Leider elected fellow in the American Institute of Certified Planners
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Dr. Charles L. W. Leider, professor and director emeritus of the Landscape Architecture Program at Oklahoma State University, has been elected as a fellow in the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) for excellence in achievement in teaching and mentoring. Leider, who will be inducted in ceremonies set for April 3 in Phoenix, was nominated for the organization’s highest honor by the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) and is already the chapter’s first nationally-designated fellow. His upcoming induction will make him one of only three individuals in the country to be named a fellow in both the national APA and AICP.
“For nearly 30 years, Charles worked tirelessly to create various hands-on projects for his students that allowed him to mentor them while often advancing Oklahoma’s historic preservation efforts,” said OSU President Burns Hargis. “He also emphasized interaction between the students and seasoned professionals as well as practical outreach to towns and communities, which benefitted all those involved. We congratulate him for this nationally-recognized honor as a model planner who has set a high standard through significant contributions to his profession and society.”
As a member of the AICP College of Fellows, Leider will address student organizations, state APA conferences, and professional development programs in support of mentoring and the advancement of the planning profession.
During his tenure at OSU, Leider directed and developed a planning emphasis in landscape architecture, which included a course on historic preservation. He taught students research skills in historic preservation to identify and document historic urban design sites in Oklahoma, using case studies and measured drawings for the Charles E. Peterson Prize Competition sponsored by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and Historic American Landscape Survey (HALS) in the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of Interior. Several of the competition entries, such as Villa Philbrook and the Thomas Berry Estate, received honorable mention recognition.
The 18 case studies submitted to HABS and HALS during Leider’s tenure have been digitized and are available online at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer through the U.S. Library of Congress for historic preservation research. The drawings, from several of the case studies, were used in restoring the Villa Philbrook site and landscape plan, in preparing the new OSU campus master plan in 2012, and the redesign of Oklahoma Civic Center site in 2013. Leider also established two study abroad programs, to Peru and Japan, focused on historical preservation, as well as international internships to study historic urban design sites in Poland and China, and a public practice internship in Luxembourg.
While at OSU, Leider was made an honorary faculty member in 1993 by School of Architecture at Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal, Lima, Peru, for establishing a study abroad program with OSU. In 2011, he was selected as the Outstanding Landscape Architecture Alumnus by the School of Planning, Design and Construction at Michigan State University. At the conclusion of his career in 2014, he received the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Officer’s Citation of Merit Award for leadership in the identification, documentation and sharing of Oklahoma’s Historic Landscapes with the public.
Leider has worked in public, private practice and higher education, aided by a multi-disciplinary educational background in landscape architecture from Michigan State University, master’s degree in city planning from Yale University, and a doctorate in environmental science from Oklahoma State University. While in public practice, he worked for the City of Lansing, Michigan; Fayette County Pennsylvania, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In private practice, he served as director of planning for Clark & Enersen, in Lincoln, Nebraska; HNTB in Kansas City, and William Pereira and Associates of Los Angeles in Doha, Qatar. Leider’s teaching experience also included appointments at the University of Nebraska and the University of Kansas.
For more information, contact: Dr. Charles Leider, drleider@yahoo.com or phone (405) 269-2221.
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