Accreditation

Public Information Policy 2019 

The undergraduate Landscape Architecture degree program received its initial professional accreditation from the Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board (LAAB) in 1978. Our most recent accreditation review was successfully completed in May of 2018. We remain the only accredited undergraduate Landscape Architecture program in the University of California system.

Program Mission

We strive to prepare our students to be future leaders in landscape architecture. Our program offers students a well-rounded, general education, while, at the same time, providing the skills and technical expertise necessary for a professional career. The curriculum includes breadth in the humanities, social sciences, and environmental sciences, to help students understand the complex relationships between human cultures, the built environment, and natural systems. Our design philosophy, present throughout our coursework, is to increase the quality of life through the development and preservation of landscape design and planning processes that are meaningful, relevant, and sustainable.  Meaningful in that they reinforce sense of self, sense of place, and sense of community; relevant in that they provide solutions to environmental problems rather than contributing to them; sustainable in that they embody long-term, permanently beneficial relationship between human culture and the physical/natural environment.

If you are interested in learning more about the profession, we recommend you visit: American Society of Landscape Architects - Your Path to Landscape Architecture. Our 2008 alumna, Laura Podolsky, gave the following talk about the profession in general.