Landscape Architecture

We are excited for our next virtual professional development event! Join Kali Meeks (Weitzman Professional Development) and Dianne Hull (Penn Career Services) for a refresher information session about how to effectively use MyPenn, LinkedIn, and Handshake. Then, hear an inspiring lecture from Jared McKnight (MArch'12), Senior Associate and Designer at WRT about what employers look for in new hires and how to optimize your LinkedIn profile including adding portfolio content.

Bio:

Captivated by landscape’s potential as a system to support environmental and social resilience, Jared’s design work, and research, explores policy and design interventions that challenge the structures that isolate, exclude, and oppress communities and ecosystems. As a designer and senior associate at WRT, a Philadelphia-based interdisciplinary planning and design practice, his projects focus on resiliency at the intersection of ecological and infrastructural systems, and a participatory engagement process tailored to each community where he works. Jared received his B.Arch with Honors and a B.A. in International Studies, with minors in Architectural History and French & Francophone Studies, from the Pennsylvania State University in 2011, and an M.Arch. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012.

In 2019, Jared stepped away from full-time professional practice to pursue his Master of Landscape Architecture + Urbanism (MLA+U) at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he currently lives. He is a 2021 National Olmsted Scholar Graduate Finalist, and the recipient of the ASLA National Award of Excellence in Research for his capstone project in USC’s MLA+U program. Jared also serves as the Assistant Director of USC’s Landscape Justice Initiative, and on numerous boards and professional organizations. Throughout his 10+ years of professional experience at WRT, he has played major roles in the design of award-winning projects including: the SteelStacks Arts + Cultural Campus (Bethlehem, PA), Oyama-Yuen Harvest Walk (Oyama, Japan), the Philadelphia Holocaust Memorial (Philadelphia, PA), and the Equal Justice Center (Philadelphia, PA). His ongoing and recent works include: the Cleveland Harbor Eastern Embayment Resilience Strategy (CHEERS) (Cleveland, OH), the Guy Park Manor Environmental Education + Resiliency Park (Amsterdam, NY), the Our Legacy, Our Community: A Renewed Vision for North Tulsa Master Plan (Tulsa, OK), and the New Schoolfield District Plan (Danville, VA), among others. Jared has been published in international design journals, and is a sought-after speaker, academic design critic, guest lecturer, and mentor to students and emerging professionals across the country. Jared’s uncompromising determination to make an impact through design is matched only by his devotion to learning, civic leadership, and giving back to the communities that have helped to shape him, and his perspective.

If you require any accessibility accommodation, such as live captioning, audio description, or a sign language interpreter, please email news@design.upenn.edu. Please note, we require at least five (5) business days’ notice.