LAUP Celebrates the Dedication of Faculty

Faculty and staff came together on June 2 to celebrate the retirement of two esteemed faculty members. The event honored their decades of service and contributions to the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning:

• Dr. George Rodgers, professor of landscape architecture and urban planning, previously served as department head, director of the HRRC and longtime coordinator of the URSC Ph.D. program. He first joined LAUP in 1991 and has served Texas A&M for 34 years.
• Dr. Tom Woodfin, executive professor of landscape architecture and urban planning, served LAUP for 28 years in roles including BLA coordinator and associate department head. He first served LAUP from 1988 to 2010 and returned to Texas A&M in 2019.

In addition to honoring our retiring faculty, the farewell event also recognized three valued colleagues who will be departing to pursue new professional opportunities:

• Dr. Alex Abuabara, instructional assistant professor of landscape architecture and urban planning, has contributed to LAUP as a researcher and instructor. Alex joined LAUP in 2022 as a post-doc research associate and has taught methods and GIS courses across all academic levels.
• Dr. Tara Goddard, associate professor of urban planning, joined LAUP in 2017 and has advanced research and teaching in transportation planning and safety. Her work focuses on vulnerable road users, driver behavior and sustainable transportation design.
• Dr. Xinyue Ye, endowed professor of urban planning, joined LAUP in 2020 and is recognized among the world’s top 2 percent of scientists. His interdisciplinary work spans spatial data science, GeoAI and urban planning.