ASLA Elevates 37 to Fellowship for Outstanding Achievement

WASHINGTON, June 23, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Society of Landscape Architects has elevated 37 members to the ASLA Council of Fellows for 2015. Fellowship is among the highest honors the ASLA bestows on members and recognizes the contributions of these individuals to their profession and society at large based on their works, leadership and management, knowledge and service. The new class of Fellows will be recognized at the 2015 ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO, November 6-9, in Chicago.

The designation of Fellow is conferred on individuals in recognition of exceptional accomplishments over a sustained period of time. Individuals considered for this distinction must be members of ASLA in good standing for at least 10 years and must be recommended to the Council of Fellows by the Executive Committee of their local chapter, the Executive Committee of ASLA or the Executive Committee of the Council of Fellows.

Adele Ashkar, ASLA
George Washington University
Washington, D.C.

Adele Ashkar, of George Washington University, received her nomination, for Service, from the Potomac Chapter. Throughout her nontraditional career, Ashkar has provided distinguished service to landscape architecture. As a pioneering educator, she seizes every opportunity to expand the boundaries of traditional practice and teaching. An innovative educator and mentor, she promotes landscape architecture to nontraditional, interdisciplinary and career-changing students. By engaging in visible pro bono projects, she has inspired both professional and citizen advocates for sustainable design so that they reach out to celebrate the value of the profession to other public leaders. A visionary, she has sustained an unflagging attitude of advocacy for landscape architecture in local, regional, national and international venues. Her philosophy—that reaching stakeholders at the grassroots level is critical to the support of new public policy—will help shape our landscapes for future generations.

Mary Bates, ASLA
DHM Design Group
Durango, Colorado

Mary Bates, of DHM Design Group, received her nomination, for Service, from the Florida Chapter. Selfless commitment to leadership and service has made Bates a profound influence on the careers of students and professionals alike. She is a strong mentor and role model who has broadened public awareness of landscape architecture and introduced the next generation to the profession. She continues to work with nonprofit organizations and elementary schools to bring her passion for the outdoor environment to hundreds of students, educators, administrators, community professionals and parents, all of whom now realize the value of landscape architecture. Her service within the Florida Chapter and national ASLA includes 13 creatively programmed state annual conferences. So successful have her efforts been, that by 2013, 65 percent of the Florida Chapter's revenue was generated through events that she led.

René Bihan, ASLA
SWA Group
San Francisco

René Bihan, of SWA Group received his nomination, for Works, from the Northern California Chapter. Bihan's work over the past quarter century is recognized internationally for his mastery of the art and practice of landscape architecture. His design-think approach transforms physical and cultural landscapes as he grapples with multi-faceted challenges and educates the public and clients through his unerring commitment to his landscape-centered design principles. He has garnered praise, awards and appointments from fellow design leaders, landscape architecture stewardship organizations, public policy and academic institutions, and professional clientele throughout his career. He is a leader and outspoken advocate for the profession—first as a practitioner, and also as a speaker, juror, lecturer and mentor in domestic and international circles. His works here and abroad continue to thrive and stand as living examples of the impact of thoughtful landscape design.

Mark Boyer, ASLA
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Mark Boyer, of the University of Arkansas received his nomination, for Knowledge, from the Arkansas Chapter.  Boyer's exceptional accomplishments in research and its application in design draws consistent recognition from landscape architects, educators and allied professionals. He is a recognized leader in both education and contributions to the profession's body of knowledge. He influences the profession every day through his groundbreaking research on green roof design and other low-impact development technologies, which he shares generously in the classroom and on the conference lectern. His ongoing work on grading and stormwater will influence generations of landscape architects to come. The public, too, embraces Boyer's expertise as a public policy advisor and valuable resource for master gardeners. His efforts have placed his university at the top in the nation, which also helps drive his department's continuous success in female and minority student enrollment.

Elena Brescia, ASLA
SCAPE/LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
New York City

Elena Brescia, of SCAPE/LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE, received her nomination, for Service, from the New York Chapter. A committed professional, Brescia has volunteered for ASLA and worked pro bono for interdisciplinary organizations continuously for 15 years. She worked on the New York Chapter ASLA Executive Committee for six years and, concurrently, represented the chapter on the interdisciplinary design coalition Executive Committee of the New York New Visions for Rebuilding Lower Manhattan. She was on the New York State Council of Landscape Architects, and has contributed for the past nine years within New York's interdisciplinary arts and design coalition, the Fine Arts Federation of New York, as a director, an officer and its president. She engages many influential groups, which reflects positively on all landscape architects as she continually increases recognition for the profession in the city and among affiliated design disciplines.

