| 1888 |
College of Agriculture offers first course in landscape design through the Horticulture and Economic Entomology Program. |
| 1906 |
University officials, in cooperation with the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association, consider establishing a Chair in Landscape Design for John Nolen, the noted landscape architect who pioneered early city planning in Madison and developed Wisconsin's initial state park plan. |
| 1915 |
Franz Aust joins the faculty as the University's first landscape architect, and also acts as campus landscape architect. |
| 1916 |
Faculty members produce the first in a long series of publications advocating landscape design for Wisconsin's rural environment. |
| 1920 |
"The Friends of Our Native Landscape" is organized with the help of Professor Aust, its longtime secretary, and others. One of Wisconsin's first environmental advocacy groups, the Friends continue to address landscape-related issues in the state. |
| 1926 |
Landscape Architecture is offered as a degree option in the Department of Horticulture. |
| 1928 |
G. William Longenecker replaces Franz Aust as campus landscape architect; he serves in this capacity until 1950. |
| 1929 |
G. William Longenecker, a landscape architect and graduate of the Department of Horticulture (BS and MS), receives the first graduate degree in the Landscape Architecture option, and joins the faculty as an Assistant Professor. |
| 1933 |
G. William Longenecker becomes Executive Director of the new University of Wisconsin Arboretum, and serves until 1958. |
| 1934 |
Established following plans prepared by faculty-in particular G. William Longenecker (Landscape Architect), John Curtis (Botanist) and Aldo Leopold (Wildlife Management) the University of Wisconsin Arboretum is dedicated on June 17th. Classic experiments in plant community restoration and management also begin this year with the development of Curtis Prairie. |
| 1935 |
Franz Aust offers a series of talks on beautifying home grounds over WHA Radio. |
| 1937 |
Students and faculty in landscape architecture develop the Landscape Council Ring, a newsletter intended to provide them with their own association and identity within the Department of Horticulture. |
| 1938 |
First known interdisciplinary course in the U.S. that combines human ecology and landscape planning is offered by Franz Aust (Landscape Architect in Horticulture), J.H. Kolb (Rural Sociology), and George Wehrwein (Agricultural Economics). |
| 1964 |
Landscape Architecture becomes an independent Department in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. (Formerly, undergraduate and graduate degrees had been offered by way of the Department of Horticulture.) |
| 1966 |
The undergraduate program in design and planning in Landscape Architecture is accredited by the American Society of Landscape Architects.
The School of Natural Resources is established in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences; it is made up of the Departments of Landscape Architecture, Forestry, and Wildlife Ecology. |
| 1967 |
An Undergraduate Landscape Architecture program in Natural Resources is developed and approved.
The first graduate student research assistantships become available in the Department. |
| 1970 |
The Environmental Awareness Center is established with Landscape Architecture Professor Philip H. Lewis, Jr. as its Director.
The one-hundredth undergraduate degree in landscape architecture is awarded. |
| 1977 |
A total of 77 students receive degrees in landscape architecture, the highest figure in the history of the Department, and one of the highest annual totals in the entire College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. |
| 1979 |
The Department awards its one hundredth Master's degree. |
| 1980 |
The Department of Landscape Architecture hosts the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) conference. The theme, "Research in Landscape Architecture," and the professional meeting format that is used are firsts for CELA.
First Annual Awards Day (now Jensen-Longenecker Awards Banquet) held. |
| 1981 |
Landscape Journal founded by Profs. Arnold Alanen and Darrel Morrison of the Department of Landscape Architecture. |
| 1982 |
The College's Land Information and Computer Graphics Facility is established, led by Landscape Architecture Professor Bernard Niemann, Jr. This facility assumes leadership in the growing field of Geographic Land Information Systems. |
| 1983 |
Landscape Journal receives Award of Merit for Communications from ASLA. |
| 1985 |
A charter is granted to establish the Alpha Gamma Chapter of Sigma Lambda Alpha Honor Society for qualified students in the Department. |
| 1986 |
After having been dormant for several decades, the Department publishes the Landscape Council Ring; it continues to appear regularly and is sent to all alumni of the Department. |
| 1988 |
Special issue of Landscape Journal- "Nature, Form and Meaning" - is published with funding assistance provided by the National Endowment for the Arts; the issue receives a special award from Magazine Design and Production for graphic excellence. |
| 1989 |
The Cooperative State Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, employing several expert reviewers from throughout the United States, performs a comprehensive review of the Department and its programs.
