The Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board (LAAB) welcomed two new board members on January 1. LAAB elected Allan W. Shearer, Ph.D., FASLA, as an educator member and David Yellen, as a public member. Their three-year terms will run through December 31, 2025.

LAAB is the official accrediting organization for professional programs in landscape architecture. The board’s mission is to evaluate, advocate for, and advance the quality of education in professional landscape architecture degree programs.

Allan W. Shearer, Ph.D., FASLA, is an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and the School of Architecture’s Associate Dean for Research and Technology at the University of Texas at Austin. Professor Shearer teaches graduate-level landscape planning and design studios and courses that bridge Landscape Architecture and the school's other planning and design programs. His research centers on how individuals, communities, and societies envision change and how these descriptions of possible futures are used to inform present-day decisions. A particular application of his research has been understanding how notions of security are applied to issues of landscapes and cities. He has contributed to the NATO Urbanization Project, which identified concepts and capabilities needed for future operations. His recent writings include a collaboration on "Conceptualizing a Model of Antifragility for Dense Urban Areas," which was published in the Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture, "The Paradox of Security," which was published in the book Design with Nature Now and excerpted online in Places Journal, and "Roleplaying to Improve Resilience," which appeared in a special issue on design teaching in Architecture_MPS. He has received a Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture's award for Excellence in Research and Creative Works and was listed among the Most Admired Educators by the Design Futures Council. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture.

David Yellen, is Dean and M. Minnette Massey Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law. This is Yellen’s third deanship. He served as Dean and Professor of Law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law from 2005-2016. During this time Loyola was recognized as one of the most innovative law schools in the country. He was frequently included on National Jurist magazine’s list of the 25 Most Influential People in Legal Education. Yellen was previously a faculty member at Hofstra Law School, where he held the Max Schmertz Distinguished Professorship and served as Dean from 2001-2004. He has also been the Reuschlein Distinguished Visiting Professor at Villanova University School of Law and twice served as a visiting professor at Cornell Law School. Yellen previously served as Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, located at the University of Denver, from 2021-2022. From 2016-2019 was President of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Before beginning his academic career, Dean Yellen clerked for a federal judge, practiced law in Washington, D.C., and served as counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. He graduated from Princeton University and Cornell Law School.