The LSU College of Art & Design announces the launch of the new Steele Scholars Program, a scholarship to support LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture students funded generously by LSU landscape architecture alumnus Johnny Steele.

“This kind of generosity truly changes lives,” said Arne Flaten, Dean of the College of Art & Design. “The Johnny Steele scholarship will support LSU landscape architecture students in pursuit of their dream careers, and further cement the program among the best in the country.”

“This gift is transformational for our students, our school, and the practice of landscape architecture,” said Brent Fortenberry, professor of landscape architecture and former interim director of the school. “We all are excited to see this program take shape.”

About Johnny Steele

Johnny Steele has earned a reputation as one of the profession’s premier landscape architects over a career spanning five decades. A native of Bunkie and Cottonport, Louisiana, Johnny received his undergraduate degree in 1973 from Louisiana State University. After a brief flirtation with law school, Johnny enrolled in the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, earning his Master of Landscape Architecture in 1976. Within weeks of graduating Johnny relocated to Houston, Texas to begin his professional career. 

During his time as a third-year landscape architecture student, Johnny began to collaborate with his friend and fellow LSU alum, Doug McDugald, on several design-build projects in Louisiana. These experiences were foundational for Johnny, providing him with a critical preview of the growing industry. At that time, landscape architecture firms offered design services almost exclusively. Having a professional enterprise that offered both design and installation services was so far removed from the industry standard that many looked down on it. 

Cognizant of this gap in the industry, Johnny and Doug decided to take advantage of the opportunity, and they formed McDugald-Steele Landscape Architects and Contractors, one of Houston’s first ever design-build companies. Timing was a boon for the nascent business, and McDugald-Steele grew quickly from landscaping fast food restaurants to large-scale corporate buildings and campuses before settling into the high-end residential space. By the mid 1980’s McDugald-Steele had a staff of 100 people, including designers, horticulturalists, maintenance specialists, and contractors. By the early 2000s, the company had become synonymous with quality landscape services, and competing firms had begun to crop up following the business model that Johnny established.

With the growing success of McDugald-Steele as a design-build firm, it became apparent that expanding into the wholesale nursery business was the next logical step into integrating landscape services for the Houston market. Seizing upon another overlooked opportunity, Johnny established a wholesale nursery in 1978 with another friend and Louisiana native, David Newton, eventually opening other branches around the Houston area and extending into Austin.

By 2000, Johnny decided to turn over the reins of operation at McDugald-Steele, his intention being to focus on the nursery side of the business. Although he remained tangentially involved in design projects for several years, it became clear that there remained a strong desire for Johnny’s unique talents in landscape design.  In 2009, support from a strong client base coalesced in the founding of a second design-build landscape architecture firm which was simply called Johnny Steele Design, Inc. Today, Johnny Steele Design remains one of Houston’s premiere landscape and design companies.

Johnny has always carried a strong passion for landscape architecture. Long before he achieved success in the profession, this passion led him to an LSU program that would become a foundational experience in his life and career. Between his first and second year at the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, Johnny took advantage of a study-abroad program for select students and faculty to travel abroad to study landscape architecture. On this European trip, Johnny would travel from Scotland, England, and France, to Spain, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Italy, and Russia, living in campus dorms and observing classes in landscape architecture wherever available. Having the benefit of traveling to some of Europe’s most significant landscape sites with a group of professors who were experts in the history and design of these places proved to be such a seminal opportunity that Johnny credits this trip with galvanizing his interest in pursuing a career as a landscape architect. Even at that early stage, two years before he would graduate, Johnny made a promise to himself that he would do his utmost to extend the same opportunity to future generations of landscape architecture students.

Although Houston has served as Johnny’s adoptive home for the last five decades, he has never strayed far from his Louisiana roots. Above all, Johnny credits the education he received at LSU with providing a foundation for his success in the field of landscape architecture. The creation of this scholarship fund is an acknowledgement of the lasting impact LSU has had on his career and reflects his desire to provide landscape architecture students with an opportunity that will inspire, challenge, and help realize a dream. 

“Good design is a patient search. This scholarship is intended to help continue that search and move it forward,” he said.

About the Steele Scholars Program

The Steele Scholars Program provides one $50,000 award each year to support a fourth-year student in the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture who is preparing for a spring semester internship of significant professional value. One student will be selected annually. View application information.

About the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture

The Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture has established an international reputation as one of America’s leading and consistently top-ranked programs. Part of the LSU College of Art & Design, the school offers Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and Master of Landscape Architecture programs. For more than 80 years, the program has produced landscape architects who practice all over the world and participate in the full spectrum of the discipline. For more information, visit landscape.lsu.edu.