Associate Professor in LAEP & Associate Director of NLI
The Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning at NC State University is a nationally recognized leader in landscape architecture education, with a strong track record of ASLA national recognition—including 12 national student awards since 2020 and, most recently, a 2026 Honor Award in Urban Design for the Tlatelolco, Mexico City study on environmental and cultural resilience.
Housed within a STEM-designated, LAAB-accredited MLA program, LAEP integrates design, ecology, and environmental planning from a global, cross-contextual, and cross-cultural perspective, addressing environmental stewardship amid rapid urbanization. Faculty study and design landscapes across both international and regional territories, leading international workshops on urban design, habitat protection, and coastal resilience, and advancing this work through distinctive labs: The Just Lab, connecting landscape practice with African and Indigenous communities and the ancestral ties linking North Carolina to the African continent; the Natural Learning Initiative, creating nature-based environments to support healthy child development and community well-being in diverse and disadvantaged communities; and the Coastal Dynamics Design Lab, addressing coastal resilience through applied design along the North Carolina coast.
The Natural Learning Initiative
The Natural Learning Initiative (NLI, founded in January 2000) is an interdisciplinary, cross-sector research, education, design programming, and communications lab at the College of Design, NC State University. NLI aims to create state-of-the-art environments that support healthy human development and a healthy biosphere by engaging children and families with nature in the spaces of daily life, particularly in disadvantaged, diverse communities.
To achieve this goal, NLI tracks trends, research findings, and emerging approaches and disseminates information to guide innovative, nature-based design solutions, combined with education programs and public events such as design institutes, conferences, and distance education courses.
The NLI team designs and implements original research studies and post-occupancy evaluations, producing findings that inform guidelines, toolkits, publications, and media disseminated via NLI’s website, YouTube channel, and downloadable resources.
Qualifications
Minimum Education and Experience
- A professional degree in Landscape Architecture of a closely related design discipline.
- Demonstrated experience teaching design studios across scales and courses that support LAAB accreditation professional criteria (e.g., research methods, landscape history, urban theory, grading).
- Demonstrated success in teaching and mentoring students at the graduate level.
- Hold a doctoral degree in a field related to NLI focus areas, preferably environment and behavior.
- A focus on environmental and behavior with knowledge of children and family environments.
- A proven record of obtaining competitive extramural funding.
- Evidence of academic impact, including an established record of peer-reviewed publications.
- Prior academic leadership and administrative experience.
Other Required Qualifications
- Ability to teach in a studio setting
- Ability to apply current NLI research tools and measures.
- Ability to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration.
- Demonstrated success in managing projects and/or multidisciplinary teams.
Preferred Qualifications
- Hold a Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) degree.
- Experience as an instructor, practitioner, and researcher.
- Prior academic leadership and administrative experience, including the duration of that experience.
Special Instructions:
Applicants are required to submit:
- Letter of Intent (LOI) describing qualifications and interests, may be submitted under “Cover Letter.”
- CV (Curriculum Vitae)
- Digital portfolio or portfolio link via online application. *Note: digital portfolios and research publications may be submitted as “Other Documents.”
- List of references and their contact information