Many professions use a post nominal abbreviation to indicate a specific position, academic degree, accreditation, office, military decoration and/or honor. For example, John Smith, PE indicates that John is a Professional Engineer.
A Landscape Architect uses the abbreviation “PLA” to indicate that he/she is a licensed Professional Landscape Architect. This distinction means three important things:
- He/she has a college degree in landscape architecture AND
- He/she has passed a rigorous licensing exam to assure competency in the practice of landscape architecture AND
- He/she is licensed in the state he/she is working as a Landscape Architect.
If a person uses “PLA” after his/her name, you can know that this person is a legitimate, licensed Landscape Architect regardless if the ASLA abbreviation is used.