Kim Receives CELA President’s Award
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EmailJun-Hyun Kim, Ph.D., Professor and Director of the School of Planning, Design and Construction, received the CELA President’s Award during the 2026 Annual Conference.
The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) honored Jun-Hyun Kim, Ph.D., of the School of Planning, Design and Construction (SPDC), with the 2026 CELA President’s Award. The award recognizes exceptional leadership, sustained service, and meaningful contributions that have advanced the mission and impact of CELA.
Kim received the award on March 13, 2026, during the CELA 2026 Annual Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. The award honors individuals whose influence strengthens the organization and the broader academic community.
Founded in 1920, CELA is an international organization representing landscape architecture programs across the world. Its membership includes faculty, academic leaders, and institutions engaged in teaching, research, and service in landscape architecture and related disciplines.
Kim, a professor and the director of SPDC, has shown a career-long commitment to advancing the landscape architecture discipline in and out of the classroom. This includes over a decade of service to CELA, serving as an Executive Board Member from 2013 to 2026 and CELA President from 2024 to 2025, where he also served as Chair of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee.
As an Executive Board Member and President, Kim led and contributed to many initiatives to enhance CELA’s operational success. He led the development and adoption of the CELA Strategic Plan 2025-2030, which established a clear organizational vision and strategic priorities. He further strengthened CELA’s governance and operations by establishing organization-wide privacy and social media policies and reforming the membership structure to improve transparency and long-term sustainability. His commitment to long-term strategic planning also led to his service on the CELA Director Search Committee, which provided leadership continuity throughout the process.
Expanding organizational partnerships proved a top priority for Kim to advance CELA's mission and strengthen its national and international impact. He executed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards (CLARB) to launch the Academic/Faculty Licensure Pilot Program. He also worked closely with the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF), coordinating a Research Exchange Program to advance collaboration between academia and professional practice, and representing CELA on the LAF Superstudio Task Force.
Kim valued strategic communication and enhanced visibility through engagement as avenues to grow CELA’s influence and reach. This involved leading major organizational branding and communications initiatives, such as publishing the CELA monthly newsletter, hosting a logo competition, overseeing a comprehensive website redesign, and launching CELA’s social media platforms. He also organized the 2026 CELA Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, advancing CELA’s mission in scholarly exchange and professional engagement.
Kim shared his deep gratitude to the CELA President and the entire organization upon receiving the award. His dedication is reflected in his words, “I don’t see my service to CELA as additional work on top of my academic career, but as an extension of the value I place on advancing the knowledge and impact of our discipline.” In receiving this honor, Kim joins a select list of awardees whose sustained and meaningful efforts have made a lasting impact on the advancement of CELA and the landscape architecture discipline.
