CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - A University of Virginia professor has been appointed to serve on a commission to help guide the design of the National Mall and other public spaces in Washington.

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The Charlottesville school says that President Barack Obama has appointed Elizabeth Meyer to the seven-member U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.

Meyer is a professor in the School of Architecture and a leading landscape architectural theorist. Meyer says Washington is an amazing city for urban design and landscape architecture.

She called the National Mall "a space for free speech and the nation's front yard."

The commission was created by Congress in 1910. It also oversees national memorials in the U.S. and abroad, and administers the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs program. Meyer's appointment is for four years with a possible reappointment.