School of Natural Resources and Environment

Landscape Architecture News & Highlights

Research being conducted by SNRE Assistant Professor Beth Diamond in the Heidelberg Cultural Village area of Detroit is featured in a report on the Fox News Channel University Network. Diamond is the lead designer on the project, which is working to implement a vision for arts-based neighborhood redevelopment for Detroit.

Two alumni of the SNRE Landscape Architecture program were honored with their industry's highest professional honor: being named a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Honored were Carol Macht (M.L.A. '75) and Martha Schwartz (M.L.A. '78), who were recognized Tuesday at the ASLA Council of Fellows Investiture Dinner in San Diego during the ASLA 2011 Annual Meeting & Expo.

A transformation is under way on the east side of the Dana building. Based on input gathered from the SNRE community in the winter of 2011, the Dana Garden is being improved by SNRE students as part of a design/build class. The new garden will feature improved aesthetics, native plants, sustainable site design practices and increased seating opportunities.

In the (Aug. 4) edition of The New York Times, Landscape Architecture Professor Joan Nassauer discusses land-use strategies for urban areas dealing with too many vacant lots. The article, titled í¢â‚¬Å“Finding the Potential in Vacant Lots,í¢â‚¬  examines how American cities are rethinking the value of the thousands of vacant lots now reshaping their landscapes.

"I have followed a career path that did not exist when I graduated from the University of Michigan. But this great University gave me the skills to create it," Peter C. Mertz, Visiting Committee member and alumnus, delivered this year's Commencement address April 30. Mertz is chief executive officer and co-founder of Global Forest Partners (GFP), one of the largest timber investment management organizations in the world.

Sara Hadavi, a Landscape Architecture doctoral student at the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and fellow U-M team members won the top $50,000 prize this week for a redevelopment plan for a Seattle neighborhood. More than 153 teams from 60 universities competed in the 2011 Urban Land Institute Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition. This year, the competition addressed Seattle's traffic congestion and network of auto-oriented neighborhoods and infrastructure.

Harlow O. Whittemore (1889-1986) was a nationally recognized leader in landscape architecture and community planning, and served as professor and chairman of the Department of Landscape Architecture and City Planning at the University of Michigan. He received his master's degree in Landscape Design from the University of Michigan in 1914 and was invited to join the landscape architecture faculty the very same year, serving until his retirement in 1958. In addition to his prominent role at U-M, Whittemore was instrumental in developing the concept for the Huron-Clinton Metropark Authority.

Landscape Architecture students at SNRE present their portfolios for review by outside experts Tuesday during annual Portfolio Day activities. The day also includes a lecture by SNRE alumna Trish Beckjord, a landscape architect, who is giving a talk from 5-6 p.m. in Room 1028 titled "LEED and Green Design of Health Care Environments." Seven employers, including five represented by SNRE Landscape Architecture alumni, will be conducting one-on-one reviews with students in the Dana Building.

To learn how to visually represent the experience of a specific place for the class Visualizing the Environment, a group of 12 first-year Landscape Architecture students walked a little over a mile, from the Dana Building through downtown Ann Arbor, stopping along the way to sketch for one minute. They then returned to each point they had sketched to look at a particular aspect of the area.

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