Ph.D. Graduate Faculty

The faculty member who accepts responsibility for the Ph.D. student is called: the major professor, committee chair, advisor, and/or supervisor. These terms are used interchangeably and refer to the same person and role.

The faculty listed below are certified by the University to serve as major professors to Ph.D. students. Other graduate faculty in the College may serve as a member on a Ph.D. committee, but they cannot be the major.

One member of the core Ph.D. faculty must accept mentorship responsibility for any student prior to their admittance to the doctoral program. We will only accept students whose research interests overlap with our Ph.D. faculty’s expertise.

Faculty Scholarly Interests and Expertise

  • Anne Beamish, Ph.D., Professor of Landscape Architecture
    Urban landscape history; design of sidewalks, streets and parks; 18th-19th century pleasure gardens; nighttime and public lighting (historical and contemporary); public art; memory and commemoration; and the cultural life of trees.
  • Huston Gibson, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Regional & Community Planning and Community Development
    The dynamics that comprise the well-being of our communities and regions, and the people who live, work, and play in them.
  • Michael Gibson, M.Arch., Associate Professor of Architecture
    Sustainable design; high-performance buildings; energy modeling; facade systems; prototyping; heat transfer in buildings; building science; and building energy measurement.
  • Hyung Jin Kim, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture
    Community design for physical activity; social & health-related perspectives in urban/rural settings; school environments; quantitative design methods; and GIS-based spatial analysis of urban form.
  • Mary Catherine (Katie) Kingery-Page MLA, Professor of Landscape ArchitectureLandscapes as culture (cultural landscapes, art and landscape architecture, political history of landscapes); community participation (deliberative dialogue for public spaces, co-design); adapting ethnographic methods to understanding place; streetscapes and public spaces; grasslands and grassland plants; and site design.
  • Susmita Rishi, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Regional & Community Planning
    Housing, informality, everyday politics, and southern theory; the space of the home and informal settlements from the perspective of the marginalized residents of such spaces.
  • Lee R. Skabelund, MLA, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture
    Low-impact design and development; watershed-sensitive planning/design; landscape ecology; ecological restoration; stormwater management; ecological green roofs; rain-garden and bio-retention planning; and design.
  • ElDante Winston, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Architecture

    Renaissance architecture,