Landscape Architecture and Environmental Sciences

Faculty:
Michael J. Fleischacker, Chairperson
Howard Eyre
Jr. Mingwang Liu
John D. Martin

The impact of humans on the planet is becoming increasingly evident. Now as never before, we are using the resources of our planet to provide more food, more clean water, more energy, and aesthetically pleasing living environments for an ever increasing population. Students within this department acquire the knowledge and skills that will enable them to be responsible productive citizens of the earth.

Majors in Environmental Design; Floriculture and Nursery Production and Marketing; and Landscape Contracting and Management are future oriented. They reach far beyond aesthetics to address the issues which will positively affect tomorrow and help shape a healthier, more beautiful and livable world. The curriculum reflects the career diversity, importance and ecological foundation of our programs, and has been designed to prepare people for a profession and for life. Programs of study are rich in the basic sciences and mathematics, liberal arts, and the plant and environmental sciences.

Coursework within the majors starts in the freshman year, so that professional development can begin immediately.

The curriculum is designed for each student to develop strength and depth in a career area specialty: Environmental Design, Floriculture and Nursery Production and Marketing, or Landscape Contracting and Management. However, all students receive a skill overview of the entire field. Ample curriculum flexibility is provided so that students may elect additional science, professional or business courses. Students may also minor in any discipline outside of their major. This flexibility and interdisciplinary approach helps students develop a background which best fits their personal career objectives.

The University operates approximately 30,000 square feet of greenhouses including the ultra-modern, computerized Arthur Poley Greenhouse Complex. It also operates a field/container landscape nursery operation, lath houses, and a propagation facility, all of which are used extensively in teaching. A modern teaching complex houses a laboratory, design studio, student florist shop, and faculty offices. These facilities are equipped to reflect state-of-the-art standards and are wired for network, Internet and telecommunications access. The sixty-acre main campus, with its landscape plantings, specimens and gardens, is an arboretum and is used expansively as an outdoor laboratory.

The Henry Schmieder Arboretum is a member of the American Public Gardens Association and The Gardens Collaborative. The campus is located close to many large landscape nurseries, greenhouse production facilities, retail and wholesale florists, arboreta and display gardens. Field trips to Longwood Gardens, Morris Arboretum, Princeton Nurseries, and commercial greenhouses, to mention only a few, are taken to enrich classroom teaching.

The Environmental Design; Floriculture and Nursery Production and Marketing; and Landscape Contracting and Management majors work closely with industry leaders and organizations to continually fine-tune their programs to address the future needs of students and industry. To help ensure this, an industry advisory group, consisting of individuals representing the broad spectrum of each major, meets periodically to review programs and to suggest improvements.

Majors in Environmental Design; Floriculture and Nursery Production and Marketing; and Landscape Contracting and Management open many career opportunities for the graduate. Each is a career with a future helping to shape a better tomorrow. Our unique Experiential Learning Program, which enables students to actually experience their professions, combined with the DelVal hands-on approach, gives our graduates an employment edge. Graduates in the three majors have found positions as: landscapers,landscape designers, garden center managers, assistant growers, floral designers, floral shop managers, and greenhouse managers, to name a few.

A Bachelor of Science degree with majors in Environmental Design; Floriculture and Nursery Production and Marketing; and Landscape Contracting and Management also paves the way to graduate school and continued education leading to careers in landscape architecture, research, biotechnology, plant breeding, high school and college teaching, and many areas of plant science.

The total number of credits required for graduation with majors in Environmental Design; Floriculture and Nursery Production and Marketing; and Landscape Contracting and Management is 128, which includes 4 credits for completion of the Experiential Learning Program.

Within the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Science, the areas of study are:
• Environmental Science
• Landscape Architecture
• Landscape Design / Build