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(304) 293-5661 Vaike.Haas@mail.wvu.edu 4318 Agricultural Sciences Haas CV

Vaike Haas

Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture

“Licensed landscape architect and advocate for equitable access to public greenspace”

Haas is a registered landscape architect in the state of West Virginia. Before joining WVU in 2013, she worked in practice for EDAW, one of the largest design and planning firms (later absorbed by AECOM). She helped earn a Colorado Chapter ASLA Award for Excellence for an innovative site analysis protecting the most important vegetation on a 200-acre site for Texas A&M's Health Science Center. Her specialties in practice included: campus planning, green roofs, planting design, and stormwater management. As a Fulbright Grantee (2008-2009), she worked with City officials to examine how public spaces and city planning can better promote ethnic integration in Tallinn, Estonia.

At West Virginia University, her research and creative scholarship promotes social equity and diversity in public greenspace. To this end, she pursues two research tracks: 1) exploring public space with sensitive post-colonial histories or the potential to enhance ethnic/cultural inclusivity (often in Estonia), and 2) seeking to improve social equity with better physical access to greenspace, while simultaneously protecting and enhancing ecological resources within green corridors in West Virginia.

Haas especially enjoys working on community projects where a timely application of engaged scholarship and/or service learning can dramatically shift the outcome. Her students build understanding of course concepts through service learning projects, often generating site analysis and design concepts to support non-profits’ grant-writing and fundraising for professional design work. Haas has been recognized for her engaged scholarship with several awards, including: the 2019 Faculty Award for Excellence in Community Engagement and the 2017 Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture’s Service Learning Award (Junior Level).

Select Publications

  • Haas, V. (2019). Marks on the City: The Impacts of Coastline Emergence, Foreign Rule and Bombing on Contemporary Tallinn. Journal of Baltic Studies, published online, Dec. 29, 2018.
  • Haas, V. (2018). Building a New Central Park through Civic Engagement and Service Learning: Falling Run Greenspace, Morgantown, West Virginia. Landscape Research Record, 7, p. 280-293.
  • Belanger, B. & Haas, V. (2018). Re-imagining Linnahall in Tallinn, Estonia: Shaping the Future of a Post-Soviet Relic in the Context of Modern Urban Redevelopment. Landscape Research Record, 7, p. 355-370.
  • Haas, V. and Shannon, K. (2006). Challenges of Urban Design in Post-Soviet Eastern Europe: The Case of Pärnu, Estonia, Journal of Regional Analysis & Planning, Volume 5: Urban Design Case Based Theory and Practice, p. 30-44.