M.L.A., Harvard Graduate School of Design
B.L.A., Louisiana State University

Professor Sarah Thomas Karle’s primary responsibility is to facilitate student learning in the Program of Landscape Architecture by maintaining and enhancing education through strategies that integrate a combination of professional and academic experiences in the field of landscape architecture. She has practiced professionally in the United States, Southeast Asia, and Western Europe, with a primary focus on site design and planning of large public land holdings and environmentally sensitive eco-systems. Her professional experience encompasses all phases of planning, design, and construction documentation. 

In addition to her professional work, she received the Norman T. Newton Prize from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, for her work during her graduate tenure. While at Harvard she participated in the Harvard-Netherlands Project on Climate Change, Water, Land Development, and Adaptation. This year, her independent research for the Harvard-Netherlands Project has been published on multiple occasions in national and international journals, books and newspaper articles. Recently, she received a Layman award, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, to continue her research on adaptive flood management strategies in the Netherlands. In addition to the Harvard-Netherlands Project, she was recognized for her contributions to the history and theory of landscape architecture, with two Penny White Research Grants from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, for historic landscape documentation. She presented these case studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Design as well as at the national conference of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA).

The completion of professional design projects as well as a solid theoretical base in landscape architecture establishes the foundation from which she shares her knowledge and experiences as an educator. Her teaching focuses on the interrelationship between beginning site design and design theories of modern and contemporary landscape architecture. Currently, she teaches undergraduate third year Site Design Studios, History and Theory of Contemporary Landscape Architecture, and Site Systems 1 courses in Landscape Architecture.