Prof. Terry J. Brown

4. Terry J. BrownAccess to Design Professions
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Terry Brown photo
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Terry J. Brown
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Terry Brown went off to college in the fall of 1964 and has stayed in an academic environment ever since.First at the University of Wisconsin (B.S., Landscape Architecture, 1969) and later at Harvard University (M. Landscape Architecture, 1972), he began the pursuit of the career he has sustained for almost thirty years.

"My thinking about my work has not changed because of my disability.Accessibility for everyone is one of the most important elements in design, and this can only be accomplished by including users in the process." - Professor Terry Brown

Terry teaches in the Landscape Architecture Program at the School of Natural Resources and Environment of the University of Michigan.He started as a lecturer in 1972, and in May 1998 was promoted to professor of landscape architecture, one of his most valued professional honors.He has been chair of the department a number of times and spent a sabbatical year in 1978-79 as visiting lecturer at the University of Melbourne.He teaches two of the major course requirements for all students in the program, one each semester.
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Terry's most recent research includes Beyond Accessibility: Preference for Natural Areas, a study conducted with two of his colleagues, which confirmed perceptions and preferences of individuals with mobility limitations as well as their companions or caregivers, with respect to parks and natural places.The results indicated similarities in preferences regardless of degree of limitation.Forested scenes were far preferred over open field scenes, regardless of the difficulties in negotiating the area.He observes, "To increase the likelihood of a strong match between accessibility and satisfying destinations, it is essential to assure participation of the intended users."

Terry was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1981 and has altered his teaching style as the disease progresses.
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Terry and a graduate student are discussingan assignment at a drafting table.

Description of Photograph:This is a photograph of Terry and a landscape architecture graduate student at her drafting table, discussing an assignment.The student is in the left of the photo, leaning toward Terry who is seated on her right.She is showing her assignment to Terry for his observations and comments.

One accommodation that the University of Michigan has provided Terry is an increase in graduate student assistant hours - he gets twice the amount of time usually provided to professors.He feels his school has been cognizant and supportive of his needs, and "they've never hesitated to adapt my workplace and the studios to be more accessible to me.Still, the university campus itself, with its many historic buildings, is not a totally accessible place."Terry has consciously chosen not to take on the task of adapting the design of the university and explains that the high level of awareness of access issues among his colleagues saves him from feeling that he has to be the person on building review committees to represent access issues-and for this he is grateful.

Terry first became interested in design during a drafting course in high school.A beginning architecture course also stimulated his interest.One of his teachers advised him to take the two-year landscape architecture program at the University of Wisconsin and then transfer to a school that offered a full undergraduate program in architecture.However, he was inspired by two innovative young faculty members at the University of Wisconsin and happily decided to stick with landscape architecture.

Upon reflection, Terry feels that the criteria of good design that were stressed in his education and what he continues to stress in his teaching are inclusive of access concerns.Even for a small .2-acre park in Liberty Square, Ann Arbor, Michigan, for which he drew up the master plan in the mid-1970s, his sense of good design dictated that it be carefully graded throughout."My thinking about my work has not changed because of my disability.Accessibility for everyone is one of the most important elements in design, and this can only be accomplished by including users in the process."

Besides being promoted to full professor, there are two honors of which Terry is most proud.He received the Alumnus of the Year Award from the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Wisconsin in April 1997 in recognition of his many contributions toward a better environment.He also was the recipient of the Award of Distinction in October 1998, presented by the Council of Educators of Landscape Architects (CELA) in recognition of long-term excellence in teaching, research, and service.Only two of these awards are given each year, and his colleagues and former students nominated him without his knowledge.

When not teaching, he loves, "attending Michigan football and ice hockey games (in great accessible seating) and developing a large rock garden in our backyard.

Terry J. Brown, Professor of Landscape ArchitectureUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Terry Brown has been teaching Landscape Architecture for thirty years in the Landscape Architecture Program of the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan.He started as a lecturer in 1972 and in May 1998 was promoted to full professor of Landscape Architecture.He teaches two of the major courses required for all students in the program.The fall term course is Landscape Planning and Analysis, and the winter course is Site Engineering.

