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 in Horticulture: "Trees in the City" (undergraduate)
LAN ARC 0852 Green vs. Gray: Improving and Sustaining Urban Ecosystems (undergraduate)
LAN ARC 1142 Design Communications (undergraduate)
LAN ARC 2496 Landscape Traditions (undergraduate and graduate)
LAN ARC 3243 Engineering III (undergraduate)
LAN ARC 4147 and 4148 Senior Design Studio (undergraduate)
EVRN STU 1051 Environment and Society (undergraduate)
Academic Experience
Instructor, Temple University
Visiting Faculty, USDA Grad School, Washington, DC
Teaching and Technology Support Partner - University of Virginia
Professional Experience
Casey Trees, Washington, DC – Planning and Design Fellow
E² Inc., Charlottesville, VA - Community Planning and Design Project Manager
The Bioengineering Group, Salem, MA – Ecological Designer
American Academy of Landscape Architecture in France - Fellow
The Arnold Arboretum, Boston, MA – Archival Fellow and Horticultural Intern
Committees, Conference Papers, Awards and Exhibitions
"The Andrew Jackson School: A Neighorhood Green Point" - Leverage: Strengthening Neighborhoods Through Design, Exhibition at the Community Design Collaborative, October 1-October 23, 2011.
"Teaching Green vs. Gray: a case study in urban ecological service learning", a peer-reviewed conference paper given at the annual Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) conference in Los Angeles, March 2011.
Temple University Provost Teaching Academy, participant, Summer 2011.
Temple University Landscape Architecture and Horticulture Association of Students - Faculty Advisor, 2011 - present.
Temple University Commission on the Arts, School of Environmental Design Committee Representative, 2010-present.
Temple University Merit Award, Service, 2009-2010.
Temple Undergraduate Research Forum and Creative Works Symposium (TURF CreWS) Faculty Advisor, 2009 and 2010.
American Society of Landscape Architects, Potomac and Maryland Chapter - 2008 Merit Award for “Growing the Tree Out of the Box” with Casey Trees.
"Greening Watts Branch", annual Howland Exhibition, University of Virginia, Spring 2004.
Memberships and Certifications
American Society of Landscape Architects
International Society of Arboriculture - Certified Arborist
BESS WELLBORN YATES, MLA, ASLA, Lecturer