Pioneer Information
Born in Morganza, Louisiana, Howard attended Louisiana State University, earning a B.L.A. in 1975. Upon graduating he was hired as a landscape architect at EDSA (Edward D. Stone, Jr. and Associates) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, becoming an associate in 1976. At EDSA he designed both private and public landscapes throughout Florida, including Key West Golf Villa in Key West, Markham Park in Sunrise, and C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines. In 1980 he left the firm, enrolling in Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, where he received an M.L.A. in 1982. As a graduate student, Howard worked part-time as a landscape architect with the Boston firm, Roy Mann Associates, Inc. In 1983 he returned to EDSA’s Fort Lauderdale office as an associate, designing resorts and communities, such as Orchard Island in Vero Beach, Florida. He served as the firm’s Vice President from 1985 to 1989.
In 1989 he relocated to Greensboro, North Carolina, engaged by North Carolina A&T State University as the director of the landscape architecture program, succeeding Dr. Charles Fountain. He served as the program director until 1996 and as the landscape architecture program coordinator from 2002 to 2014. He taught at the university for 25 years, retiring in 2014.
Howard's service to the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is extensive, spanning more than three decades in both state and national positions. In 1977 Howard met with approximately eight African American landscape architects at the Society’s annual meeting, which led to the creation of the Committee on Blacks in ASLA and the Black Caucus. He was elected a Fellow of the Society in 1995 and served as the organization’s national president in 2008; the first African American to hold the title. In 2012 he received the ASLA’s President Medal.