Richard C. Bumstead, ASLA
The University of Chicago
Chicago

Richard Bumstead, of the University of Chicago, received his nomination, for Leadership/Management, from the Illinois Chapter. Stewardship embodies preservation, restoration, maintenance and oversight. Bumstead's 32-year stewardship of the University of Chicago campus in turn supports the overall mission of the institution's teaching and research. He develops positive public awareness for the vital contributions landscapes provide, which results in appropriate maintenance, adequate funding and capital investment, environmental practices and asset management. As a result, other institutions have re-examined their own environments and practices, which enhances the role landscape has on the overall campus experience in attracting prospective students, and promoting faculty, staff, student and community collegiality. Through Bumstead's leadership and stewardship, the university is consistently listed as one of the nation's most beautiful campuses, and its landscape is especially noted in travel articles that highlight the surrounding neighborhood of Hyde Park.

Virginia Burt, ASLA
Virginia Burt Designs
Burlington, Ontario

Virginia Burt, of Virginia Burt Designs, received her nomination, in Leadership/Management, from the Council of Fellows Executive Committee. Burt has international recognition that includes national ASLA and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects design awards. Her designs continuously attract the attention of industry professionals and clients across North America. At the vanguard of healthcare facility healing environments, she has developed a holistic approach that attends to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects that weave together the meaning of gardens, genius loci and carefully elicited stakeholder input. She created the first healing garden in Canada dedicated to people with AIDS, the John Gordon Home in Ontario, which incorporates sacred geometry and weaves subconscious meaning into the design. Her body of work successfully demonstrates that exterior spaces intentionally designed for people in disease also deeply benefit the patients' families, volunteers and caregiving staff.

Meg Calkins, ASLA
Ball State University
Muncie, Indiana

Meg Calkins, of Ball State University, received her nomination, in Knowledge, from the Indiana Chapter. Calkins is an internationally respected expert on sustainable landscape architecture. Her two books, The Sustainable Sites Handbook and Materials for Sustainable Sites, are used in classrooms and professional offices around the globe. Calkins has been a key technical advisor since the inception of the Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™) rating system for landscape architecture—which augments the environmental performance of landscape architecture. She is a consummate educator, from her direct student interaction to her easy-to-understand articles and books, as she provides designers and students with the tools to rethink how they consider the environment in their work. She has made sustainability her life's work, and her impact on the underpinnings of environmentally responsible design has been profound. Every design professional can benefit from her knowledge.

David Driapsa, ASLA
David Driapsa Landscape Architect
Naples, Florida

David Driapsa, of David Driapsa Landscape Architect, received his nomination, in Service, from the Florida Chapter. A strong leader was needed when the national ASLA advocacy for congressional funding of the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) ended. Driapsa took those reins during that time of near crisis. He focused implementation of HALS at the ASLA chapter level, which resulted in a period of unprecedented success. Hundreds of landscapes were entered into the Library of Congress, and HALS emerged stronger than ever as many thousands of people came to appreciate landscape architects as conservationists. Driapsa himself has shared his knowledge through the significant historic landscapes he has recorded, which include the Mount Lebanon Shaker Village; the Spanish Colonial village of Chimayo, New Mexico; the segregated African American community of Smokey Hollow; the Olmsted brothers' "lost village" of Boca Grande; and the winter estate of Thomas Edison.

Steven Durrant, ASLA
Alta Planning + Design
Seattle

Steven Durrant, of Alta Planning + Design, received his nomination, in Leadership/Management, from the Washington Chapter. Durrant's 35 years of leadership in park, trail, greenway, urban transit and urban waterfront planning and design includes award-winning projects across the United States and internationally. He has opened six Alta offices in the U.S. and Canada during his 10 years at the firm, and it has grown from 20 to 150 people during one of the most challenging economic downturns of our times. He is a regular speaker on active transportation, trail and greenway design and has been well recognized by national and international organizations for his many contributions to high-quality design solutions. Throughout his career, he has been a major influence on allied professionals and the public. As such, he brings the principles and sensibilities of landscape architecture to many diverse, influential audiences.

