A Look Back at Cal Poly’s Landscape Architecture Celebrating 50 Years 

by Alex Bires  / Photos by Josef Kasperovich 

Fifty years after the inception of the landscape architecture (LA) discipline at Cal Poly, core members of the LA program community gathered for a celebration in the Legacies Courtyard on campus. Alumni and emeriti faculty members from every decade since the 1960s were in attendance. 

The reunion of old friends was enhanced by the aromatic scent of savory barbecued tri-tip wafting through the evening air, accompanied by light chatter. In the adjoining Berg Gallery, individuals pored over images and rehashed the accomplishments of their graduating classes. This final event capped off a weekend of reunion activities that occurred throughout San Luis Obispo.  

Dean of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design Christine Theodoropoulos addresses the LA 50th celebration attendees alongside Head of the Landscape Architecture Department Beverly Bass

Faculty, staff, friends, colleagues and current students enjoy mixer at SLO Brew Rock 

Chief among the dignitaries at the final event was Paul Neel, the “program leader” from its earliest days. Neel submitted the proposal to the California State University’s Chancellor’s Office to start the LA program in 1966, six years before Cal Poly’s first landscape architecture classes were held.  

“We wanted to do that because [Cal Poly] Pomona already had one, and we didn’t want Pomona to have something that we didn’t have,” joked the former director. In the following years, Neel built the foundation for what is now one of the top three landscape architecture programs in the nation.   

Former Cal Poly Associate Dean Dick Zweifel, who also served as president of the American Society of Landscape Architecture, joined Neel in recalling turning points from the LA program’s first years. One of their early accomplishments was ensuring that every graduating student had the opportunity to take the Landscape Architect Registration Examination.  

“We weren't an accredited program,” Zweifel said, “but they… went ahead with Paul's suggestion, and the Landscape Architecture State Board gave provisional accreditation standing to all of the graduates. Since the first graduating class, every single student has been eligible for the exam in California.”  

The foundation formed by Neel and Zweifel, and the program’s other early faculty members, set the tone for the following generations of students.   

Maya Amyx, a then third-year LA student, thought about her connections with those early members. “We probably share values with the founders about the importance of natural environments, open spaces, public spaces and artfully designed spaces,” she said. 

Those bonds were also apparent to Ken Tatarka, who graduated in 2000 and now serves on the Landscape Architecture Department Advisory Council. His graduating class was the first in the program to be granted a fifth year for senior project work, which Tatarka praised as “probably the best thing the department ever did.”  

He also fondly remembered the encouraging and positive nature of the class environment, a sentiment underscored by 2016 graduate Chelsea Keith. She found that reconnecting with faculty members was “really a pleasure … because I had developed close relationships with them. It's almost like being family members because you spend so much time working in here.”  

As the ASLA national student representative during her final two years at Cal Poly, Keith probably spent more time than any of her classmates working with the LA program. Her words were a reminder that generations of landscape architecture students are not only connected by their values, they are also connected by their pure effort, perseverance and pursuit of excellent design.  

All the past remembrances led current LA Department Head Beverly Bass to speculate on the future: What will the LA program look like in 25 years? 

“We sometimes take a backseat to the other disciplines, like architecture and civil engineering, which is really kind of backwards,” Bass said. “We're the people who understand ecology and how all these systems work together.”  

She emphasized the need for a problem-solving attitude to tackle climate change and other critical issues that threaten the environment. “That will be crucial in the next 25 years,” she said. 

LA students like then fourth-year Maryam Abutabikh, fourth-year Hannah Weinstein and second-year Kacie Fetzer hope to be part of those solutions. Fetzer found that being around distinguished alumni was motivational. “It's cool to see how far you can go, but you don't even know where you're going until you get there,” Fetzer said.  

The three students can’t wait to return for the 75th anniversary, when they’ll swap stories and remember their achievements in the landscape architecture program. 

Attendees enjoy display of student work, and videos and images from the department over the decades 

“Celebrating 50 Years: A History of the Landscape Architecture Department” is now available online and for pre-order. To have a physical copy of the book mailed to your residence, please email landscapearchitecture@calpoly.edu, and include your full name, mailing address and “LA 50th Pre-Order" in the subject line. The last day to submit your request for a physical copy is July 31, 2023. Books are expected to be delivered in early August. 

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