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University of Arkansas School of ArchitectureUniversity of Arkansas School of Architecture

120 Vol Walker Hall
Fayetteville, AR 72701
Phone (479) 575-4945
Fax (479) 575-7099

Home / About the School / Department of Landscape Architecture / Garvan Chair and Visiting Professor in Landscape Architecture

Garvan Chair and Visiting Professor in Landscape Architecture

The Garvan Chair was established to honor the memory of brick and timber heiress Verna Cook Garvan. Prior to her death in 1993, Mrs. Garvan worked with landscape architecture faculty to develop 210 wooded acres on Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs into a woodland botanical garden. Bequeathed to the School of Architecture in 1985, the property is now Arkansas’ premier botanical garden, Garvan Woodland Gardens.

The Garvan Chair brings outstanding practitioners to campus to teach, inspire and mentor students. The list of Garvan Chairs includes

  • Lissa Thompson, Ritchie Smith Associates, Memphis, Tenn., 2008

  • Carl Smith, Ironside Farrar Ltd., Edinburgh, Scotland, 2007
  • Janet Coleman, Historic Gardens Manager, Biltmore Estate, Asheville, N.C., 2006
  • Nadia Amoroso, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2005
  • Travis Brooks, Brooks Landscape Architecture, Fayetteville, Ark., 2004
  • Catherine Wiley, CLRdesign, Philadelphia, Pa., 2003
  • William Burke III, HOK, St. Louis, Mo., 2002
  • David Lewis, entrepreneur, landscape architect, and executive chef, Fayetteville, Ark., 1998
  • Barry Kew, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pa., 1995

Verna Garvan