2024 Class of Fellows, Michael D. Murphy, FASLA, Texas Chapter

Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
by Texas A&M University

Texas Chapter - Category: Knowledge

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Texas Chapter - Category: Knowledge

A pioneer of the STEM movement and evidenced-based design in landscape architecture, Michael D. Murphy has shared his innovative thinking with thousands of practitioners and educators nationally and internationally through his academic leadership, curricula and design process development, research, publications, and presentations. In a remarkable career spanning half a century, he led the development of an evidence-based design process, focusing on the social and ecological conditions of the site as the foundation of landscape architecture education and practice. He engaged students in public service projects to demonstrate the value of a systems design approach in the classroom and established the Partnership for Community Outreach for the delivery of public service projects and to document their influence on communities. In the mid-eighties, he formed the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pretoria, where he established a locally relevant, comprehensive curriculum and taught courses over four years. Upon his return to TAMU, he conducted a study to inform the further development of the department's STEM-based curriculum. His 2016 book, Landscape Architecture Theory: An Ecological Approach, quickly became one of the few works on landscape architecture theory that was recommended reading for every student. As a well-deserved recipient of the Texas ASLA Distinguished Member Award, Murphy has changed education to include establishing objective, measurable metrics, and evaluation of benefits to guide design creation.