In a single year, five faculty members receive ASLA awards, and one receives a special award of recognition from CELA.
The Department of Landscape Architecture marks its twenty-fifth anniversary. |
| 1990 |
The first Clearing Landscape Institute is conducted. Held at "The Clearing," the former Door County, Wisconsin, home and school of Jens Jensen, the biennial institute provides opportunities for participants to discuss the landscape legacy of the Midwest. |
| 1992 |
The Department opens its new computer lab put together by grants for instructional improvement and lab modernization. Sixteen computer workstations, numerous peripherals and extensive CADD, GIS and imaging software are acquired.
Faculty members in the Department organize the fifteenth annual meeting of the Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation, which is held at The Clearing. |
| 1993 |
Faculty members in the Department begin to conduct landscape research and studies for the National Park Service as part of the Cooperative Park Service Unit (CPSU) agreement signed with the University of Wisconsin. The research opportunities result in Thesis topics for several graduate students, some of whom gain employment with the NPS. |
| 1994 |
The thirtieth anniversary of the Department is marked; during the three decades, close to 1,100 undergraduate and 200 graduate Master's degrees have been awarded.
The first project conducted as part of the Department's CPSU contract with the National Park Service-a regional overview of settlement patterns and cultural and agricultural landscapes at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan--is completed and published by a faculty member and graduate student. Two additional reports appear in 1995 and 1996. |
| 1995-96 |
Professor Evelyn Howell serves as chair of the University Committee, the most powerful committee on campus. |
| 1997 |
Three CPSU-funded reports prepared by faculty members (Alanen and Tishler) and graduate students for Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore are recognized by a national research award from ASLA. |
| 1998 |
The fifth Clearing Landscape Institute, sponsored by the Department, is held in Door County.
Professor William Tishler recieves an Award of Distinction from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture. |
| 1999 |
The thirty-fifth anniversary of the Department occurs. Over 1,200 students have received undergraduate degrees and another 265 ahve earned Master's degrees.
One faculty member (Tishler) recieves a communications award from ASLA for his video production of landscape architect Jens Jensen, and another (Alanen) recieves a research award that recognized his work in documenting the cultural landscape at Sitka National Historical Park in Alaska. Both awards are given at the 100th anniversary conference of the ASLA in Boston. |
| 2000 |
Undergraduate students in the Department organize and sponsor LABASH, an annual gathering organized for students of landscape architecture who attend from throughout North America. With come 500 participants attending three days of activities in Madison, the meeting is considered the finest LABASH event in the organization's history
The Department serves as one of the sponsors for the annual national conference of the Vernacular Architecture Forum; held in Duluth, Minnesota, the meeting is organized by Professor Alanen and a former departmental graduate student. |
| 2000-01 |
Three faculty members serve as editor or co-editor of three books published by major North American presses: Arnold Alanen, Preserving Cultural Landscapes in America (Johns Hopkins University Press); Evelyn Howell, The Historical Ecology Handbook (Island press); and William Tishler, Midwestern Landscape Architecture (University of Illinois Press). |
| 2001 |
Preserving Cultural Landscapes in America receives the Antoinette Forrester Downing Award from the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH); a national Merit Award for Communications from ASLA; and the Allen G. Noble Book Award form the Pioneer America Society. The SAH terms the volume "the most outstanding publication devoted to historical topics in the preservation field that enhances the understanding and protection of the built environment in the US."
Faculty members in the Department help to organize the nineteenth annual meeting of the Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation, held at The Clearing.
Professor Arnold Alanen recieves CELA's Outstanding Educator Award.
Professor John Harrington is appointed Chair of the newly created Campus Natural Areas Committee; this committee is responsible for overseeing the use and protection of the University's large natural areas acreage.
The Department's CPSU contract with the NPS concludes; during the eight-year tenure of the grant, twelve reports for six national parks in the United States are prepared by faculty members and graduate students. |
