MSU's landscape architecture department changes name to encompass environmental design
Author: Vanessa Beeson
A student studies in the courtyard of Mississippi State's newly renamed Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design, which now better reflects its focus on environmental resilience and sustainable design. Department Head Anne Spafford said the update highlights the department's work in environmental systems, sustainability and urban planning. (Photo by Megan Bean)
Mississippi State's landscape architecture department marks a new era with a name change, now known as the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design.
Anne Spafford, landscape architecture and environmental design professor and department head, said the name change aligns more succinctly with the department's mission.
"Often people outside the profession incorrectly assume we only design with plants, but we have a much broader focus in terms of understanding environmental systems—how plants, soils, topography, hydrology, built elements and human needs work together. Adding environmental design to our name helps communicate our mission of training future leaders in environmental resilience and sustainable design," she said.
Spafford said the new name increases visibility among students and collaborators interested in environmental science.
"Students who come to a university with a strong interest in the environment might not know their options. This change makes it easier for students and potential on-campus collaborators, community partners and other institutions to connect with us. I think it also highlights what we do exceptionally well to companies who employ our graduates," she said.
Spafford emphasized the department has long tackled environmental design challenges, such as coastal resilience, sustainable communities, urban heat islands, erosion control, habitat fragmentation, biodiversity, nature-based solutions and more.
"Sustainability and environmental stewardship are of paramount importance. It is our professional responsibility to protect our environment and to design in a way that does not negatively impact the environment or humans," Spafford said. "We will be augmenting our course offerings to encompass concepts such as landscape performance metrics, which measure environmental, economic and social/cultural impacts of built projects. We seek to appeal to majors and nonmajors alike because what we teach is relevant to everyone since we live in a designed world."
MSU's Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design is a unit in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and includes faculty in the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and the MSU Extension Service.
For more, visit www.lalc.msstate.edu.
Date: 2024-10-29
