APLA Welcomes New Faculty Member William Shivers

Please give a warm welcome to Visiting Assistant Professor William Shivers! Shivers is joining the faculty of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (APLA) this fall, where he will be teaching in the Landscape Architecture program. He holds a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University and a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. He is currently working on his dissertation for a Ph.D. in the Constructed Environment at the University of Virginia.

Shivers has taught architecture and landscape architecture at the University of Virginia for the past three years, and his professional experience includes work with Merritt/Chase, Stoss Landscape Urbanism and Design Workshop on domestic and international projects with public and private clients. His research focuses on the ever-changing value and necessity of trees and forests in the creation, expansion and maintenance of the American Landscape. This work seeks to leverage the discipline of landscape architecture as synthetic, working to intersect neighboring disciplines and methods.

This fall, Shivers will be teaching the final Master of Landscape Architecture studio in which he will focus on forests and natural security with accompanying fieldwork trip in Boston. He will also teach Dynamic Systems to undergraduate students, where he will introduce them to the key forces and materials utilized in landscape architecture. “I have been really impressed with how deeply Auburn and the College of Architecture, Design and Construction test, make and build across scales and audiences,” he stated. “The faculty here are excellent, so I am really appreciative of the opportunity to learn from them as an emerging academic. I am also looking forward to developing my work in cultural landscapes and issues of natural security here in the Southeast and Alabama.”

“We are glad to be welcoming William to our faculty,” stated APLA School Head Justin Miller. “His professional experience and interdisciplinary research make him an excellent addition to the school.”