Michael R. Van Valkenburgh, Charles Eliot Professor of Practice in Landscape Architecture, Emeritus, has been a prominent figure at the Harvard Graduate School of Design since 1982, where he has also served as program director and department chair. He is the founding principal of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. (MVVA), with offices in New York City and Cambridge. His design work encompasses a broad spectrum of project types, including intimate gardens and large-scale urban design ventures. Notable projects by Van Valkenburgh include Brooklyn Bridge Park, Lower Don Lands, and Monk's Garden at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. His firm was commissioned to design the landscape for the Obama Presidential Center and the master plan for the 308-acre Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh. Throughout his career, Van Valkenburgh has received numerous accolades, including the ASLA Firm of the Year award in 2016 and the Brendan Gill Prize in 2010. He is recognized as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy in Rome, and he was awarded the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in 2003 for Environmental Design. His educational background includes a BS in Landscape Architecture from Cornell University and an MLA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.