Landscape Architecture Professor Retires After Teaching 27 Years in the Fay Jones School

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A reception honoring Judy Brittenum is planned for Friday, April 22, in the Fred and Mary Smith Exhibition Gallery in Vol Walker Hall.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Judy Brittenum, an associate professor of landscape architecture, is retiring at the end of this semester, after teaching in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas since 1989.

A reception honoring Brittenum will be held from 5-6:30 p.m. Friday, April 22, in the Fred and Mary Smith Exhibition Gallery in Vol Walker Hall.

Brittenum started her own college career studying speech communications, drama and English literature at the University of Arkansas, and she holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from this university. She also received a Master of Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University. Her love of horticulture led her to a career as a landscape architect, and with her degree in theater, she said, she was essentially building outdoor sets.

"You think about the choreography of space and how people move through it and the kind of spaces they go through," Brittenum said. "And landscape architecture, it's not just plants that are planted flat on the ground, it's spatial definition with trees, and the ground becomes the floor and a variety of things like that, so there is a tie in there."

After graduation, Brittenum started a private practice in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, before moving to Arkansas to pursue teaching. She has been a registered landscape architect in Arkansas for 29 years and has worked on research and several projects, including her Hot Springs Creek Greenway Master Plan, a project incorporating land planning and pedestrian hiking trails, as well as automobile and trolley transportation.

During her time in Arkansas, Brittenum has contributed greatly not only to the university but the Fayetteville community. She has been a member of the Washington County Historic Society Board of Directors since 2001. Brittenum is also a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and has held several positions in the society. In 2001, she was made a Fellow for Public Service and was elected a national Vice President of Communications in 2005.

Brittenum also worked as the university's faculty liaison to Verna Cook Garvan from 1989 until her death in 1992. She is a Garvan Woodland Gardens Advisory Board member as well as a Charter member, and she worked on the Garvan Woodland Gardens Executive Committee and its Architectural Design Advisory Board.

Her time and dedication at the university earned her the Outstanding Faculty Award twice as well as the Outstanding Mentor Recognition with the Honors College for several times. In addition, she recently learned she has won the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards Faculty Gold Medal, for her continued support of student research and their scholarship efforts.

Brittenum recalls many wonderful memories from her years spent at the university, but some of her most important ones are connected to the rocking chair in her office. It was one of the "personal attachments" Brittenum had to her students and other members of the school, she said.

"Students used to come in and just sit in my rocking chair, and they used to talk to me," Brittenum said. "I've had faculty members come in too. They'll say things like, 'You mind if I just sit in here for a minute?' You know, I have had people in tears; I've had people laughing — all in that rocking chair."

Please RSVP for the reception by contacting Lane Schmidt at las@uark.edu. For more information, call 479-575-2702.