Description of Circumstances / Personal

Terry was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1981.His teaching methods have been adapted over time as the disease has progressed.When he first began teaching, Terry lectured using a blackboard.As his needs changed, he moved from using blackboards to typed overheads.Now that he uses a power wheelchair, he finds using a laptop computer and LCD projection the most effective way to lecture.

Figure 1: Terry Brown discussing assignment with studentBrown seated in wheelchair, talking with standing student.Description:After his lecture, Terry and the students proceed to the studio to work on the week's assignment.The photograph depicts Terry and a landscape architecture graduate student discussing the assignment.The student is next to her drafting workstation and brings her assignment to Terry for his observations and comments.Since landscape architecture problems vary in size, Terry oftentimes pulls up to the drafting table to view the student's work that is taped down to the workstation.

Learning about Effective Teaching Techniques

For Terry, adapting his teaching methods has meant striving to learn more about the art of effective teaching.In the mid-eighties, he had a small grant titled Traditional vs.Automated Teaching Methods, which gave him the opportunity to investigate computer-aided methods of teaching.Soon after receiving this grant, he became a participant in a teaching circle formed by colleagues in the School of Natural Resources.The teaching circle was aided by the Center for Research Learning and Teaching (CRLT) an institution on campus that provides teaching resources to professors and student instructors.The group met weekly to discuss various teaching methods, techniques, and readings in the field.The discussions were not centered on issues of teaching with a disability, but Terry found the information very valuable as he adapted his teaching styles to support his changing lifestyle.
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One technique Terry regularly uses from the book is The Muddiest Question.In this simple exercise, the students are asked to write down a quick point from the day's lecture that was the most confusing to them.Terry can then use the responses to discover what topics he needs to spend more time lecturing on and discussing in studio.A second text introduced in the teaching circle that Terry believes is very valuable was Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research and Theory for College and University Teachers by Wilbert J. McKeachie.
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Through the teaching circle and CRLT, Terry learned the importance of monitoring his effectiveness in communicating course materials.He frequently has independent observers from CRLT sit in on his class to critique his teaching styles and provide suggestions for improvement.The independent observers have been very useful for not only teaching techniques, but also course evaluations.He now hands out complete notes printed out from his Powerpoint lectures, finding that the students expand on the notes beyond the basic points of discussion during class.In most lectures, he also uses short active learning sessions, where students are given short problems (three to five minutes) that require them to apply the lecture material.He consults daily with his students about their understanding of the materials to assess whether his teaching is effective and he spends innumerable hours working with his laptop in preparing lectures.

Benefits

The benefits are twofold: for Terry himself and his students.He reflects them in these comments.As he says, "I feel I am a more effective professor and a better communicator because of the ways I've had to adapt."A recent student commented, "As a graduate student, I was very impressed with his teaching methodology, his strict attention to important details, and his comprehensive organization of lectures, assignments and projects.Today as an educator who teaches similar courses and faces similar challenges, I am even more impressed with his highly effective teaching approaches and outstanding quality of his performance.I believe I would not be where I am today if I did not have Professor Brown as one of my teachers."

Although he has been teaching for thirty years, Terry does not take his teaching for granted, but strives to make changes and improvements to his teaching every day.Year after year Terry is able to make his courses understandable- even exciting- to graduate students with backgrounds that run the gamut from dance to physics.His sense of humor, humility, and preparation seem to be the keys to his long and successful career.He respects students and loves teaching.
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For more information contact Terry J. Brown at tbrown@umich.edu.

Read the Forum on this Subject

Citation: Brown, Terry J (2002).

One of the profiles focuses on Terry Brown, a professor of landscape architecture at the University of Michigan.Disabled by multiple sclerosis in 1981, he adapted his teaching technique as his disease progressed.Confined now to a wheelchair, he makes use of a laptop computer coupled to an LCD projector in teaching two of the major courses for all students in U-M's landscape architecture program."Most of the students entering the program do not realize the breadth of the profession and are quite surprised by the courses they are required to take," Prof. Brown says in the book."For example, in the course on Landscape Planning and Analysis there is an encompassing focus: The intent of this course is to acquaint students with important issues, problems, and approaches in landscape planning and at the same time to convey to them than planning is not separate from but an integral part of design."I think you'll find Building a World Fit for People excellent reading.

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Terry J. Brown, Chair