On Thursday, the Faculty Senate gave its blessing to our new School of Landscape Architecture and Planning, bringing to a close more than a year's effort to achieve the much desired merging of these two programs in a common venture.
Paul Zwick has agreed to serve as its first director, working with chairs
Tina Gurucharri and
Zhong-Ren Peng, to create the well-oiled academic and professional machine we envision. A great job by all involved to prepare and present an impressive new vision for these programs.
That same evening, we had the chance to hear from two great professionals,
Heinz Tesar, architect and professor from Vienna, Austria, and
David Lathrop, representing the globally-engaged design firm, Steelcase. Lathrop wowed a packed house in the Harn with his company's vision of creating new work spaces. This capped a weeklong hands-on studio training project involving the third-year interior design students and managed by other Steelcase professionals.
Also, this week, Professor of Urban Planning,
Dr. Robert Freestone, University of New South Wales, was presenting several lectures on planning, heritage conservation and urban design in Australia, under the sponsorship of the College, the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and the Historic Preservation Program.
All week long, the third-year landscape architecture students were on field excursion, led by
Glenn Acomb and
Kevin Thompson, visiting firms and viewing projects in the Seattle and Portland, Ore., areas. Meanwhile, the BCN faculty put together final preparations for the site visit of the accreditation team that arrived on Saturday for a three-day, intensive assessment of that program.
Finally, on Monday morning in downtown Orlando, years of work that aimed at establishing a College presence in one of Florida's most dynamic cities, and where so many of our alums and friends practice, will come to an exciting conclusion.
Citylab-Orlando officially
will open its door with the University of Central Florida's
Center for Emerging Media, a stunning facility in downtown Orlando, with not only Mayor
Buddy Dyer (a UF alum) and UCF Provost
Terry Hickey recognizing our new partnership, but also
President Machen joining in the celebration to endorse our endeavor.
To undertake and accomplish so much has drawn upon the talents and dedication of so many. I cannot stress enough how much I appreciate those qualities of our faculty, staff and students.
As one of the Steelcase executives mentioned when talking about their studio work with us, they regard our design programs as representing the cutting edge in the field. The vision that he shared for his internationally recognized firm offers the perfect template for us to use. Like Steelcase, we are moving all of our programs in the direction that will keep us out front, including expansion of the opportunities for our students to gain global experiences within their disciplines, reaching new audiences through application of new teaching technologies (especially web-based instruction) and continuing to strengthen our work in support of sustainability (another area where we remain out front). And even as we reinvent our teaching and work spaces, it is not unlike the processes that Steelcase shares with its clients.
Weeks like this are as uplifting as they are exhausting, and it is probably a good idea for us to catch our breath, kick back a bit. But there are other exciting and substantial efforts in the works that will, I hope, give us additional reasons to celebrate in the months ahead. But for now, what a week!!