Thomas W. Ennis, ASLA
Massachusetts Port Authority
East Boston, Massachusetts

Thomas Ennis, of the Massachusetts Port Authority, received his nomination, in Leadership/Management, from the Boston Society of Landscape Architecture. Throughout his career, Ennis has focused on public sector planning and permitting for large-scale change in the urban landscape. His projects have defined Boston as a major trendsetter through his work on the Boston Central Artery Project and the world's first LEED-certified aviation terminal at Logan Airport. He focuses on the early planning and permitting phases of major public projects to formulate design criteria and standards that set the entire process on a solid track. Most recently, he proposed and designed the Logan Greenway Connector, a bicycle-pedestrian segment that connects East Boston's parks and open spaces, which increased public use significantly. He also drove the development of a master plan to prevent the closure of Hanscom Air Force Base, which ensured its continued operation and subsequent revitalization.

Richard W. Espe, ASLA
MKSK
Columbus, Ohio

Richard Espe, of MKSK, received his nomination, in Works, from the Ohio Chapter. The three pillars of sustainability—environmental, social and fiscal—are fundaments that have defined Espe's 33-year career. From his early study of Ian McHarg's philosophy to his current role as a firm leader, he has incorporated natural systems and green infrastructure, and educated clients along the way. His insights have earned four national ASLA awards and 22 state, regional and local awards. His designs express how he profoundly cares about the way created landscapes interact with the environment and how they engage the public. In his work, community needs are part of the overall balance. One can sense this in his projects from Liberty Harbor on New Jersey's east coast and Santa Monica's beach front to the James Clarkson Environmental Center north of Detroit and Otay Ranch along the U.S.-Mexico border.

F. Michael Faha, ASLA
GreenWorks
Portland, Oregon

F. Michael Faha, of GreenWorks, received his nomination, in Works, from the Oregon Chapter. Faha is a pioneer, innovator and educator. One of the nation's first landscape architects to demonstrate that ecological function can be achieved in concert with urbanism and aesthetic beauty, he continues to influence the way we design and build. For 25 years, his work has served to elevate the profession and put landscape architects at project tables traditionally dominated by engineers, ecologists, planners and architects. Internationally recognized, his projects transform cities, towns and rural areas, and encompass daylighting streams, brownfield reclamation and storm­water control, from the scale of expansive urban watersheds and development sites to intimate rain gardens. His built projects in the Northwest have been toured by thousands of visitors who seek to understand the principles and practicalities of ecological design excellence.

Keven Graham, ASLA
Planning Resources
Wheaton, Illinois

Keven Graham, of Planning Resources, received his nomination for Service, from the Illinois Chapter. Graham's volunteer efforts on the local, regional and national level have had a positive effect on the landscape architecture profession for 20 years. His active participation in the Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™), DuPage Habitat for Humanity, USGBC Greenbuild, the U.S. General Services Administration, Illinois Park and Recreation Association and ASLA activities has also magnified public awareness, which shapes the profession as a whole. He was instrumental in the expansion of the sustainable sites section within the LEED rating system. And he initiated and developed the Design and Professional Practice Network. He has long promoted the benefits of ASLA membership. His leadership of the Illinois Chapter and passion for the profession are inspirational. His work has significantly improved the chapter and the position it holds as a recognized and respected voice of the profession.

Kathryn Gustafson, ASLA
Gustafson Guthrie Nichol
Seattle

Kathryn Gustafson, of Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, received her nomination, in Works, from the Washington State Chapter. Gustafson makes relevant the human body's relationship to the earth at this critical point in our ecological history. To enter a Gustafson project is to gauge immediately the motion of one's body against topographical movement and open one's senses to gradients of space-saturating plant, water and paving textures. Currently, she is working throughout Europe, North America, Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Her methodology empowers others, and her design process centers on rigorous site analysis. She shapes sensually pleasing and beguilingly simple landforms as the basis of her design. Her landscapes can be dramatic or remarkably understated. She believes passionately in the importance of everyday, public spaces and their ability to foster civic responsibility.

Jeffrey Hodgson, ASLA
Wagner Hodgson Landscape Architecture
Burlington, Vermont

Jeffrey Hodgson, of Wagner Hodgson Landscape Architecture, received his nomination, in Works, from the Vermont Chapter. Hodgson's wide range of institutional and educational work for 29 years has been implemented from California to New England. His projects include secondary, college and university master planning and design; health care design; and university, public and private housing master planning and design. His work has been instrumental in reconnecting university communities with their natural environments while creating social spaces that foster collaboration and creativity. His team is the anchor for a collaboration among artists, engineers, architects and the client to create meaningful, contemplative spaces that reflects the merging of local history and art with innovation and ongoing research. At Salem State University, for example, he has been a critical contributor to its transition from mostly commuter students to a widely acclaimed residential university.

