University of Georgia

Shape the Landscape. Shape the Future.

The Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) program at the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design equips students with a solid foundation in design, technical skills, and hands-on experience essential for success in both public service and private practice. Through immersive service-learning projects, students engage with communities, developing the expertise and values needed to address critical health, safety, and environmental challenges.

Our MLA program also empowers students to explore their unique paths within the profession, whether by advancing as leaders in practice, pursuing academia, or pushing boundaries through scholarly discovery. With a focus on shaping resilient, inspiring spaces, the CED’s MLA program prepares graduates to excel as innovative practitioners, educators, and researchers in the planning, design, and management of the natural and built environment.

The MLA offers thesis and non-thesis options. The non-thesis option has a greater focus on research-based design. The non-thesis option will still require a defense and a positive committee vote to successfully complete the program.

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About
About
Admissions
Admissions
Curriculum
Curriculum

Career Information

Career Outcomes

2023 MLA Career Outcomes

Graduate Assistantships

There are two main types of Graduate Assistantships: Graduate School Assistantships and CED Departmental Assistantships. The Graduate School awards University-wide assistantships to entering students on the basis of academic merit and other criteria. To be eligible, students must complete their graduate school applications by February 1st and be sponsored by the College. University-wide assistantships require at least 13 hours of work each week, in addition to an academic load requirement of 12 semester hours. The stipend is available each month for up to nine months of the academic year. The College of Environment and Design awards departmental assistantships on the basis of academic achievement and job skills required. These assistantships are open to all students. Courseload and work requirements are the same as for university-wide assistantships, but departmental assistantships are assigned on a semester-by-semester basis. Note that A CED student can be awarded an assistantship from another UGA department/college, but CED will not disburse funds from other departments/colleges on campus. 

For both types of graduate assistantships, no special application is required; all entering students who meet the criteria and apply by January 1 are considered.

For more information regarding funding options for the MLA program, please contact Annelie Klein.

Funding + Scholarships

The University of Georgia Bursar‘s webpage has the most up-to-date information about tuition and fees for the current and past school years. Be sure to note that the MLA program falls under Specific Graduate Rates and not the Standard Graduate Rate. In addition to tuition, there are mandatory fees that give students access to the Athens and UGA bus system, the Ramsey Student Center for recreational sports, and more.

The University of Georgia and the College of Environment and Design (CED) offer various scholarships, fellowships, tuition waivers, and assistantships to help MLA students defray the cost of graduate school. The program coordinator can assign MLA students graduate assistantships based on funding from the CED, the University of Georgia Graduate School, and outside granting agencies. Finally, some students from outside Georgia are eligible for out-of-state tuition waivers, which can be acquired based on state of residence, academic merit, or a change of residency. While every attempt is made to seek funding for graduate students, it is not guaranteed.

In addition to funding available through UGA, each year a variety of organizations offer scholarships to alleviate the cost of tuition and support research. Many summer internships come with a stipend to defray living expenses. It is also possible to maintain a part-time job while in the MLA program, though time management and prioritization are crucial to balancing work with studies.

Graduate Assistantships

There are two main types of Graduate Assistantships: Graduate School Assistantships and CED Departmental Assistantships. The Graduate School awards University-wide assistantships to entering students on the basis of academic merit and other criteria. To be eligible, students must complete their graduate school applications by February 1st and be sponsored by the College. University-wide assistantships require at least 13 hours of work each week, in addition to an academic load requirement of 12 semester hours. The stipend is available each month for up to nine months of the academic year. The College of Environment and Design awards departmental assistantships on the basis of academic achievement and job skills required. These assistantships are open to all students. Courseload and work requirements are the same as for university-wide assistantships, but departmental assistantships are assigned on a semester-by-semester basis. Note that A CED student can be awarded an assistantship from another UGA department/college, but CED will not disburse funds from other departments/colleges on campus. 

For both types of graduate assistantships, no special application is required; all entering students who meet the criteria and apply by January 1 are considered.

For more information regarding funding options for the MLA program, please contact Annelie Klein.

