Inducted as Academy Professor into the Penn State Emeritus Academy, Oct. 2025.

Distinguished Professor Emeritus title conferred by Penn State University, July 2024.

Appointed Distinguished Honors Faculty, Schreyer Honors College, PSU, 2021–2023.

Inaugural Editorial Board Member, Architecture, MDPI, 2021–2025.

Provost’s Advisory Committee on Evan Pugh Fellowships, PSU, 2019–2021.

Featured paper, Digital Landscape Architecture Conference, with Travis Flohr, DLA conference website, 2021.

Academic Editor, Sustainability, MDPI, Review Board, 2015–2018.

Appointed Distinguished Professor, conferred by Penn State University President, 2017.

Nominee, Penn State Laureate (declined), PSU Provost nominated, 2017.

Citation, Bringing Back the Don project cited for “Most significant and influential landscape architectural project, decade 1988-1998”, Ground vol. 43, 2018, from the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects, Cited as one of four top projects of the decade 1988-1998 in Ontario. Role: Associate/Project Manager on the project with Hough Stansbury Woodland from 1990–1993.

Citation, Don Valley Brickworks project cited for “Most significant and influential landscape architectural project, decade 1988–1998” Ground vol. 43, 2018, from the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects. Cited as one of four top projects for the decade. Role: Associate / Project Manager with Hough Stansbury Woodland Ltd.

Profiled, Men in the Community, Town & Gown Magazine, Barash Media, April 2017.

Nominee, Excellence in Service-Learning Award–Senior Level, Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, 2016.

Exemplar on Engaged Scholarship, from the Campus Compact (coalition of 1,100 U.S. colleges and universities committed to higher education engagement), for our Tamminga & DeCiantis (2012) paper on the Pittsburgh Studio, 2015.

Invited National Reviewer, Robert Rausch Foundation, Inaugural Climate Change Solutions Fund, 2015.

Astorino Fellow, from the L. Astorino Endowment, for sabbatical research on Rome's Tiber River, 2014–2015.

LArch 414 Pittsburgh Studio featured in "Engaged Scholarship" video (at 3:00) produced by WPSU/PBS, 2014 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75rYHfx_Xu4&t=47s .

City Lights featured speaker, Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh, on urban regeneration, hosted by the Penn State Alumni Association and College of Arts & Architecture, 2013.

Engaged Scholarship Pioneer award, from the Penn State Engagement Scholarship Council, 2013.

Public Scholarship Fellow, PSU Provost appointment, 2011–2012.

Key informant / cited on engaged studio pedagogy in:  Yarnal, C., J. Conner, et al. 2012. Service Learning / Student Engagement Task Force Final Report, PSU.

LArch 414 studio featured in “The Pittsburgh Studio” video (6:32 total) produced by WPSU/PSB, 2011, at https://vimeo.com/61127014 .

National Finalist (1 of 4), Peter C. Magrath University / Community Engagement Award, for The Pittsburgh Studio: Regenerative Design in Stressed Communities, from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the Engagement Scholarship Consortium, 2011.

W.K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award, for The Pittsburgh Studio, from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities and the Engagement Scholarship Consortium, 2011.

Penn State Award for Community Engagement and Scholarship, for The Pittsburgh Studio: Regenerative Design in Stressed Communities, from PSU Outreach, 2011.

Fellow, Fine Outreach for Science, Global Connections Project, Carnegie Mellon University, 2009–2013.

Visiting Scholar Readership, American Academy in Rome’s Ross Library, as part of TeverEterno? sabbatical research, Spring 2008.

Award for Outstanding Achievement in Urbanism–Theoretical Works, Brazilian Institute of Architects, for Águas Urbanas, V. Tângari, M. Schlee, R. Andrade and M. Dias, eds., 2007 (chapter author).

Featured in Levinson, D. and K. Christensen, 2003. ‘Renewal on the Ravages of a Steel Mill,’ Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World, Vol. 2., for Pittsburgh’s Nine Mile Run regeneration strategy.

First Runner-up, Fulbright-FLAD Distinguished Chair in Landscape Ecology, University of Algarve, Portugal, 2002.

Heinz Faculty Fellowship, Center for Watershed Stewardship, PSU, 2002.

Governor’s Award for Watershed Stewardship, for Pittsburgh’s Nine Mile Run Project, with T. Collins, R. Goto, R. Bingham, S. Thompson, and John Rawlins, 2001.

Governor’s Award for Watershed Stewardship, for Maiden Creek Watershed Assessment and Stewardship Plan, Assessment and Planning Category, as Faculty Fellow with the Center for Watershed Steward, 2001.

Toronto Architecture & Urban Design Award, for the Don Valley Brickworks, Large Places category, from the City of Toronto, with Hough Stansbury Woodland Ltd., 2000.

Nine Mile Run work featured in Miles, M. 2000. The Uses of Decoration: Essays in the Architectural Everyday, chapter 6: Reclamation: Nine Mile Run Greenway.

Heinz Faculty Fellowship, Center for Watershed Stewardship, PSU, 1999–2000.

Award of Recognition for Research and Teaching, from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, 1998.

Three Rivers Environmental Award, for the Nine Mile Run Project, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, as CMU Research Fellow with T. Collins, R. Goto, R. Bingham, and the NMR core team, 1998.

Don River restoration work featured as the center spread in: Crombie, David. 1993. Regeneration: Toronto’s Waterfront and the Sustainable City. Royal Commission on the Future of the Toronto Waterfront.

National Award for Planning Excellence, for the Don River Restoration project, from the Canadian Institute of Planners, design co-lead with M. Hough and R. Newbury, 1992.

National Citation Award, for the Toronto Brickworks, from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, design co-lead, with M. Hough and G. Baird, 1991.

Urban Design Award of Excellence, for Hurontario Streetscape Enhancement, from the City of Mississauga, design lead, with Totten Sims Hubicki Associates, 1989.

CMHC Graduate Fellowship, Queen's University, 1984–1986.

Queen's University Graduate Scholarship, 1983–1984.

Award of Honor, American Society of Landscape Architects, University of Guelph, 1983.

Award of Merit, Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, University of Guelph, 1983.

Academic Proficiency Awards, Ontario Agricultural College, University of Guelph, 1981, 1982, 1983.

Highest Academic Proficiency in Design Studio Awards, Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson Polytechnical Institute), 1980, 1981.

Sanctuary of Penha, Portugal