Landscape Architecture Faculty Win CELA Awards

Two Auburn Landscape Architecture professors were honored with awards at the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture annual conference in Salt Lake City, March 23–27. Charlene LeBleu FASLA , Associate Professor and Chair of the Graduate Program in Landscape Architecture, was presented with the 2016 CELA President’s Award, and David Hill, ASLA, LEED AP, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, received the 2016 Excellence in Design Studio Teaching Award, Junior Level. CELA is the premier international organization for educators in landscape architecture.

CELA’s 2016 President Award recognized LeBleu’s leadership as the CELA Vice-President of Research and Creative Scholarship and the Editor-In-Chief of Landscape Research Record, CELA’s full-paper conference proceedings. “This was a surprise! I am honored, humbled, and delighted to receive this award!” said LeBleu. “It reflects the advances in research and creative scholarship that I have helped put in place over the past two years including recognizing the medium of film as creative scholarship in landscape architecture.”

LeBleu’s primary areas of interest and research have been focused on green building and water quality issues, especially issues related to low impact development design. She was named a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) for her exceptional public service and leadership working with regional partners and city planning commissions on projects such as Auburn’s Boykin Community Center Green for Life Low Impact Development Demonstration Site, Mobile’s Green Streets Initiative, Determining the Role of Headwater Wetlands for Water Quality Improvement in Coastal Alabama, and the Low Impact Development (LID) Handbook for the State of Alabama. She was one of the first faculty members to receive an Auburn University Spirit of Sustainability Award. She is one of six faculty chosen nationally for the designation of Landscape Architecture Foundation Research Fellow.

David Hill’s 2016 Excellence in Design Studio Teaching Award, Junior Level honors “a faculty member’s excellent ability to direct design studio projects that demonstrate outstanding quality and and/or emphasize the critical thinking and creative process.” His nomination for this competitive award included letters of recommendation from administrators and students.

“Having young talent like David Hill committed to teaching is vital to the discipline of landscape architecture education and to the future of the profession of landscape architecture,” writes David Hinson, professor and head of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture. “The CELA Awards program is an important and impactful way for the Council to both reward and recognize teachers who do outstanding work in the classroom—and to identify best practice examples that inspire young talent to invest their passion and energy into teaching careers. David Hill meets both standards.”

Hill joined the APLA faculty in 2009. He has been recognized by his faculty peers as the Outstanding Teacher in 2012 and from students as the 2010 Outstanding Faculty award winner. His Phenology Project, which observes and chronicles how plants change through time, was awarded a 2013 Alabama ASLA Award of Merit as well as a National ASLA Award of Honor in Research. Hill’s adaptive reuse of a 1920s pool hall into his charming, yet industrial, home has won numerous awards and featured in Dwell Magazine’s Modern across America issue.

The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture is composed of virtually all the academic programs of higher learning in landscape architecture in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Their annual awards honor educators, researchers, administrators, and others who make exceptional contributions to the academic practice of landscape architecture through education and research.