Judy Brittenum Associate Professor BSE, University of Arkansas M.L.A., Louisana State University jbritten@uark.edu 479/575-7385

Judy Byrd Brittenum began her studies in speech communication and theater at the University of Arkansas. She was awarded a membership in National Collegiate Players, a theatre arts honor society, prompting her to pursue graduate work in theatre set design. This interest led her to landscape design. She often says that she is now doing “outdoor set” design, for stagecraft translates directly to landscape architecture.

At Louisiana State University she received a MLA and was awarded a national research grant from the Landscape Architecture Foundation for a thesis in oral communication education. After graduation she maintained a private practice in Baton Rouge. Since coming to the University of Arkansas in 1989, she has taught courses from beginning to upper level design and from planting design to professional practice, receiving the Outstanding Faculty Award twice. As the initial faculty member to team-lead the department’s first study abroad program, she has since led the students in the Paris and UK segment of the Summer European Field Studies program.

Brittenum’s primary research centers around Hot Springs National Park, Ark., and includes historic figures in land preservation: Samuel W. Fordyce and Verna C. Garvan. She was departmental liaison to Mrs. Garvan and Garvan Woodland Gardens, personally assisting her until Garvan’s death in 1992. Her interest in historic and evolving landscapes as well as teaching theory resulted in papers and publications at several conferences. She personally secured documents of noted Arkansans for the Special Collections of the University of Arkansas Libraries. Her collaboration on Hot Springs Creek Greenway has garnered two state ASLA merit awards from Texas and Arkansas. As a board member of the Washington County Historic Society, she consults on historic landscapes.

Brittenum’s activity in ASLA has involved her in all state officer positions. She was made an ASLA Fellow for Public Service in 2001 and was elected national Vice President of Communication in 2005. Her interest in public outreach led her to co-operatively author a landscape architecture merit badge for the Boy Scouts of America.