Paula Horrigan, ASLA
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York

Paula Horrigan, of Cornell University, received her nomination, in Knowledge, from the New York Upstate Chapter. Horrigan moves place-making and community-engaged design to the forefront of landscape architecture education, research and practice. Her profound commitment is to the public purposes of landscape architecture and higher education. She is a recognized leader in strengthening the rigor and value of community engagement and service to today's design education, research and practice. She led the Erasing Boundaries Project and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture's service-learning and community engagement track, as well as recently published Community Matters: Service-Learning in Engaged Design and Planning. Horrigan has inspired hundreds of students to forge professional careers that empower communities with critical needs so those communities can actualize their own futures. Throughout her career, she has advocated the relevance of community-engaged design education, research and practice within landscape architecture's ever-evolving sphere of influence.

David P. Howerton, ASLA
Hart Howerton
San Francisco

David Howerton, of Hart Howerton, received his nomination, in Works, from the Northern California Chapter. Howerton creates innovative, sustainable environments that honor and preserve the natural landscape. His commitment to land projects exemplifies how strategic, long-term thinking can sustain the natural and built environment over time. He is a leading advocate of interdisciplinary thinking, crossing professional boundaries, and working collaboratively to create complete environments that integrate planning, architecture and interior design professionals. Across a wide range of project types in diverse professional arenas, his is a consistent leadership in land stewardship and the ability to create vibrant, authentic communities. His groundbreaking work on many environmentally sound, conservation-based, enduring communities has earned national acclaim. He allows the history and natural setting of places to guide his designs, resulting in communities with genuinely authentic identities of which residents and guests are proud.

Jie Hu, ASLA
Beijing Tsinghua Tongheng Urban Planning & Design Institute
Beijing, China

Jie Hu, of Beijing Tsinghua Tongheng Urban Planning & Design Institute, received his nomination, in Works, from the Council of Fellows Executive Committee. Jie Hu's achievements in creating beautiful, functional, sustainable landscapes within China's rapid development is supported by a design approach that integrates Western principles of science and engineering with traditional Chinese philosophies of art, literature and garden design. He strives to expand landscape architecture's design scope, and his work exemplifies interdisciplinary collaboration, integrating function, art, science and culture with sustainable strategies for resource conservation. Rehabilitation of landscapes and natural resources degraded and polluted by uncontrolled development, industry and neglect, and mitigation of the effects of rapid urban growth are key aspects of his approach to planning and design. His work has addressed head-on China's environmental challenges. He is committed to education and research in office design, as demonstrated by the professional development programs in his office.

Brian Kinzelman, ASLA
MKSK
Columbus, Ohio

Brian Kinzelman, of MKSK, received his nomination, in Leadership/Management, from the Ohio Chapter. Kinzelman has made significant, sustained contributions to the advancement of the role of landscape architects and the recognition of the practice of landscape architecture through his noteworthy urban design projects and the promotion of prime project management landscape architect roles. His career provides a clear model for how to define the value of expert design in public projects. He has led more than 1,000 civic and public works that encompass urban revitalization, transportation and riverfront development. He advocates change in conventional thinking about the role of landscape architects to place them at the forefront of multidisciplinary public works teams. His firm of five offices produces a body of public and civic work that is widely recognized for planning and design excellence. His commitment to education is essential to the profession's future.

Christopher LaGuardia, ASLA
LaGuardia Design Landscape Architecture
Water Mill, New York

Christopher LaGuardia, of LaGuardia Design Landscape Architecture, received his nomination, in Works, from the New York Chapter. For 30 years, LaGuardia has committed to the advancement of landscape architecture on the eastern end of Long Island. In his practice, he integrates the needs and habitat of people with the natural landscape in clear and understandable terms. Over the years, his award-winning work has garnered local and national recognition. He lectures widely on the social and natural influence of his design, and the profession's value overall. Most recently, his ongoing relationship with the Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington, D.C., has brought nationwide attention to his work. His sensitivity to site planning integrates buildings and structures into the landscape. His landscape grading and plant selection and placement have resulted in many successful collaborations with some of the world's best known architects and artists.

