Landscape Architecture – Term Teaching Faculty (Lecturer - Assistant Teaching Professor - Assistant Professor of Practice)

Position Title:

Landscape Architecture – Term Teaching Faculty (Lecturer - Assistant Teaching Professor - Assistant Professor of Practice)

Appointment Type:

Faculty

Job Description:

Summary of Duties and Responsibilities:

The Department of Landscape Architecture, in the College of Design at Iowa State University (ISU), invites applications for the position of Lecturer, Assistant Teaching Professor, or Assistant Professor of Practice in the area field teaching, landscape materiality, cultural landscape studies, and design. The term appointment for this position is anticipated to begin August 16, 2024, and the initial length of the appointment will be for one academic year ending May 15, 2025.

The department currently has need for faculty to teach courses in the Savanna Traveling Program during the Fall 2024 Academic Semester and in undergraduate design studios and lecture courses in the Spring 2025 Academic Semester. During the Fall 2024 semester, the chosen candidate will lead one course in the topic areas of landscape architecture studies or landscape material and detail depending on areas of expertise. The chosen candidate will co-teach with two other faculty the introductory landscape architecture studio as part of the suite of Savanna courses. Teaching assignments in the Spring 2025 semester will be negotiated with the department chair and depend on a candidate’s areas of expertise.

The Savanna Traveling Program is an innovative travel-based suite of interconnected courses for students entering the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) degree program (following their first year Design Core). Conducted since 2000, the program utilizes experiential teaching/learning methods as a method for introducing students to a variety of urban, suburban, rural, and wilderness landscapes that embody culture, history, design, construction, and the natural processes/ecology of the living world. 

The teaching and leadership of the program is highly collaborative; three instructors co-teach a 6-credit design/drawing studio, and each of the three instructors also independently teaches one of the other three 3-credit courses (one focuses on history/culture/LA profession/social factors, one on plants/plant communities/geology/ecology, and one on materials/construction/orthographic representation). The teaching assignment for this second Savanna course would be determined by the Chair, according to the “best fit” for the person hired. The full-time teaching assignment for the Spring semester would also be determined by the Chair. 

The Savanna program is classroom/studio-based for the weeks the students are in Ames, and the traveling portion of the program (totaling 4 to 6 weeks, typically split between two excursions) includes a mix of tent-camping in parks and hotel stays in urban environments. A typical day on the traveling portion Savanna includes a significant amount of hiking or walking and collaborative field-based teaching, including guidance for drawing and other modes of analog representation; the primary medium for student work during the travel is their annotated sketchbook. Transportation is by large (15-passenger) vans, driven by instructors and certified student drivers.

The Department of Landscape Architecture is committed to sustaining a collegial, positive, and productive environment for each individual and the collective benefit of all. All faculty members are expected to exhibit and convey good citizenship within department, college, and university activities, interact collegially and maintain the highest standards of integrity and ethical behavior.

Required Minimum Qualifications:

• Accredited degree in Landscape Architecture in conjunction with at least 5 years of landscape architectural experience, OR an accredited degree in Landscape Architecture as well as a Master’s degree in a related field

Preferred Qualifications:

• Significant relevant teaching experience in the Landscape Architecture discipline

• Professional practice experience including the areas of sustainable design, urban design, green infrastructure, and other relevant landscape architecture fields of practice.

About the Landscape Architecture Department

The landscape architecture department is an innovative team committed to collaborative learning and discovery. We prepare the next generation of designers and scholars, working through the medium of landscape, to reinvent relationships among people, land and technology. Rooted in the American heartland, we embrace and incorporate diverse ideas, cultures, and landscapes, advocating for the Midwest landscape and underserved rural populations. The department offers two accredited professional degrees, the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) which accepts u