2024-05-13T12:08:49-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150377561/maria-villalobos-hernandez-to-lead-iit-s-master-of-landscape-architecture-and-urbanism Niall Patrick Walsh 2023-09-26T11:37:00-04:00 >2023-09-26T13:38:14-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/41/419c95998dc0aee8918dcd0dfbd5c9f5.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p><a href="https://archinect.com/schools/cover/393/illinois-institute-of-technology-iit" target="_blank">The Illinois Institute of Technology</a> has appointed Maria A. Villalobos Hernandez as director of its Master of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism program. &ldquo;Villalobos is the first woman of color and first Latinx person to be a director of a College of Architecture program, and she will bring a deep-rooted sense of equity and justice to the program,&rdquo; the institute said announcing the news.</p> <p>Originally hailing from <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/148002/venezuela" target="_blank">Venezuela</a>, Villalobos Hernandez has &ldquo;witnessed first-hand the impacts of the oil industry on local communities,&rdquo; bringing her to cultivate &ldquo;an approach to <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/73524/landscape-architecture" target="_blank">landscape architecture</a> that prioritizes environmental and social justice.&rdquo; Having exercised this ethos through her practice, Botanical City, Villalobos Hernandez now hopes to infuse the MLA+U program with the same spirit.</p> <p>&ldquo;The weight of this appointment holds resonance beyond personal achievement, as it is a great responsibility to be the inaugural Latin American Director of a program in the College,&rdquo; said Villalobos Herna...</p>