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Academic News

Martha Schwartz gets tenure

Harvard University's Graduate School of Design has finally awarded tenure to acclaimed landscape architect Martha Schwartz, who has taught at the school since 1987.  She's the first female professor to get tenure in the school's 106 years, and the move came after Schwartz last January threatened to resign, charging that the landscape architecture department was a bastion of sexism.

Tennessee - New Landscape Architecture Program    

The University of Tennessee will begin offering a master's degree in landscape architecture beginning in the fall of 2008.  The state's higher education commission granted final approval for the program late last month.  The program will be offered by the College of Architecture and Design and the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.  UT architecture professor Tracy Moir-McClean said "We have realized the need to educate landscape architects in Tennessee for years, and finally, we have made it happen."  The school will offer different degree programs, one for students who wish to become accredited landscape architects, and the others for students who want to conduct research in the field but do not want to be registered professional practitioners.

The deadline for applications for the fall 08 semester is February 1, 2008.

More Harvard Sexism

An acclaimed professor at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, Martha Schwartz, has decided to remain at the school, despite her charge that the department is a bastion of sexism.  Schwartz, a noted landscape architect, has taught at the school since 1992.  Two weeks ago, Schwartz submitted a letter of resignation to interim president Derek Bok, noting that the landscape architecture department had never had a tenured female professor in its 106-year history.  In the letter, Schwartz said the department's record with regard "to the fair treatment of women...is appalling."  She went on to ask Bok, "How can this lack of parity be allowed to exist in this day and age in any department within Harvard University no matter how small the department may be?"

Harvard's landscape architecture department has six tenured faculty members, all male, and 11 untenured faculty members, four of whom, including Schwartz, are women.

After talks with Graduate School of Design Dean Alan Altshuler, Schwartz decided to withdraw her resignation. She told the Associated Press that a couple of people she highly respects "encouraged me to try to change things from the inside."

Schwartz is currently on a leave-of-absence, living in London, but she'll soon face another review for the post of professor-in-practice.  If the review is successful, she'd become the first tenured female professor in the department's history.

Just last year, former Harvard President Lawrence Summers was forced out after he gave a speech about female faculty members that many viewed as sexist.
 

The Urban Landscape

University of Massachusetts  - Boston -- has just announced a new certificate program called Urban Landscape & Garden Development.  The program begins with a series of seminars Feb 3-April 28th, 2006, on subjects ranging from Boston landscape history to different cultural influences on the Boston landscape, and visions for the future.  The certificate program -- available online -- will build on the seminar series & offer a wide range of additional courses such as the psychology of the landscape, creating city gardens, plant identification, urban horticulture, and landscape as art.  For more information, call 617-287-7278; or email Susan.Griffin@umb.edu