About the Department of Landscape Architecture

We are more than just a department. We’re a collective: thriving, interacting and sharing with each other as we work to make our landscapes better places.

The Department of Landscape Architecture is an intrinsic component of the College of Design. Nestled in the heart of Eugene, Oregon, the University of Oregon is minutes from wild country and an hour from the Pacific coast or the mountains. From Eugene's downtown to the Willamette River, from the coast to the Cascades, from progressive Portland to amazing Crater Lake, Oregon’s natural beauty and cities are a catalyst that inspires us to push boundaries and redefine our profession.

The department has evolved over more than 100 years, tracing our program's roots to the oldest landscape degree program west of the Mississippi, begun in 1911. We are the only program in Oregon that has accredited MLA & BLA programs and a PhD.

Why study landscape architecture at the University of Oregon?

  • We use the landscapes of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest as a laboratory to explore and address emergent design and planning issues being faced in many places around the world.
  • We help students address pressing issues of urbanization and climate change, and associated issues of social justice, sustainability, and resilience with critical thinking and cutting-edge tools.
  • We frequently offer service learning studios to engage students in solving real problems in local and regional landscapes, while working with their human constituents.
  • We train students to be successful in professional teams through frequent attention to the skills needed for collaborative efforts.
  • We instill proficiency in resolving complex landscape problems across spatial scales, from small sites to large landscapes, and in contexts that range from urban cores to rural landscapes to biodiversity reserves.
  • We emphasize integrating interdisciplinary knowledge and practices into design and planning initiatives in ways that can be applied in diverse places and regions around the world.

The Curriculum: Extensive and Deep

Our curriculum focuses on understanding landscapes across multiple scales. We partner with groups such as designBridge, the local chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and municipal agencies throughout Oregon to focus on real-world projects that are carried through to completion. We focus on thoughtful design and critical problem solving. The strength of our curriculum is offering design studios and courses with depth and variety intended to train the next generation of landscape architects as sophisticated and effective agents of change.

The Faculty: Educators, Scholars, and Innovators

Our faculty expertise expresses the breadth of design and planning practice from a diversity of perspectives. The faculty is internationally recognized for its research in landscape design history, theory, and critique; landscape ecology and river planning; urban design and sustainability analysis; critical practice; productive landscapes; historic landscape documentation and preservation; climate change mitigation and adaptation; cultural ecosystem service analysis; visual resource analysis; and landscape representation. Widely known for their scholarship, our faculty members regularly receive state and national research grants, present exhibitions of creative work, and publish widely. They are also recognized by the University and nationally for their award-winning teaching. In addition to landscape architecture, faculty have degrees in agronomy, architecture, civil engineering, earth science, ecology, economics, education, environmental studies, fine arts, forestry, history, geography, mathematics, political science, and planning.

The Students: Studying for more than a diploma. Seeking more than a profession.

Students attend the program from around the world. They come to the UO with a variety of backgrounds, creating a rich educational environment. They consistently win statewide and national ASLA awards and are finalists in national and international design competitions. Our alumni have gone on to work in various positions, practices, and locations across the globe, including careers in professional firms, city, state, regional and federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, and as faculty at major universities. More than 90 percent of our alumni achieved entry-level placements in the profession.