Other Funding Options

CED Scholarships

Graduate School Funding  Funding – UGA Graduate School (not guaranteed)

Application Fee Waivers

Some applicants to the Graduate School at the University of Georgia, such as veterans and applicants from feeder schools, qualify for an application fee waiver. For more information, click here.

For more information regarding funding options for the MLA program, please contact Annelie Klein.

MLA Student Resources

Social Media

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Student Handbook

MLA Student Handbook

MLA Reading List

All students should read at least some of the following publications, or ones like them, before entering Georgia’s MLA program. They are preliminary to landscape architecture: they deal more with values and perceptions than with techniques. Some of them may be out of print and available only libraries, not bookstores; that does not reduce their value as background to landscape architecture.

Books

  • American Landscape Architecture, edited by William Tishler
  • Architecture: Form, Space & Order, Francis D.K. Ching
  • Bounded People, Boundless Lands, Eric Frey Fogle
  • Celebrating Third Place, edited by Ray Oldenburg
  • Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs
  • Design with Nature, Ian L. McHarg
  • Earth in Mind, David Orr
  • Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, Janisse Ray
  • Experience of Place, Tony Hiss
  • Genus Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture, Christian Norberg-Schultz
  • The Geography of Nowhere, James Howard Kunstler
  • God, Dr. Buzzard and the Boltio Man, Cornelia Walker Bailey
  • Great Streets, Allan B. Jacobs
  • The Granite Garden, Urban Nature, and Human Design, Ann Whiston Spirn
  • The Image of the City, Kevin Lynch
  • Keeping Time, William Murtaugh
  • Landscape Architecture: An Illustrated History, William Mann
  • Landscape Journal: Eco-Relevatory Design, Special Issue 1998
  • Landscape Planning – Environmental Applications, William Marsh
  • Placing Nature, Culture, and Landscape Ecology, edited by Joan Nassaver
  • The Meaning of Gardens, edited by Mark Francis and Randolph T. Hester
  • A Moment on Earth, Gregg Easterbrook
  • A Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman
  • A Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander
  • The Necessity for Ruins, John Brinckerhoff Jackson
  • Reading the Landscape of America, May Theilgaard Watts
  • Rural by Design, Randall Arendt
  • A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold
  • Second Nature, Michael Pollan
  • The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, William H. Whyte
  • Trees in Urban Design, Henry F. Arnold
  • Uncommon Ground: Toward Reinventing Nature, edited by William Cronon

Journals

  • American Forests
  • Architectural Record
  • Environment and Behavior
  • Historic Preservation
  • Landscape Architecture
  • Landscape Journal
  • Places
  • Restoration and Management Notes
  • Urban Land

Public Information

Accreditation

MLA Public Information

The Latest CED News

See all News

April 17, 2025 | By: Laura Binford

BLA Students Go Bananas Designing Foraging Garden For Chimpanzees in North Georgia

Last semester, students in Associate Professor Jose Buitrago’s second-year BLA studio brought their talents to Blue Ridge, GA, where they helped envision a new foraging and education garden for Project Chimps, a sanctuary for retired research chimpanzees.

April 1, 2025 | By: Qiong Wang

Collaborative Design in Action: UGA and LSU Students Collaborate on Transformative Service-Learning Project in Savannah

Interdisciplinary Collaboration on a Service-Learning Project in Savannah: UGA and LSU Students Forge Connections Through Design  From November 19 to 21, 2024, students in the PLAN 6520 Urban Design Studio […]

Jarring Affects and Effects of Design

February 26, 2025 | By: CED Historic Preservation Program

Circle Gallery Presents The Jarring Affects and Effects of Design

The CED is excited to present “Jarring Affects and Effects of Urban Renewal,” now on display at the Circle Gallery through April 18th. Explore the unique story behind this exhibition at ced.uga.edu/news!

Georgia Funder for Founders Memorial Garden

February 4, 2025

Celebrating the Founders Memorial Garden

  For generations, the Founders Memorial Garden has been a place of beauty, reflection, and connection. From quiet walks among the blooms to joyful celebrations under its canopy, this cherished […]

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