Graduate DegreeS

The Iowa State University Landscape Architecture Program offers two graduate degrees: the professional Master of Landscape Architecture and the Master of Science in Landscape Architecture research degree. The program also participates in a joint degree (MLA/MCRP) with the Community and Regional Planning Program.

Application Deadline
The application deadline is February 1 for consideration for fall admission. Applications received by February 1 will have best opportunities for financial assistance. Applications received after February 1 will be reviewed on an individual basis.

Master of Landscape Architecture
In 2009, the landscape architecture faculty voted to make the existing Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) an accredited professional degree. This degree will concentrate on basic professional competencies necessary for taking the licensing exam, along with advanced studies in a focused area of landscape architecture, as per accreditation standards.

Accreditation for that degree has been requested and candidacy status is under way. We expect provisional status after a Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board (LAAB) site visit in early 2011, and full accreditation after a team visit in 2013, after our first group of students graduates, as per LAAB procedures.

Iowa State University's accredited MLA degree would be the only such degree offered in the state of Iowa (including public and private institutions).

Download a PDF file detailing MLA program requirements and proposed course of study

Master of Science in Landscape Architecture
The Master of Science in Landscape Architecture (MSLA) is an unaccredited research degree, focusing on research skills rather than practice skills. It is primarily targeted toward students who already have a professional design degree and wish to gain additional credentials, research experience, and focused knowledge in landscape architecture. In general, students will study areas in which our faculty have special expertise (for example: vegetation management and ecological restoration, community and neighborhood design, watershed management, landscapes of waste and dereliction, cultural landscape preservation, and GIS modeling for landscape planning).

Landscape architecture is increasingly becoming a research-based field as well as a practice-based activity, as society seeks new ways and new technologies to build environments in more sustainable ways. Our department has a long tradition in design-based research and outreach and has, over the past decade, led the College of Design in funded research via programs such as Extension Community and Economic Development, the PLaCE Program, and the Center for Town/Craft in Perry. These programs allow graduate students to work with faculty in conducting place-based research of direct benefit to Iowa's urban, suburban, and rural communities.

Download PDF file of MSLA program requirements and sample curriculum

More Information
For more information on either of these two degree programs, including faculty research interests and financial assistance in the form of assistantships, contact:

Heidi Hohmann, Interim Director of Graduate Education

For application information and other questions, contact: