Landscape Architecture at Penn State:
The Undergraduate Program
Penn State's professionally accredited Bachelor of Landscape Architecture program is one of the nation's oldest, founded in 1907. Historically the undergraduate program has been respected by professionals for the skills of its graduates. More recently it has gained respect both from academics and professionals for educational innovations and excellence.

The faculty recently made the commitment to strive to become the finest undergraduate program in the nation. The program has been completely redesigned into a five-year Bachelor of Landscape Architecture program. Our goal is to educate future leaders in the profession of landscape architecture. To do so, the new program challenges students to be inquisitive, creative thinkers through a demanding professional curriculum that is balanced by a liberal education heavy in the humanities, natural sciences, and the arts. Students are required to read, ponder, and effectively communicate their ideas; they are required to study abroad for one semester to broaden their cultural horizons; and they are encouraged to obtain a minor in an area of their choice. These and many other changes are intended to help ensure that our graduates are creative, thoughtful, and circumspect individuals well prepared to deal with our changing world.

See the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture Section of our web site for more info.

Landscape Architecture at Penn State:
The Graduate Program
In a decision to enhance the level of scholarship undertaken in the department, we initiated a graduate program in 1986. The graduate program in landscape architecture at Penn State offers advanced scholarly study to students holding a prior professional landscape architecture degree. The two-year curriculum leads to a post-professional Master of Landscape Architecture degree.

The nature of the graduate program is specialized. The graduate program curriculum consists of core coursework in theory, graduate seminars and methods of inquiry and in scholarly research or research and design. The individualized curriculum relies upon a close mentorship between the student and a selected primary faculty advisor and the development of an area of expertise within the discipline that relates to a mutual area of interest. As is the case in the undergraduate program, the goal of the graduate program is for the student to develop critical and creative abilities within a broad perspective. The difference in the graduate program lies in the degree of rigor and the expectation that graduate work expand upon the knowledge base of the discipline.

Current opportunities for graduate level inquiry are particularly strong in areas of ecological issues, history/ historic preservation and issues of community planning/ rural preservation. In the near future, we hope to initiate two additional opportunities for graduate work: a Center for Community Design Assistance and a graduate option in Watershed Stewardship.

See the Master of Landscape Architecture Section of our web site for more info.

Landscape Architecture at Penn State: The B.L.A./M.L.A. Program
In an effort to provide an excellent education to returning adult students holding a bachelor’s degree in a field other than landscape architecture, the faculty has designed a four-year B.L.A./M.L.A. offering. This program provides the solid building of knowledge, skills and abilities of the undergraduate professional curriculum (2 1/2 years), followed by advanced inquiry characteristic of master’s-level work (1 1/2 years). The B.L.A./M.L.A. program will accept its first students in the fall of 1998.

See the B.L.A./M.L.A. Program Section of our web site for more info.