Please visit here to read more about graduate studies in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design.
The curriculum:
Introduction:
The Landscape Architecture Program at UC Davis offers graduate degrees with a concentration or emphasis in landscape architecture through several graduate groups including ecology, environmental horticulture, geography, and community development. Core requirements in one of the graduate groups are met by the student while emphasizing an area of graduate study with direct relation to landscape architecture. The graduate group in geography is the only graduate program at UC Davis that offers M.A. and Ph.D. degrees with a specific concentration and curriculum in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design (LAED). Landscape architecture faculty at UC Davis are members, advisers, and/or major professors in all four graduate groups. UC Davis currently does not offer a MLA Degree.
Graduate groups are interdisciplinary graduate programs which cross departmental lines. At UC Davis the graduate group structure allows students the freedom to pursue individual research interests. The graduate group structure also allows for unique interdiciplinary exchanges of faculty and resources. Some graduate groups have as many as 80 faculty and span 30 departments or more.
Landscape Architecture Program:
The Landscape Architecture Program at UC Davis emphasizes socially and ecologically responsible landscape planning and design. The undergraduate BSLA degree offers accredited professional training combined with ample general education to prepare students for professional practice in landscape architecture. Graduate education is seen as research-oriented, interdisciplinary, and intended to offer students the opportunity to pursue focused interests, expanding their professional expertise and/or conducting advanced research. Graduate programs supported by landscape architecture at UC Davis welcome students with skills in the planning and/or design processes, although this is not a requirement. As opposed to the majority of graduate programs in landscape architecture, graduate study in landscape architecture at UC Davis does not retrain non-landscape architects or repeat skills already achieved in undergraduate landscape architecture programs. Skill courses in these areas are available to graduate student through the undergraduate curriculum but these courses may not count toward the requirements of graduate degrees. Because graduate landscape architecture education at UC Davis emphasizes professional expansion and/or research rather than professional training, students sponsored by landscape architecture faculty may have a prior degree in landscape architecture or a closely related discipline, although this is not always the case.
As with the undergraduate program, graduate student applications are more numerous than space and faculty resources; thus, enrollment is limited.
Admission:
An application for graduate admission can be obtained from the Graduate Division, University of California, Davis, CA 95616. You should also contact the graduate adviser in your proposed graduate group to ask for specific program information and any additional admission requirements. Application materials should be mailed directly to the graduate program. You may also apply online.
When the graduate group admission committee has received the application and transcripts forwarded from the Graduate Division and evaluated them along with the supplemental materials you have sent the master advisor, the committee will recommend your admission or rejection to the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research. It should be noted that acceptance into a graduate group is governed by the Graduate Division, not by landscape architecture faculty who may indicate a willingness to serve as a major professor. You are encouraged to write potential landscape architecture major professors or call (530) 752-3907 for an appointment to discuss your plans. Again, contacting master advisers within graduate groups would also be wise.
To be based and housed in the landscape architecture program, your major professor must be in landscape architecture. The responsibilities of your major professor are to guide your study plan and serve as chair of your thesis/dissertation committee and/or examination committee. Major professors also teach graduate courses in the landscape architecture program.
Affiliated graduate groups:
Geography
Graduate Adviser
Graduate Group/Geography
133 Hunt Hall
(530) 752-4119
The Graduate Group in Geography (GGG) represents a broad diversity of faculty and University-affiliated research scientists associated with 28 departments and programs. The GGG academic program emphasizes spatial interactions between humans and the biophysical environment within five areas of emphasis: bio-geography, environmental & natural resource geography, gender and geography, tourism & geography, and Landscape Architecture. The GGG offers students an exceptionally broad range of coursework opportunities not otherwise possible through department-based graduate study.
Many students admitted already will have completed an undergraduate major in geography, and will have met entrance requirements (at least one upper division course in three of the following six areas of study): geographical field methods; cartography; aerial photo analysis-remote sensing; statistics; geographic information systems (GIS); or geographical theory. Applicants also should have completed each of the following: at least one upper division course in a recognized facet of human geography, physical geography, and one course in regional geography.
M.A. Plans I and II, Ph.D. Special requirements: three letters of recommendation, GRE scores. Please note: department deadline is January 15th. Admission is open Fall Quarter only.
Ecology
Group Chair Adviser
Graduate Group in Ecology
3122 Wickson Hall
(530) 752-6752
The Graduate Group in Ecology includes faculty from 31 departments in five schools and colleges. Specialization within Ecology is provided through Areas of Emphasis (AOEs). The keystone of the ecology program is a nucleus of core courses, required of all candidates, thus ensuring a common basis for students in the three options. The M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in ecology signify that students have examined the application of classical ecological principles to their particular interests.
Undergraduate work in biological, social, behavioral, and physical sciences, mathematics or engineering is considered appropriate preparation. All applicants will normally be expected to have completed a one-year sequence in basic biology, in elementary chemistry, and in elementary physics; a course in statistics; calculus and computer programming or other suitable mathematical training; and, a course in ecology. The AOEs currently offered include the basic and theoretical/individualized program in ecology, agricultural ecology, conservation ecology, ecotoxicology, environmental policy analysis, functional ecology, human ecology, restoration ecology and systems and landscape ecology.
M.S. Plans I and II, Ph.D. Special requirements: three letters of recommendation and GRE scores including subject test in appropriate area. Application deadline: January 15.
Community Development
Advising Center
c/o Department of Applied Behavioral Science
1303 Hart Hall
(530) 752-1926
The community development M.S. degree program is a multi-disciplinary two-year program designed to prepare students for professional roles in community and human service organizations as administrators, planners, or technicians. The program emphasizes theories of community social organization and change, community design and planning, and current techniques for developing and evaluating community programs. There is an established track in community design and planning. In consultation with an adviser, students select a program from among areas of specialization which is suitable to their professional interests. All students must take the core courses within the master's program and complete a field practicum assignment.
Candidates should also have as undergraduate preparation, upper-division courses in social or behavioral sciences (e.g., anthropology, economics, sociology, social psychology, human or community development, geography, or political science) and courses in community studies. The program is suited to the needs of individuals at mid-career as well as recent college graduates.
M.S. Plans I and II. Special requirements: three letters of recommendation; GRE scores; detailed autobiographical statement. Please note: admission is open Fall Quarter only.
Our unique graduate group system takes a interdisciplinary approach, allowing students to study development across:
The Lifespan: Infancy & Early Childhood, Middle Childhood & Adolescence, Adulthood and Old Age
Multiple Domains: Biological, Cognitive, Social-emotional
Diverse Settings: Family, School, Community, Culture, and Society
The Human Development Graduate Group offers 2 different degrees:
Master’s degree (MS) in Child Development (birth through early adolescence)
Doctorate (PhD) in Human Development (conception to death)
The benefits of the graduate group are that students can take coursework from various departments, work with faculty in other areas on and off campus, and focus on human development issues from a variety of perspectives. Faculty members, with whom our students work include (but are not limited to): Departments of Human and Community Development, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Nutrition, the School of Education, the Center for Mind and Brain (CMB), the UCD Medical Center (UCDMC), and the Medical Investigation of Neurological Disorders Institute (MIND).