Mission
The mission of The Conway School is to explore, develop, practice, and teach design of the land that is ecologically and socially sustainable.
How We Pursue This Mission
Explore: The Conway School approaches land design with curiosity and openness. The program encourages students and faculty to question assumptions, examine evolving ecological and social conditions, and engage with the diverse ideas and practices that shape the field of design. Because ecological systems and human communities are constantly changing, our approach to design must remain thoughtful, flexible, and responsive.
Develop: We are committed to advancing responsible and inclusive design and planning practices. The curriculum encourages critical reflection on the history of land design, including who has been excluded from or harmed by past approaches. Students engage with emerging issues, new tools and techniques, and evolving narratives about land, community, and stewardship.
Practice: At Conway, learning happens through practice. Although the school is not a professional design firm, students work on real projects for real clients—communities, organizations, and land stewards. These projects provide hands-on experience in collaborative, community-based design and planning while maintaining high professional standards. Faculty mentors and project partners guide students as they navigate the complexities of real-world design work.
Teach: While the plans and designs produced through these projects aim to benefit communities and ecosystems, the school’s primary purpose is educational. Conway prepares graduates to become thoughtful, skilled practitioners of ecology-informed planning and design. The work students will carry forward in their careers is the horizon toward which the program is directed.
Indigenous Land Statement
The Conway School is located in a place with a troubled history of European colonization and genocide of Indigenous people. We acknowledge that tragic past and seek to learn from it. We acknowledge the long and continuing presence of the Pocumtuc, Nipmuc, and Abenaki people who thrived here before colonization and who continue to inhabit these lands, while also bearing the burden of hundreds of years of oppression and forced relocations of their community members. We intend to continue to evolve in our knowledge and understanding of the people who call this place sacred.
The original inhabitants lived in harmony with the land to provide for their needs without destroying the forests, streams, and meadows that also sustain the rich diversity of non-human life that share these resources. Conway’s curriculum guides students to understand and acknowledge the interconnectedness of human and non-human life, encouraging them to identify means of minimizing destruction and improving synergy within the context of their design and planning work at Conway and beyond. We also encourage students, in their speaking and writing of stories of place, to acknowledge Indigenous history and contemporary presence rather than perpetuating trends of erasure.
Our Story
The Conway School was founded in 1972 by landscape architect Walter Cudnohufsky, who believed design education should be grounded in real-world experience rather than abstract theory. Frustrated with traditional academic programs, he set out to create a different model—one where students would learn through collaboration, hands-on work, and real projects for real clients.
With an $8,000 personal loan, Cudnohufsky renovated buildings at his home in Conway, Massachusetts, and welcomed the school’s first class of nine students. From the beginning, the program functioned more like a working design office than a conventional classroom. Students tackled real planning and design challenges, learned to communicate their ideas clearly, and worked together to develop solutions rooted in both ecological understanding and community needs.
Over the decades, the school has continued to evolve while staying true to its founding philosophy. In 1989, Conway received full accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (now the New England Commission of Higher Education). Leadership transitions and new faculty brought an increasing focus on ecological design, natural systems, and sustainable land use—areas that have become central to the school’s mission.
Today, the Conway School is a small, nonprofit, independent graduate program based in Northampton, Massachusetts. Each year, a cohort of no more than eighteen students completes an intensive ten-month Master of Science in Ecological Design program. Students work collaboratively on projects for municipalities, nonprofits, tribal organizations, and community groups, developing plans that address issues such as climate resilience, conservation, food systems, and equitable community development.
More than fifty years after its founding, the Conway School continues to prepare designers and planners to work thoughtfully with the land and with the communities that depend on it, going beyond appearances to deal profoundly with ecological and social issues at a time of great need.