Sam Davis, Interim Dean and Professor of the Graduate School

My time at the College of Environmental Design has spanned forty-four years — beginning as a student the year Wurster Hall opened. Since that time, I have been privileged to participate as a professor, department chair, and now dean. I can therefore say with some authority that this is a vital and vibrant place.

Since its inception in 1959 CED has been at the forefront. We were the first to combine the disciplines of architecture, planning, and landscape architecture into a single college, and in so doing broadened the way in which we analyze, understand, and design our environment. We were among the first to teach that design, no matter how aesthetically delightful, is more enduring and profound when informed by the social and cultural context. We were among the first to have a robust history of architecture program within the same faculty as designers. In addition, we were among the first to offer the doctor of philosophy degree in the three professional disciplines.

As part of a great public university, we have a special responsibility not just to educate the most promising students, but also to encourage them to be stewards of the environment. Berkeley’s undergraduate programs in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban studies combine general education with a broad introduction to the environmental design professions and emphasize the value that what we build must be ethically, socially, and ecologically appropriate. These programs equip students for work in these and related fields, or graduate study, or both.

Each department offers a fully accredited professional master’s degree program that provides the education and skills necessary for effective professional employment and the critical imagination needed for a lifetime of learning. In keeping with CED’s original mission of collaboration and cross-disciplinary study, we offer joint master’s degree programs both within the college and with other top-ranked Berkeley professional schools including Engineering, Law, and Public Health. The Master of Urban Design degree is a unique interdisciplinary program of intensive, advanced study for exceptional architects, planners, and landscape architects. In addition, each department offers advanced graduate work leading to the Ph.D. degree as preparation for careers in teaching and research, programs for which Berkeley is widely recognized.

To support these academic programs and the research efforts of both the faculty and students, CED has an exceptional array of resources — an environmental design library, a 10.6-acre teaching garden, one of the nation’s leading archives of architectural and landscape plans and drawings, and an extensive slide, photograph, and digital image collection. Students have access to a fabrication shop, computer-aided modeling and manufacturing laboratory, photo laboratory, and environmental simulation laboratory. In addition, two research centers, the Center for Environmental Design Research and the Institute for Urban and Regional Development, offer students opportunities to conduct research and publish scholarly reports and journals. In sum, these resources contribute to a learning environment that places CED among the top five environmental design schools in the nation and among the most distinguished internationally.

Our website will give you some idea of the intellectual riches available here at one of the world’s great research universities. I am enthusiastic about all that our college and University have to offer. I welcome your interest and wish you every success as you move forward in your environmental design career.