James Lee, ASLA
SWA Group
San Francisco

James Lee, of SWA Group, received his nomination, in Works, from the Northern California Chapter. Lee's design is steeped in the inherent qualities of site location and the eccentric characteristic aspirations of the project's special program. He makes the unique qualities of a site obvious and celebrated and seeks clarity of intention in landscapes through visual and physical expression. Articulations of architectural expression create qualities of space seeped in immersive place-making that give people special spatial experiences. His goal is to apply the appropriate amount of design to a site to make it obvious and intuitive. His close collaborations with allied professionals have meant that he is brought on to projects early to find the right application of a landscape. His work blurs divides between inside and out, horizontal and vertical, and landscape and architecture.

Pamela J. Linn, ASLA
Waukesha County Department of Parks and Land Use
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Pamela Linn, of Waukesha County Department of Parks and Land Use, received her nomination, in Service, from the Wisconsin Chapter. Linn leads by example both personally and professionally. Her positive impact on future practitioners, policy makers, allied professionals, colleagues and the community is apparent through her significant contributions to the greater good of the profession in Wisconsin. She also raises the voice of the landscape architect nationally. Her passion for landscape architecture drives her diversified volunteerism. She fights to ensure funding for public open spaces, a motivation that led her into public practice, where she implements policies she actively campaigns for every day. Linn's vision and unwavering enthusiasm for parks and preservation, as well as her dedication to the public have made a lasting impact. She also endeavors to make the profession enticing for K-12 students and visible to clients and policymakers.

John S. Loomis, ASLA
SWA Group
Sausalito, California

John Loomis, of SWA Group, received his nomination, in Works, from the Northern California Chapter. The influential 38-year career of Loomis is nationally and internationally recognized for his significant contributions to the built realm. His remarkable range of accomplishments includes dozens of design awards, leadership, mentoring of young professionals and design collaboration with professional colleagues, as well as service to the community. His private and public works include mixed-use urban developments, corporate campuses, retirement communities, themed attractions and green architecture. A principal at SWA Group for 25 years, Loomis' expertise and knowledge focus on design realization through technical expertise and the craft of landscape architecture strengthening the big idea behind each endeavor. Whereas innovation and design realize vision, innovation and craft realize design, and, toward that end, Loomis is both an innovator and a maker of the highest order.

Jody L. Martinez, ASLA
City of Saint Paul, Parks and Recreation Department
St. Paul, Minnesota

Jody Martinez, of the City of Saint Paul Parks and Recreation Department, received her nomination, in Leadership/Management, from the Minnesota Chapter. Martinez is a trusted, respected and highly regarded leader. She has been instrumental in the improvement of the quality of St. Paul communities through bold planning initiatives and skillfully designed and executed parks, open space, parkways, trails and other essential public realms. Her leadership and project results drive multi-departmental teams as she manages numerous major initiatives throughout the city. She has proven the value that landscape architecture brings to quality planning and design results, and most St. Paul city departments request her division's landscape architectural services. She believes strongly that a well-designed, integrated and meaningful public environment is essential to a city's positive growth and prosperity, and she further believes that landscape architects can lead these efforts.

Wendy J. Miller, ASLA
City of Winston-Salem
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Wendy Miller, of the City of Winston-Salem Department of Transportation, received her nomination, in Leadership/Management, from the North Carolina Chapter. Through her collaborative spirit and approachable personality, Miller has made a significant difference to her community, North Carolina and the profession of landscape architecture. Her career in the public sector working in planning and transportation has extended her sphere of influence far beyond the confines of any single site. She is credited with the improved visual quality of North Carolina's highways, byways and public realm through her planning, policy and transportation work. She facilitates dialogue among landscape architects, artists, planners and engineers toward safe, efficient, beautiful corridors and transportation systems. Her work has raised awareness of landscape architecture to both the public and to allied professionals. Under her years of leadership, a wealth of exceptional policies and community-based projects have clearly enhanced the profession.

G. Glenn Oder, ASLA
Fort Monroe Authority
Fort Monroe, Virginia

G. Glenn Oder, of the Fort Monroe Authority, received his nomination, in Leadership/Management, from the Virginia Chapter. During his 10 years as a highly respected and accomplished member of the Virginia General Assembly, and, more recently, as the executive director for the state stewardship and management of the Fort Monroe historic site, Oder has led many initiatives to improve communities and steward resources across the Commonwealth. A highly visible landscape architect and public policy leader, he has advanced state and local programs that reflect the values and policies of the profession. As the sole landscape architect during his tenure in the Virginia General Assembly, he is viewed by the Virginia ASLA chapter and the greater landscape architecture community as one of the most critically important individuals as he expanded and protected the scope of practice and elevated the regulatory status of the profession.

