West Virginia University’s landscape architecture program has received six-year reaccreditation from the American Society of Landscape Architects, the discipline’s premier professional organization.

Housed within WVU’s Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, it is the only accredited landscape architecture program in the state of West Virginia. In recent years the program has been recognized as one of the best in the nation, ranking as high as ninth by the Design Futures Council in 2009.

Conducted by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board, an independent committee created by the ASLA, the accreditation process included an intensive self-evaluation by the WVU program and an on-campus visit and evaluation by a team of landscape architecture academicians, practicing landscape architecture professionals, and administrators from another university.

“The Davis College community is proud of this program, and I’d like to personally salute the talented students and the dedicated faculty,” said Rudolph Almasy, interim dean of the college.

The team spent three days on campus last April meeting with landscape architecture faculty, staff and students, as well as various WVU officials.

According to Charlie Yuill, associate professor of landscape architecture and program chair, being accredited by the ASLA is extremely important to the program and its students.

“Being accredited by the American Society of Landscape Architects is rewarding because that confirms that our program meets the high standards set for this profession,” he said. “We’re consistently providing our students with the educational background and practical knowledge they need to be successful in the field.”

The undergraduate program features four years of intensive studio instruction, opportunities for service learning and a required professional internship. The program has been continually accredited by the ASLA since 1974.

WVU also offers a master’s program in landscape architecture. It began accepting students in the fall of 2010 and currently has six students enrolled in the program. The program is in the process of seeking accreditation through the ASLA.

For more information on both programs, visit http://larc.wvu.edu/.

-WVU-

law/09/27/11

CONTACT: Lindsay Willey; Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design
304.293.2381; Lindsay.Willey@mail.wvu.edu mailto:dwelsh@wvu.edu

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