Lincoln’s School of Landscape Architecture is changing as two long serving champions retire after thirty-plus years shaping the discipline and its graduates. Last week we spoke to Mike Barthelmeh. Today we hear from Simon Swaffield.

A lecturing position advertised at Lincoln College in 1982 prompted landscape architects Simon Swaffield and Jenny Moore to set out from the UK on an OE. “It seemed like a good time to travel,” says Simon. They have now been here for 36 years and are New Zealand citizens, as Simon progressed to become head of department at Lincoln and in 1998 became New Zealand’s first Professor of Landscape Architecture.

Over the years his major focus has been helping landscape architecture develop from a scholarly profession into a full university discipline, and it is now an important part of Lincoln’s academic profile. “I get real pleasure in seeing the Lincoln programme mature,” he says. “It was a real privilege to take on that role. We now have a well established school with great facilities offering degrees at every level, weathering volatility and change in the tertiary sector and within Lincoln.”

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Attend farewell celebration for Simon - click here