Klein selected as Ferguson College of Agriculture Alumni Early Career Achievement Award winner
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Media Contact: Jami Mattox | Digital Manager | 405-744-1884 | jami.mattox@okstate.edu
Oklahoma State University’s Ferguson College of Agriculture Alumni Society has selected Cody Klein of Boston, Massachusetts, as a 2023 Early Career Achievement Award winner.
The winners are selected annually by the college’s alumni society for their outstanding achievements in the early years of their careers.
“Cody is a great ambassador for the Ferguson College of Agriculture,” said Rick Reimer, president of the Ferguson College of Agriculture Alumni Society Board. “His skill and talent for landscape architecture has brought prominence to our successful program in the Ferguson College of Agriculture.”
Klein received his bachelor's degree in landscape architecture from the Ferguson College in 2009. While studying at OSU, Klein earned national recognition from the American Society of Landscape Architects.
“My time in the Ferguson College of Agriculture taught me to be resourceful, to recognize opportunity and to drive toward it without hesitation,” Klein said. “There was a kind of bootstrap mentality in our college that resonated with me, and it pushed me to be eager to learn and absorb as much as possible in every circumstance. Our industry is full of extraordinarily creative people with big ideas, but I have always been grounded with a sense of pragmatism and practicality that has served me well over the years. I couldn’t be more grateful for that.”
Klein joined OJB Landscape Architecture as an associate in April 2011, rising to his current role as partner overseeing their East Coast division in six years. An accomplished landscape architect, he specializes in the design of public places and is committed to design excellence and universal accessibility.
Klein’s wide-ranging work for notable clients such as the American Airlines Headquarters, Ford Motor Company, Cleveland Clinic, Capital One and General Electric has earned numerous design accolades. In 2022, Klein’s project at Mass General Brigham in Somerville, Massachusetts, was recognized with an Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects and his projects for Ford Motor Company and American Airlines earned Honor Awards from the Boston Society of Landscape Architects.
Klein continues to give back to the Ferguson College of Agriculture by serving on the OSU Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture’s Landscape Architecture Professional Advisory Committee, advising faculty on curriculum and current trends in the industry.
His years at OSU were some of the most important and defining moments of Klein’s life where he met his wife and many of his closest friends while making lasting moments along the way.
“From late nights in the studio, Saturday morning tailgates and Homecoming festivities, there was never a dull moment in Stillwater,” he said.
Although the alumnus feels honored and humbled to receive the OSU award, he doesn’t view it as an individual achievement.
“It’s more a recognition of the unwavering support and dedication of the horticulture and landscape architecture faculty,” Klein said. “Their commitment to my success, and every student’s success, should really be rewarded.”