Colgate M Searle is the Head of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. He was instrumental in the development of the Graduate Landscape Architecture Program and the interdisciplinary summer course, Field Ecology/Design Foundations, as well as teaching a wide variety of courses.

Colgate is a registered landscape architect and principal in the firm as well as a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. From his practice, he brings the complex issues of stewardship into the classroom discussions and studio work.

Colgate holds an undergraduate degree from RISD and a Master's degree in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University. He has lectured and been guest critic at Cornell, Harvard, Roger Williams University, Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, the University of Maracaibo, Venezuela, and Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.