1/25/00
AU'S LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE; BEIJING UNIVERSITY COLLABORATE
AUBURN -- An exchange program between Auburn University's landscape architecture program and Beijing Forestry University is paying dividends for faculty and students from both universities.
As part of the program five faculty members from the landscape architecture program at Beijing Forestry University have been on the AU campus, lecturing and meeting with faculty and students. They will return to the campus early next week before leaving to visit U.S. parks before returning to China.
Beijing Forestry University has the largest and oldest landscape school in China.
The five faculty members have different research specialties including Chinese tradition architecture, landscape engineering and construction, garden design and urban park planning and large-scale landscape planning.
The exchange program is important, says Jack Williams, professor and coordinator of AU's landscape architecture program, because AU students and faculty can learn much from their friends from the East.
During the program's five-year history, students and faculty from both universities have traded ideas and philosophies about landscape architecture and design.
Richard Roark, a master's thesis student from Wedowee who went with Williams and other students last year to China, says he has developed friendships with Beijing Forestry University students and they correspond regularly by email.
"When I went over there I expected to find that I didn't have anything in common with students there, but I found out differently," he said. "What I found is what we talk about as critical issues of design are the same as they discuss.
"What is good design is something we all understand and what I've learned is that the problems China faces with urban cities to environmental issues are the same issues we face."
The next program is set for this spring, when Richard Kenworthy, a professor of landscape architecture, will take about a dozen AU students to China. He will teach while the AU students take classes at Beijing Forestry University.
The students and professor will also travel the region learning first-hand the difference in architecture. Kenworthy will also develop a course to be taught at AU on the history of Chinese landscapes.
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CONTACT: Williams, 334/844- 5425.