Peter O'Shea, ASLA
Siteworks
Earlysville, Virginia

Peter O'Shea, of Siteworks, received his nomination, in Works, from the Virginia Chapter. In projects of every scale, budget, and location O'Shea consistently strives to achieve things transformational and memorable. The creativity of his practice is evidenced by notable design work within the confines of constrained sites, limited budgets and accelerated schedules. Despite operating a small practice, he has built a predominantly institutional, educational, and public portfolio of projects. Known mostly for his mid-Atlantic focus, he collaborates across the United States, in Canada, Central America and Europe. He is a well-respected collaborator, in particular with architects, and an eloquent community advocate. His work is consistently creative, socially and environmentally integrative, and specifically responsive to the inherent cultural and natural histories of a place. He has received many national and regional awards, including a Rome Prize Fellowship.

George Radnovich, ASLA
Sites Southwest
Albuquerque, New Mexico

George Radnovich, of Sites Southwest, received his nomination, in Leadership/Management, from the New Mexico Chapter. Radnovich takes landscape architecture to its pinnacle in the high desert of New Mexico and the Southwest. His approach to landscape design for arid regions is emulated widely. This is good news for both the profession and this water-strapped region. His interest in water conservation and the use of environmentally appropriate landscaping drove him to build a nonprofit organization that has educated thousands of professionals about this design approach over 27 years. His personal speaking engagements throughout the southwestern United States and northern Mexico have brought his message to hundreds more like-minded professionals. Besides these efforts towards sustainability and landscape resiliency, he also works with political leaders to create legislation to guide water conservation on sites and landscapes in a region that needs it profoundly.

Chris Reed, ASLA
Stoss Landscape Urbanism
Boston

Chris Reed, of Stoss Landscape Urbanism, received his nomination, in Works, from the Boston Society of Landscape Architects. Reed's leadership on thought-provoking and innovative projects around the globe, his award-winning work in the public realm and his integration of ecology and infrastructure in landscape projects distinguish him as one of the leading design practitioners of his generation. He is a prominent author, lecturer and faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Design since 2008 and, earlier, at the University of Pennsylvania. Among the many prestigious awards his firm has received is the 2012 Smithsonian/Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in landscape architecture. His work ranges from very large-scale master plans for Detroit and brownfield riverfronts and lakefronts in Dallas, Green Bay and Mississauga, Ontario, to public waterfronts and campus/institutional landscapes. It also includes playgrounds and garden installations in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, Massachusetts, and Grand-Metis, Quebec.

Dr. Robert G. Ribe, ASLA
University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon

Robert Ribe, of the University of Oregon, received his nomination, in Knowledge, from the Oregon Chapter. Ribe is a leader in the practice of scenery management by landscape architects. At the University of Oregon, he teaches ecologi­cal planning studios and research methods to students in landscape architecture, planning and environmental studies. From 1999 to 2010 he directed the Institute for a Sustainable Environment (ISE), leading that interdisciplinary group to provide primary research and advice to governments in Oregon and Washington on issues of growth, ecosystem preservation and agricultural and forest productivity. His research on the theory of forest landscapes has advanced that body of knowledge internationally. His work is methodologically rigorous and applicable to the real world. His collaborations have investigated public landscape perceptions extensively and built strong evidence that validates regional landscape plans and policies. He is also a prolific author.

Dennis W. Rubba, ASLA
studioINSITE
Denver

Dennis Rubba, of studioINSITE, received his nomination, in Works, from the Colorado Chapter. Rubba has had a lifelong acumen for design and passion for the outdoors. Throughout his career, he has shown a breadth of extraordinary design ability that includes large-scale master planning down to the most intricate design details. With more than 200 design awards and 800 built projects over 30 years, he is nationally known as a masterful landscape architect. His guiding principles to create meaningful and memorable works within campus, civic and downtown environments are significant in scale and impact, continuously sustain client and project relationships and result in built works that bring a mean­ingful transformation and new identity to district-scale projects. He has created a legacy of iconic outdoor spaces that command praise from clients, educators, city fathers, citizens, peers and fellow team members.

