Swaner Green Space Institute Established at Utah State

Utah State University's department of landscape architecture and environmental planning has long been known for its expertise in community and environmental planning.

The department's reputation was recently enhanced by an endowment from 1984 graduate Sumner Swaner and his mother, Dr. Paula M. Swaner-Smoot, a Salt Lake City psychologist. Sumner Swaner is a licensed landscape architect in Salt Lake who has been working with green space design projects for the past several years.

The endowment establishes a green space institute and the Sumner Margetts Swaner Professorship. The institute's mission is to provide education and scientific research in responsible planning that incorporates community values, sustainable growth and the conservation of open space.

The department is conducting a national search for the professor and hopes to make the hire in time for the 2003-04 academic year. The professor and the institute will collaborate with Swaner's non-profit organization, the Center for Green Space Design, which has worked with communities throughout the West.

"The department is very excited about having the Swaner professor join our ranks and strengthening our offerings in community design," said department head Karen Hanna. "This is a wonderful gift for the department, the university and the state of Utah."

The Swaner family has pledged more than $1 million, and the university's goal is to raise an additional $715,000 for institute programs, graduate student support and internships.

Contact: Karen Hanna, prof and head, Landscape Architecture, 435-797-0500
Writer: Jane Koerner (435) 797-1353
Photos: Mykel France and Karen Hanna