Bess Wellborn Yates, ASLA, joined the Temple University Ambler Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture faculty as a lecturer in 2008. She teaches undergraduate courses in Landscape Traditions, Senior Landscape Design Studio, Design Communications, Trees in the Urban Landscape, and Environment and Society with Temple’s Summer Academy.
After receiving her B.A. in Geology from Wellesley College and Masters of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia, Bess served as a community planner and designer with E² Inc., an environmental consulting firm based in Charlottesville, VA. There she helped lead community land use planning and design projects related to Superfund Sites located across the east coast.
Bess has also worked with the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, MA and The Bioengineering Group in Salem, MA. She most recently worked with Casey Trees in Washington, DC as a Planning and Design Fellow, assisting with tree planting details, the summer high school internship’s design project, and urban tree box retrofits. Her work on “Tree Space Design: Growing the Tree Out of the Box” received a Potomac and Maryland Chapter ASLA Merit Award in 2008.
Bess has taught “Analytical Landscape Drawing and Drafting” at Washington DC’s USDA Graduate School and has served as a “Teaching and Technology Support Partner” with University of Virginia Architecture School students and faculty.
Courses Taught
HORT 2860 Special Topics LA/HORT II (undergraduate)
LAN ARC 1142 Design Communications (undergraduate)
LAN ARC 2496 Landscape Traditions (undergraduate)
LAN ARC 3243 Engineering III (undergraduate)
LAN ARC 4147 Senior Design Studio (undergraduate)
EVRN STU 1051 Environment and Society (undergraduate)
Teaching Experience
Instructor, Temple University
Visiting Faculty, USDA Grad School, Washington, DC
Professional Experience
Casey Trees, Washington, DC – Planning and Design Fellow
E² Inc., Charlottesville, VA - Project Manager
The Bioengineering Group, Salem, MA – Ecological Designer
The Arnold Arboretum, Boston, MA – Archival Fellow
Achievements
American Society of Landscape Architects – Potomac and Maryland Chapters
2008 Merit Award for “Growing the Tree Out of the Box”
Fellow, American Academy of Landscape Architecture in France, Summer 2002
BESS WELLBORN YATES, MLA, ASLA, Lecturer