Oct. 14, 2020

Landscape architecture prof takes home global award for years of service and excellence

Beverly Sandalack wins 2020 International Federation of Landscape Architects President’s Award

Dr. Beverly A Sandalack, PhD,

Dr. Beverly A Sandalack, PhD, professor with the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at the University of Calgary has won the 2020 International Federation of Landscape (IFLA) Architects President’s Award.

James Hayter, IFLA president, says the award is bestowed “on a member of the IFLA community who has contributed over a long period of time and with excellence to the profession of landscape architecture. The award represents [one of] the highest recognitions the global community of landscape architects can offer.”

Sandalack holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Manitoba and a PhD in urban design from Oxford Brookes University. She began teaching at SAPL (formerly the Faculty of Environmental Design) in 1999, and has served in various capacities including professor, and founding director and associate dean (academic) of the Master of Landscape Architecture program. A Fellow of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, she received their Teaching Award in 2018.

She served as chair of competitions for the IFLA for 17 years, working with the local organizing committees who hosted the IFLA World Congress in a different country every year, chairing an international jury, reviewing hundreds of entries, and selecting the winning projects. She also developed the processes and protocols for the competition, to ensure that it reflected the same high standards and consistent objectives each year.

Sandalack explains, "The work gave me a unique vantage point to observe how landscape architecture education continues to evolve, and how the issues that the students are concerned with reflect global concerns. It was a great privilege to serve IFLA in this role, and I am very honoured to receive the President’s Award.”

Sandalack is co-director of The Urban Lab, an interdisciplinary research group at UCalgary. She joins fellow Canadian landscape architect Colleen Mercer-Clarke, who received the award in 2019.