Meet Our Alumni: TJ McIntyre

TJ is a 2012 graduate from the landscape architecture program, and currently an adjunct professor at Jefferson.

Where are you from originally?

Southern New Jersey.

What was the best part of your time at Jefferson?

When I was at the University, it was a very small, but collaborative environment. My room mates were in graphic design, architecture and industrial design. We all constantly reviewed each other’s work with a different focus. It always yielded different points of view on the same projects or work.

What has having a Jefferson degree done for you/how has it prepared you for your career?

I was more prepared to work with other design and engineering disciplines due to the collaborative nature of the College of Architecture and the Built Environment. We were encouraged to seek outside opinions on what we were doing.

What are you doing now?

I am a Registered Landscape Architect, Principal and Partner in a multi-disciplinary Landscape Architecture and Civil Engineering firm (GreenHaus Design Group, LLC). I am also an adjunct professor in Jefferson’s Landscape Architecture program.

What’s something people would be surprised to find out about you?

I did not intend to graduate with a Bachelors in landscape architecture degree when applying to Philadelphia University (now Jefferson). I always wanted to be an Architect, but I was told that the Architecture program was full and that I could change majors after my first year. I ended up liking the limitless possibilities of landscape architecture so much, that I chose to stay in the program without any hesitation. I found that I wasn’t limited to a building envelope and my projects could extend past the property lines of my project and into neighborhoods, ecosystems, etc.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to our current students?

Always be willing to learn and treat everything you experience, both good and bad, as a chance to learn something new. Sometimes it’s simply observing/listening to others and learning what not to do in certain situations. If you refuse to learn, you’ll be left behind as our field is constantly evolving and adapting to what does and doesn’t work.