National Landscape Architecture Month (NLAM) will be celebrated in April with a 2014 theme of “Career Discovery.”
The commemoration provides an opportunity to show students what landscape architects do, said to Mark Focht, president of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). In accordance with the outreach, a newly redesigned career discovery page for students and new education hub for teachers will be launched in April on the ASLA website.
“We want all students to know that landscape architecture is a welcoming, rewarding career that helps make our towns and cities better places to live,” Focht said. “We want to mentor a future generation of landscape architects who will bring fresh, creative ideas to the table.”
A key part of NLAM outreach includes the creation of benchmarks to increase awareness of and early exposure to the landscape architecture profession, especially among African American and Latino students, said Nancy Somerville, executive vice president and CEO of ASLA.
In a recent ASLA survey of graduating landscape architecture students, nearly 84 percent of respondents were Caucasian, 12 percent were Asian or Pacific Islander, 6 percent answered Hispanic/Latino, 2 percent identified as an American Indian, while a mere 1 percent were African-American.
“It’s critical we give all students an early start in learning about the landscape architecture profession,” Somerville said. “NLAM h is the perfect time to turn the spotlight on education. It’s clearly time to make a change.”
NLAM also encompasses Earth Day on April 22 along with the April 26 birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), the father of American landscape architecture and the designer of New York City’s Central Park and other iconic landscapes. In April 2015 it will be renamed World Landscape Architecture Month (WLAM), in recognition of the profession’s global impact and to align with WLAM celebrations around the world.
Additionally to mark the month, the April issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine will be made available online for free.
For more information and to see a schedule of celebratory events, visit the NLAM website.