Steven Spears, ASLA
Design Workshop
Austin, Texas

Steven Spears, of Design Workshop, received his nomination, in Works, from the Texas Chapter. In landscape architecture, where decisions can have a substantial impact on communities, it is imperative that design balances ecology and humanity. Throughout his 16-year career, Spears has masterfully integrated the principles of environmental sensitivity, community benefit, economic sustainability and sensory art and aesthetic elements in each project with which he has engaged. His body of work proves that no matter how complex the project or how fast a city is growing, designs can be implemented with sensitivity and grace. These results are realized in several of the national award-winning projects he has led, including Wimberley Blue Hole Regional Park, Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, Lafitte Greenway and Corridor Revitalization plans, Residences at The Little Nell and Avon West Town Center Redevelopment and Implementation.

Laura Starr, ASLA
Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners
New York City

Laura Starr, of Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners, received her nomination, in Works, from the New York Chapter. During her 30-year career, Starr has exhibited sustained excellence. She has received 17 design awards in two decades. Her work across New York City has transformed daily experiences and revitalized landmarks synonymous with New York itself. She balances site ecology, aesthetics and lived experience, be it major parks, pocket plazas, cultural institutions, individual residences or major infrastructure works. Her designs invite visitors on a journey where quotidian urban reality falls away to reveal oases for the senses and the mind. To use her words, they make density livable. Through her lectures, panelist appearances, professional leadership, project work and visionary contributions to resiliency, she consistently advocates for evocative landscape solutions that enhance city life even as they accommodate the many functions of urban space.

Meg Storrow, ASLA
Storrow Kinsella
Indianapolis

Meg Storrow, of Storrow Kinsella, received her nomination, in Service, from the Indiana Chapter. For 30 years, Storrow has worked with community groups and professional organizations to improve neighborhoods and advance the profession of landscape architecture. Her brand of service and advocacy centers on enhancing the system from within. She gets involved in a neighborhood, organization, or board, then applies her professional skills, sociability and work ethic to better the entire community. She has participated in at least one pro bono meeting nearly every week of her entire career. At times, her volunteer workload has exceeded 30 hours per week, rivaling her full-time landscape architectural practice. Her service has positively affected a wide range of people and professions through such efforts as forest and watershed preservation, support for the Indiana licensure act and neighborhood advocacy in Indianapolis.

Jeffrey A. Townsend, ASLA
JACOBS
Sacramento, California

Jeffrey Townsend, of JACOBS, received his nomination, in Leadership/Management, from the California Sierra Chapter. Townsend's 30 years of achievement in professional leadership and management in the private sector embody a sustained record of advocacy in government affairs and his passion for improving his community's quality of life. His experience in interdisciplinary team-building has consistently put him in community building leadership roles. He is his firm's international resource, and his leadership has elevated the role of landscape architects generally in new areas of influence. He is also a leader in the advocacy of landscape architecture at the national, state and local levels, and has been instrumental in promoting and preserving landscape architect licensure in California. In Sacramento, his community leadership includes his significant impact on its urban forest, levees, complete streets and related urban design initiatives.

Ronald Trageser, ASLA
The Office of James Burnett
Houston

Ronald "Chip" Trageser, of The Office of James Burnett (OJB), received his nomination, in Works, from the Texas Chapter. Trageser has more than 20 years of outstanding professional achievement. He has been responsible for various mixed-use, healthcare and academic and corporate campus projects at OJB in Houston, where he is responsible for design and operations. He currently serves as the principal-in-charge for numerous mixed-use and corporate campus projects in the Woodlands and Houston areas, as well as for projects on the Rice and Baylor university campuses. Among his notable projects are the Rice University Brochstein Pavilion and Brockman Physics Building, Lakeshore East Park in Chicago, Klyde Warren Park in Dallas and Northbelt Campus in Houston. He serves on the Louisiana State University Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture alumni advisory council and regularly employs student interns from the program.

About the American Society of Landscape Architects
Founded in 1899, ASLA is the national professional association for landscape architects, representing more than 15,000 members in 49 professional chapters and 72 student chapters. Members of the Society use "ASLA" after their names to denote membership and their commitment to the highest ethical standards of the profession. Landscape architects lead the stewardship, planning, and design of our built and natural environments; the Society's mission is to advance landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education and fellowship.

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SOURCE American Society of Landscape Architects

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