Teaching

2018 Community Planning Studio Group Photo (Meeting with City Officials, City of Hartford, CT)2020 Community Planning Studio Group Photo (Service Learning Project Final Presentations, Tolland Senior Center, CT)2017 Regional Planning and Design class on field trip to Satan Fe and Rancho Viejo in New Mexico

My educational philosophy seeks to stimulate students’ creativity and curiosity about natural and cultural landscape systems at various scales, sensitize them to the importance of human-nature interaction, and nurture them to have land, resource, and environmental stewardship. One of the greatest goals for my teaching is to have students become motivated, insightful, and enthusiastic thinkers with intellectual force, design proficiency and confidence, not merely a skilled designer. This kind of quality will allow them to join one of the most impactful professional communities and change critical parts of our land and society. I believe that elaborating training process and active invitation to the compelling relationships with theories, contexts, and real-world experiences will approximate the fulfillment of this goal.

More About My Teaching Philosophy

My students are encouraged to expand their roles beyond the traditional disciplinary boundaries with more innovative, integrative and transdisciplinary perspectives in order to solve ever-increasing complex challenges that they face in a professional environment. As educator, I strive to expose my students to real-world problems as much as possible so that they can obtain meaningful insights through site contexts in addition to classroom experiences. As such, site visits are essential part to place-based projects and service learning practices in my courses. Additionally, my design studios serve as an important venue where collaborative design research, immersive learning, multilayered interaction with peers and instructor, and refinements of soft and technical skills occur simultaneously.

While improving my teaching style and approach, I maintain a high level of expectation for students to have them discover their advanced capacities and full potential throughout the learning process. I value engaging in reciprocal communication with students and occasionally use non-traditional materials outside of the standard canon to engage students. For instance, I at times utilize newspaper articles or picture imageries related to a certain topic to stimulate class discussion and planning implications. I also bring a variety of teaching strategies to classes including: visualization technologies, data analysis demonstrations, lab practice, and small group discussion. To advance my teaching performance, I actively capitalize upon the best available means such as peer-evaluation and professional workshops on and off campus.

I attach value to creating an inclusive learning environment. Such endeavors range from a balanced use of instructional examples to embrace diversity in background, gender, ethnicity, culture, intellectual level, and special needs. I believe the successful execution of this value ensures educational equity in a diverse classroom and fosters effective leadership in work environments.

Courses Taught at University of Connecticut 

LAND 4440 Landscape Architecture: Design IV - Community Planning  »  Download Syllabus

LAND 3330 Landscape Architecture: Construction III - Planting Design  »  Download Syllabus

LAND 3230WE Sustainable Development and Landscape Design (Writing & Environmental Literacy course)  »  Download Syllabus

Courses Taught at Texas Tech University

LARC 4410 Proposal Writing   » Download Syllabus

LARC 6203 Thesis Research, Preparation, and Organization   » Download Syllabus

LARC 4401/5301 Urban Design Studio   » Download Syllabus

LARC 2401 Landscape Architecture Design Principles  »  Download Syllabus

LARC 4402/6402 Regional Planning and Design  » Download Syllabus

LARC 4302/5302 Environmental Planning for Sustainable Development  » Download Syllabus

Courses Taught at Arizona State University

*Teaching roles as co-instructor or teaching associate

LPH 598 Landscape Ecology & Planning

Instructor: Edward Cook, Spring 2008

PUP 200 Planned Environment

Instructor: Joochul Kim, Fall 2007

ALA 121 Environmental Design Studio

Instructor: Darren Petrucci, Fall 2007

ALA 200 Introduction of Architecture & Landscape Architecture

Instructor: John Meunier and Edward Cook, Fall 2006

APH 294 Culture of Space

Instructor: Nan Ellen, Fall 2006

ALA 120 Environmental Design Studio

Instructor: Eric Weber, Fall 2006

APH 313 History of Architecture

Instructor: Thomas Morton, Fall 2005