Overview
The Master of Science in Landscape Architecture (MSLA) program is for students with prior LAAB-accredited degrees or extensive practice experience in Landscape Architecture who seek post-professional design studies with a topical focus on issues related to professional practice and evidence-based design in the urban environment. Students will be able to uniquely contextualize complex problems that are defined by large-scale systems of landscape ecologies, urban forces, and social conditions. The program of study includes research methodology and continuous development of inquiry and applied research in its approach to disciplinary knowledge. All graduates will complete a thesis or thesis research project reflecting independent work in their final semester of study.
The curriculum of the post-professional MSLA assumes the applicant has a level of professional education or experience that informs their desire to pursue a particular area of interest related to Landscape Architecture within the interdisciplinary atmosphere of graduate education in DAAP. A BS Landscape Architecture-accredited applicant or BLA accredited applicant would be eligible for licensure based on their first LAAB-accredited degree, so the post-professional, non-accredited MSLA at DAAP should be sought to advance an area of specialization with an emphasis on the practice of landscape architecture. The MSLA allows for numerous directed elective courses and certifications that support the development of specialization. This curriculum is therefore a landscape-based, advanced investigation of topics of particular interest to the student that advances and supports research and investigation in the practice of landscape architecture. The MSLA curriculum's post-co-op coursework capitalizes on the co-op experience, to be followed by the final semester of individual accomplishment of a thesis or thesis project based on scholarly investigation of practice as experienced in cooperative education.
The MSLA degree requirement is 49 credits, and because of its emphasis on the practice of landscape architecture, it requires at least one semester of Cooperative Education (Co-op).
MSLA applicants will indicate their selection of one of two Tracks (49 credits each):
MSLA Track 1: Post-Professional Degree, Interdisciplinary Emphasis w/1 co-op
Thesis or Thesis Project in collaboration with DAAP programs such as Fine Art, Industrial Design, Transportation Design, Planning, Architecture, or others
4 consecutive semesters including 1 co-op
25 core credits + 24 elective credits = 49 credits total
Elective credits to support the thesis or thesis project
MSLA Track 2: Post-Professional Degree, Professional Practice Emphasis w/2 co-ops
Thesis or Thesis Project on the critical practice of Landscape Architecture
5 consecutive semesters including 2 co-ops
25 core credits + 24 elective credits = 49 credits total.
Elective credits to support the thesis or thesis project
