Jessica Canfield

Jessica Canfield, PLA, ASLA, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional & Community Planning at Kansas State University. She also serves as the Director of International Programs for the College of Architecture, Planning & Design. Canfield holds a Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture (BSLA) from Colorado State University.

Her award-winning teaching centers on applied learning and student-centered mentorship, connecting students with real-world challenges, professional practice, and research-based inquiry to help them develop the skills, confidence, and perspectives necessary to thrive in academic and professional contexts. Her courses focus on landscape performance, conceptual site design, and the use of storytelling to create meaningful public spaces. Her students have earned numerous awards at national, regional, and local levels. Passionate about international education, Canfield has taught summer courses in Italy and led both international and domestic study tours. She has been recognized with multiple awards, including the APDesign McElwee Faculty Teaching Award and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) Excellence in Design Studio Teaching Award at the junior level.

Canfield is a nationally recognized scholar in landscape performance and landscape architecture education. Her research has been supported by external and internal grants, including multiple fellowships from the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) to develop landscape performance case studies. She is a co-author of "Evaluating Landscape Performance: A Guidebook for Metrics and Methods Selection" (2018), a seminal resource for professional and educational audiences. In 2017, she received the Mary K. Jarvis Distinguished Chair to support research on materials and performance, as well as to establish the Sitework Collection in the APDesign Materials Lab. She is an author for Landscape Architecture Magazine and regularly presents her work at national conferences, including CELA and ASLA.

Her diverse creative projects include the installation of a garden at the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire Garden Festival, a winning entry for the Paducah Art Park design competition, a collaborative installation at Design After Dark for the Denver Art Museum, and curatorial direction for several exhibitions showcasing student work.

Canfield has served on the Prairie-Gateway ASLA Chapter's Executive Committee and the LAF's Education Committee, and has held leadership roles within CELA, including Region 4 Director and Track Co-Chair for Landscape Performance. She serves as a faculty advisor for the Student Chapter of ASLA and regularly participates in landscape architecture advocacy and recruitment efforts. Additionally, she actively advocates for urban tree planting, particularly in her community, where she served as a Co-PI on a tree planting initiative funded by the U.S. Forest Service. Her contributions reflect a sustained commitment to advancing landscape architecture through education, collaboration, mentorship, and strategic leadership.

Canfield is a licensed landscape architect with practice experience from Ground, Inc., EDAW, Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, and Martha Schwartz Partners.