupils for diverse workplaces and multicultural environments. In writing this paper, the author will describe key issues of culturally diverse students, recommend a curriculum approach to address the issues, and discuss the challenges and benefits expected. In addition, she will describe three key issues of male and female students recommend a curriculum approach to address the issues, and discuss the challenges and benefits expected. In closing, she will describe three key issues of students with disabilities, who are mainstreamed, recommend a curriculum approach to address the issues, and discuss the challenges and benefits expected.