The Landscaping Process :

The joined processes of creating a biologically complex landscape and campus beautification provide a unique educational experience at UMass Dartmouth. Beginning with the planting of the campus Arboretum by biology students and two faculty members in 1976, through the most recent campus landscape project at the Department of Security in 2000, landscaping of the UMass Dartmouth campus has been a collaboration between faculty, students, staff, grounds personnel and administrators.

Landscaping at UMD is a curriculum-based, service learning experience. It is integrated into courses such as "Landscape and Garden", "Horticulture", and "Plants and Landscape: Theory and Practice in Service to the University." Students in these courses are given an opportunity to put into practice what they have learned in class, during field trips and from their readings. In the interdisciplinary as "Landscape and Garden" course which draws from art, botany and sociology, students not only learn introductory concepts from landscape design and aesthetics in the context of philosophical and social issues, but also practical aspects of botany and landscaping.

In these project-learning activities, both the design processes and the landscape outcomes are considered of equal importance. Students gain valuable experience in consensus-building techniques, personal and group interactions and planning while developing their group designs. They also experience the rewards of contributing to their community and are encouraged to realize that individuals are not helpless victims in a concrete jungle. Students also study how the landscape shapes people's lives and how it affects social interactions and attitudes toward work and study.

Above all, none of these projects presented in these pages would have been possible without the cooperative efforts and interactions among faculty, students, grounds personnel, staff and support from administrators at many levels.