The School of Landscape Architecture at Louisiana State University believes that the rich cultural heritage and physical setting of Louisiana and the Lower Mississippi Delta region provide an invaluable resource for the study of landscape architecture. Our location on the Gulf of Mexico places us centrally in a region encompassing the Southern United States, Central and South America and the Caribbean. This geographical orientation informs our perspective and we believe that the investigation of this shifting and fluid context will result in the construction of frameworks useful for the study of landscape architectural issues that can have both local and global import.

 

Vision

 

To be an eminent school of landscape architecture, contributing to the understanding, creation, and discussion of the built environment.

Mission

 

To generate, preserve, disseminate, and apply the knowledge of our profession through education, research, creative work, and service.

To generate knowledge

The School of Landscape Architecture believes knowledge is a value-laden commodity. Our mission dictates that the production of knowledge be an activity for the entire community – faculty and students, graduates and undergraduates.

 

Our goal is to continually redefine the potential of landscape architecture and address the problems that beset its contemporary practice. We will accomplish this goal by establishing new relationships with practitioners and the public. We will use this partnership to inform our understanding of landscape architecture and, as a consequence, expand our definition of landscape architecture. This goal involves the discovery, integration, application, and teaching of landscape architecture ideas and knowledge to a wide and diverse audience.

 

To preserve knowledge

 

If inquiry is to be advanced, the School of Landscape Architecture has a responsibility to preserve the knowledge within the profession. To meet its responsibility, the School should preserve and make available reference materials for students and the profession, significant documents of research interest for scholars, and landscape architecture materials for public exhibition.

 

To disseminate knowledge

 

The primary function of the School of Landscape Architecture is the education of students to assume leadership roles in the profession of landscape architecture. In the broadest sense, this requires the development of abilities to research the issues facing a changing profession and the formulation of future directions.

 

Within the context of a curriculum, learning about landscape architecture is best accomplished through an exploration of design. Design thinking prepares one to participate in an increasingly complex world, one that requires interdisciplinary and collaborative team relationships. Through a thorough understanding of the process of design, a graduate of the School of Landscape Architecture will be prepared to conduct inquiry into a multitude of issues, both inside and outside the profession, and to contribute to an expanded vision of landscape architecture. Teaching how to think is more important than teaching what to think.

 

This challenge requires the school to expand the definition of landscape architecture education and the audiences to be served.

 

Within the context of contemporary higher education, studio-based landscape architectural education can serve as a model for those interested in hands-on, active learning. To fulfill this role, the school must be a leader in educational innovation and academic outreach.

 

To apply knowledge

 

The School of Landscape Architecture intends to build upon its long-standing tradition of community service as a means to explore and expand the contributions made by landscape architects to society. As academics and professionals, we embrace our societal responsibility and welcome leadership roles in maintaining ethical and just behavior as it relates to the environment.