Education

Ph.D., Land Resources, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Master of Architecture, University of Michigan.
Master of Urban Planning, University of Michigan.
Bachelor of Science, Architecture, University of Michigan.

Professional Experience

Project Coordinator. Landscape History Report, GIS, and Historic Landscape Rehabilitation Master Plan for Capitol Park, State of Wisconsin, Department of Administration. With Arnold R. Alanen, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Ken Saiki Design, Inc.

Researcher and First Author. Historical Context Study of Vernacular Art Environments in the Western Great Lakes Region, 1918-1980. National Park Service, Midwest Field Office. With Arnold R. Alanen, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Researcher and First Author. Landscape History and Cultural Landscape Management, North Manitou Island, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan. National Park Service, Midwest Region. With Arnold R. Alanen, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Environmental Review and Designation Coordinator. State Historic Preservation Office, Michigan Historical Center, Lansing, Michigan.

 

Awards and Research Grants

Faculty Research Fellowship. University of Georgia, Willson Center for Humanities and Arts. 2006. Project: Civic Capital: Urban Landscape, Public Space, and the Social Life of a ModelAmericanCity.

UGARF Junior Faculty Research Grant in the Humanities and Arts. University of Georgia, Willson Center for Humanities and Arts. 2005. Project: Mapping the Discursive Terrain of Garden and Forest, 1880-1910.

Scholarship of Engagement for University Engagement (SEGUE) Grant, co-submitted with Marianne Cramer, Associate Professor, School of Environmental Design. University of Georgia, Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach. 2005. Project: Engaging Students in Preserving the Saltwater Geechee Cultural Heritage on Sapelo Island, Georgia,

Merit Award. Wisconsin Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. 2005. Project: Wisconsin’s CapitolPark: A Rehabilitation Master Plan, with Ken Saiki Design, Inc.

Trustee’s Citation of Merit. Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. 2003. Project: The Art which Mends Nature: The Discourse of Environmental Design in Garden and Forest, 1888-1897 (Ph.D. dissertation).

ASLA Merit Award for Research. American Society of Landscape Architects. 2002. Project: Landscape History and Cultural Landscape Management, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, with Arnold R. Alanen.

President’s Award of Excellence. Wisconsin Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. 2002. Project: A Landscape History of Wisconsin’s CapitolPark, 1838-2000; with Arnold R. Alanen and Holly Smith.

 

Selected Publications and Paper Presentations

“The Proof Is in the Park: The Rhetorical Work of Exemplars in American Landscape Architecture.” Paper presented at Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture Annual Conference, Athens, Georgia, 22 September 2005.

“Real Landscape Art: Authenticity as a Rhetorical Resource.” Paper presented at Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation Annual Meeting, Boulder, Colorado, 19 May 2005.

“Souvenirs of Dwelling’s Remains” [Photography], Avatar Review 6 (Summer 2004) (http://avatarreview.net/).

“Nature, History, and Region: Three Themes in American Garden Design, 1890-1930.” Invited lecture for Garden Lecture Series, Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 6 March 2002.

“A Paradoxical Wilderness: Interpretations of Nature and Human History on North Manitou Island, Michigan.” Invited paper presented at The Clearing Institute, Ellison Bay, Wisconsin, 17 June 1998.

MacDonald, Eric A., and Robert O. Christensen. 1996. “The History of Michigan’s Architecture and Landscapes: A Select Reading List,” Preservation Details 2. Lansing, Michigan: Department of State, Michigan Historical Center, State Historic Preservation Office.

Dandekar, Hemalata C., and Eric Allen MacDonald. 1995. “Preserving the Midwestern Barn.” In Barns of the Midwest. Allen G. Noble and Hubert Wilhelm, eds. Athens, Ohio: Swallow Press of the Ohio University Press.

 

Works in Progress

Eric A. MacDonald and Arnold R. Alanen. Civic Capital: Urban Landscape, Public Space, and the Social Life of an AmericanCity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Forthcoming 2008.

Photography in A Public Space: Daley Plaza, an exhibition and public art installation by Paul Drueke. Richard J. Daley Center and Plaza, Chicago. 26 January through 30 March 2006. For more information visit www.asocialevent.com/ 

“Transcending Nature/Culture Dualism: Applying Actant-Network Theory to Cultural Landscapes.” Paper accepted for presentation at Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture Annual Meeting, 2006.

Jennifer Overton and Eric MacDonald. “Landscape Architecture’s Painful Question: The Shifting Boundary-Work of Environmental Art and Landscape Design” (Co-authored with Jennifer Overton). Paper accepted for presentation at Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture Annual Meeting, 2006.

 

Interests

American Environmental Design History and Criticism

History and Sociology of Environmental Professions

Cultural Landscape Interpretation and Management.

 

Current Teaching Assignments

HIPR 6440         Historic Landscape Management

HIPR 6460         Rural Preservation

LAND 3030       Landscape Architectural Design III

LAND 3540       Dwelling & Community

LAND 4720       Senior Project Proposal

LAND 4900       Senior Project

 

Graduate Students

Jennifer Britton. MLA Thesis: “Body and Soul: An Interpretation of Values in the Cultural Landscape of Wine”

Julien Derocher. MLA Thesis: