Hollander Fellowship to encourage underrepresented students in landscape architecture

City College and the Bernard & Anne Spitzer School of Architecture announced the establishment of the Hollander Design Fellowship. This three-year fellowship was established by Hollander Design Landscape Architects to encourage and support New York City students from demographics and communities that are historically underrepresented in landscape architecture to pursue the field.

“Landscape architecture is a profession that is felt at the community level, and all communities should have a voice in helping to shape the fabric of our lives outdoors,” said Edmund Hollander, FASLA, president of the firm. 

The fellowship is given to selected recipients enrolled in the Spitzer School who are pursuing a Master of Landscape Architecture. Candidates must be enrolled in the Landscape Architecture Master’s (MLA) program at Spitzer and in good academic standing (3.0 GPA or above). Students who are Black/African American, Latinx, Alaskan Native or American Indian, or other historically underrepresented cultural or ethnic groups in landscape architecture are encouraged to apply. For more information, contact archgrad@ccny.cuny.edu .

“This generous gift from Hollander Design could not have come at a more timely or important moment, both for the discipline of landscape architecture, and for our school,” said Professor Lesley Lokko, Dean, Spitzer School of Architecture.

Four Spitzer MLA graduates currently work at Hollander Design. They are: Ashley Aaron, ’15, Ryan Morrison, ’14, Lara Friedmann, ’14, and Anna McKeigue, ’20.

“Transforming the profession begins in the academy,” said Professor Catherine Seavitt Nordenson, Director of the Graduate Landscape Architecture Program. “Our program is committed to challenging the entrenched biases and historical canons of landscape architecture that have too long been accepted as the norm. The Hollander Design Fellowship will significantly support the resonance of our students’ diverse voices in the field.”

About Hollander Design 
Hollander Design is one of few landscape architecture firms on Architectural Digest’s AD100 list. The firm’s portfolio features award-winning residential estates and gardens, urban rooftops and public plazas, and cultural and educational institutions. The firm designs gardens and landscapes around the world from three offices in New York City, Chicago, and Sag Harbor, NY. More information on the firm is at www.hollanderdesign.com.

Spitzer School Mission
The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture is deeply committed to creating a just, sustainable, and imaginative future for a rapidly urbanizing planet. Through innovative research and interdisciplinary collaboration, the degree programs in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and Sustainability in the Urban Environment seek to educate a diverse student body to become engaged professionals, both reflecting and enriching the complex communities of local and global environments. The School acts in the spirit of the City College of New York’s historic Ephebic Oath: “To transmit the city, not only not less, but greater, better, and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”

Landscape Architecture Program Mission 
Landscape architecture plays an essential role in connecting social justice to environmental design and the planning of landscape systems in the urban realm. The Graduate Program in Landscape Architecture at the Spitzer School of Architecture, City College of New York prepares students to be leaders in the field of landscape architecture through innovative research and practice in urban ecological design, planning, and policymaking. The Program aims to meet the profession’s current and future challenges through the lens of environmental justice, including globalization, availability of natural resources, land management, and climate change. The curriculum engages critical thinking about complex systems, empowering students to work across multiple scales of the urban landscape.

About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. Today The Chronicle of Higher Education ranks CCNY #2 among public colleges with the greatest success in ensuring the social mobility of our student body; at the same time the Center for world University Rankings places it in the top 1.2% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. More than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight professional schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself.  View CCNY Media Kit.