Beth Meyer

In 2022, Elizabeth Meyer was appointed the inaugural faculty director of the Morven Sustainability Lab, a 2900-acre place-based living laboratory. Aligned with UVA’s 2030 Plan, this pan-university effort explores, discovers and creates more enduring and just ways of multi-species flourishing in the world. We are UVA’s experimental and experiential Grounds. The Morven Sustainability Lab hosts classes, develops collaborations and conducts academic research programs that span the humanities, arts and sciences including climate science, agro-forestry, socio-environmental history, indigenous land practices, contemplative practices, archaeology, architectural history and landscape studies. Since research into climate-resilient futures requires resilient scholars and citizens, we host workshops and events that cultivate contemplative practices increasing individual well-being, attentiveness and compassion for the communities we want to sustain. Since our lab is located on Monacan lands and a former plantation dependent on enslaved labor, our research, teaching and programs acknowledge, and at times are co-curated by community members with historical ties to the Monacan Nation and the Enslaved Communities of Carter’s land grant, Dick’s Plantation, Morven, Highland and UVA’s Academical Village. In 2015, Ms. Meyer founded the UVA Center for Cultural Landscapes, a transdisciplinary research center dedicated to exploring critical approaches to researching, interpreting, and changing landscapes through management, planning, and design. Meyer previously served as Dean of UVA’s School of Architecture and Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture.