InSites MAGAZINE 2022 The Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning
CONTENTS COVER IMAGE: LAEP students participating in the Pacific Northwest Travel Course led by Professor Brent Chamberlain, enjoy the beauty of Multnomah Falls. Read more about this amazing experience on page 23-24. Page 27 Sabbatical Report: Ben George Page 29 Student ASLA Chapter Page 31 Student Scholarships for 2022-2023 Page 33 Careers & Placement Report Page 34 Externship Highlights Page 35 Speaker Series Page 37 Grad Student completed theses Page 39 Incoming Grad Students Page 40 Faculty Updates Page 43 Environmental Planning Highlights Page 44 2022 Graduates Page 45 2022 Distinguished Alumni Page 46 In memoriam Page 02 A message from our Department Head Page 04 Research In Practice Article: Sean Michael Page 06 Site Analysis & Design I Page 07 South Salt Lake Charrette Page 09 Site Analysis & Design II / Dean’s Prize Page 10 Land Planning for Residential Development Page 11 Recreation & Open Space Page 13 Planting Design Page 15 E-Studio Page 17 Urban Theory, Systems & Design Page 19 Landscape Ecology Page 21 Regional Landscape Analysis & Planning Page 23 Travel Course: Pacific Northwest Page 25 Travel Course: Israel
INSITES 2 planning, with communities across the Intermountain West. The smaller changes, which came out of how we adapted and responded to the pandemic, have only increased our engaged learning through better and more frequent connections with communities, professionals, and our alumni. LAEP students collaborated on award winning projects throughout the Intermountain West, including a first place showing in the Utah Real Estate Challenge for the second year in a row and a very successful department charrette focused on equity issues in the City of South Salt Lake. Distinguished professionals visited LAEP in person and remotely as part of LAEP’s Speaker Series and as Visiting Professors. And our faculty and graduate students engaged in scholarly work across the world to address social, climate, environmental, economic, and so many other aspects of landscape change, as you will read about in this edition of InSites. LAEP experienced an exciting year (I believe I mentioned being Butexhausted).withconditions continuing to change so rapidly, we must keep our focus on the future to best continue to respond. I am excited to share that this year the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning will offer an undergraduate degree in environmental planning. Building on the strength of LAEP’s long history and graduate program in environmental planning, this degree will expand our ability to prepare future professionals to recognize and respond to change in the biophysical and human dimensions of landscape and culture through land-use decisions and policy. After graduation this past May I found myself walking through the empty studios of LAEP surrounded by the debris of a very active academic year. The quiet of the studios was a big change from the week before, and the active studio culture of the past year was a welcome change from the COVID year before that. As I walked through the studios, exhausted and already missing the cause of my exhaustion, I found myself thinking about change. In an era seemingly defined by endless change it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure. I’m grateful to be a part of professions that understand change. Landscape change is constant. ‘Understanding the drivers of change, and shifts in the uses and perceived intrinsic value of certain landscapes, has a profound influence on how communities and ecosystems [and departments of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning] respond and adapt throughout the change process’ (USGS, 2016). Many of the big changes LAEP experienced this past year were actually a return to prior conditions. The active, energetic, and sometimes chaotic, studio culture of the year has been, and now continues to be, a hallmark of LAEP. Our students and faculty are very engaged together in learning the practice of landscape architecture and environmental Keith Christensen, Department Head
A message from DEPARTMENTour HEAD
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I am also excited to share that LAEP welcomes Dr. Huaqing Wang as an Assistant Professor this year. Dr. Wang holds a PhD in Urban and Regional Sciences from Texas A&M University and a MSLA in Landscape Architecture from Peking University. Dr. Wang comes to us from teaching at Texas A&M University and is an accomplished scholar at the intersection of landscape ecology and public health. We are excited to welcome Dr. Wang who strengthens our capacity to address public health issues through landscape planning and design. I am very excited about the year ahead. I’m excited because of the changes ahead, and what doesn’t change. Our students continue to be the most enthusiastic, curious, creative, passionate students at USU. Our faculty continues to be world-class scholars, recognized leaders in their fields, and teachers who care about engaging with their students and communities. Our staff are outstanding, providing assistance to students and faculty in every aspect of what makes LAEP exceptional. And our alumni are passionate about LAEP, giving of their time and resources in support of the program and its students, engaged in the continued success of the program. It is an honor and privilege to be a part of LAEP with you!
programs on American campuses, landscape architecture seldom is fully understood or well-respected.
PRACTICEINRESEARCH
Likewise, great design guarantees nothing for a firm; many outstanding designs are never built. Instead, both practices— academic and professional—must assure both longevity and impact if they are to succeed. But for success to occur, both also require financial acumen.
The limited value these organizations can offer to constituents produces what the Arbinger Institute terms “leadership self-deception”. If allowed to fester, the consequences of this mindset can lead to low self-esteem, diminished impacts, and finger-pointing. In contrast, achieving financial solvency can help an organization raise its standards, elevate stakeholders’ pride, and grow impacts. This in turn is a recipe for a value proposition that will engender respect from peers, whether they be land developers, the dean of a college, or potential clients (or students).
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Landscape architecture has a problem. The problem is not new. In fact, the problem may have been seeded by Olmsted Sr., albeit unwittingly. More significantly, the problem may pose the greatest intrinsic and ongoing threat to our profession’s future. This problem is not a cause célèbre such as climate change, data visualization or social justice. It is not a topic you will find headlining Landscape Architecture Magazine, or being debated at conferences that leading scholars attend. Yet ironically, it is discussed daily in firms, is a non-negotiable requirement for practices to survive and succeed, and thus may constitute the greatest potential opportunity for our profession’s future. The problem is business. More precisely, the problem is the apparent tradition of ignoring business in landscape architecture. “Business”. Say the word out loud. As you do so look inward at your emotive response to the word. For readers who live business on a day-to-day basis—which will include many LAEP alumni—the word may induce stress, or trigger thoughts of a deadline, but is most likely a commonplace topic. For students and faculty, “business” perhaps feels more foreign, like the name of a country they have read about, but through which they don’t regularly travel. I confess that I am, to paraphrase Robert Heinlein, a ‘stranger in this strange land’. Business was my elder brother’s forte. It was he who sought an MBA. Finance and economics were his bread-n-butter, while my heart was in drawing and designing (all of which my sibling was a foreigner to). Thus, it was ironic that in 2020, when contemplating what I most wanted to study during sabbatical, that business stood headn-shoulders above other topics. If the subject’s alure seems surprising, allow me to explain. Since I started as a freshman in a BSLA program, the “well-meaning underdog” characterization of landscape architecture and landscape architects has never waned. Today, our profession continues to labor to demonstrate both its value and its remarkable capacity for positive change. And the same holds true in academic circles; like other design
Research in Practice Business in Landscape Architecture: BLINDSPOT OR SALVATION?
For many Americans in 2008, the Great Recession had put the criticality of financial solvency on their minds. The real estate market had imploded, and land development was hit hard. The importance of financial solvency also hit home personally as I joined LAEP that year. My journey as a midlevel administrator revealed many things, not least of which was the tremendous disparity between academic programs nationwide, and how essential solid financial footing was for an academic program. Many academic programs exist in what I term a poverty mentality. Their financially-constrained operations give birth to excuses, not impacts. The same is true for most Student ASLA chapters (and perhaps state ASLA chapters?).
Professor Sean Michael
If you read this tale of injustice, and think “they just don’t get what we do!”, I agree. But I also must offer a counter point. Perhaps the academic practice of landscape architecture fails to earn the respect of fellow academics? If that were true, could the same be said for some in professional practice? Doing good, it turns out, is not enough to earn respect widely. Offering an important degree, for instance, does not make an academic program succeed, nor earn it respect.
If my time in LAEP thus far has done anything, it has engrained in me a belief that our discipline must confront some unpleasant and uncomfortable habits that, if ignored, threaten to act as a glass ceiling. Central to this dilemma is valuation of our services, and how practitioners are equipped to compete for and earn contracts.
Consider this hypothesis:
• Assuming the longer a landscape architectural practice remains solvent, the more work it will see built;
• Assuming a practice must succeed as a business to remain solvent,
• Assuming a competitive market that rewards business acumen over ignorance, and • Given that business skills are readily taught to both baccalaureate and graduate students,
If, when reading this logic model, questions come to mind, you are likely not alone. Regrettably, we have, as a discipline, no discernible research on the topic. So, your perception is perhaps as valid as any other reader’s opinion. The uncertainly surrounding this and other aspects of business in landscape architecture was precisely why I invested a good deal of my sabbatical studying this subject.
• Q7: To compete in today’s market, how important is it for landscape architecture firms to be proficient in business?•Responses: “Critical”: 48% “Very important”: 43% “Valuable”: 9%
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• Responses: “Yes”: 95% “No”: 5%
• Q33: How important is it that scholars partner with professional practitioners when conducting research into business practices?
• Q31: Should business practices be among the topics that landscape architecture scholars study?
• Responses: “Critical”: 37% “Very important”: 56% “Moderately important”: 7% Having been in continuous operation for 53-years, Design Workshop’s longevity is unusual, and its success—if measured by growth and awards—suggests it is a business that is thriving. It could be argued that by both measures the firm is not representative of an imaginary ‘average landscape architecture firm’. And on that point, few would likely disagree. But if the profession can gain a competitive advantage from understanding the role business skills, mindset and strategies play in highly successful firms, there is reason for researchers and practitioners alike to collaborate on this subject. At the least, this study suggests two future steps:1.Scholars should embrace business practices as a promising area of research, and 2. Our discipline should reflect on whether today’s students receive adequate training in business practices.
• Future practitioners of landscape architecture can experience greater success in their careers if they are trained in business skills before entering the profession.
Thanks to Design Workshop’s core belief in supporting research, I was able to serve as the firm’s 2021 Faculty Research Partner. This unique program annually invites one scholar to explore questions of significance to our profession. My year with the firm provided an unprecedented look into the mindset of practitioners regarding the importance of business practices in their success, as well as Design Workshop’s evolution in how it balances design excellence and Whileprofitability.studyinga single firm offers limited inference for the profession as a whole, preliminary findings from the surveys and interviews completed by approximately a third of Design Workshop’s ~140 employees suggest there is much to be learned from studying the role of business practices in the success of landscape architecture firms. Consider, for instance, the following survey results:
Teams
2. General
5. Education and Lifelong Learning 6. Climate 7. Geology Environmental and Natural Hazards 8. Contaminated Lands and Industrial Use 9. Energy 10. Flora and Fauna 11. Land Use 12. Parks 13. Culture Transportation 14. Economy
This year’s Capstone/Charrette focused on investigations in South Salt Lake where alum Sharen Hauri (MLA, 2000) is Director of Neighborhoods. Sharen challenged the Department to investigate all things through a lens of equity and inclusion. Not surprisingly, the students attacked the task with curiosity and passion. Issues like crime, poverty, and homelessness now jump to the top of the list of desired topics. Parks, open space and environmental quality are sought along with health and human services (schools, clinics, day-care) to provide a greater number of underserved people and families a desirable place to live in South Salt Lake. Getting all systems, including natural systems, to provide optimum habitat for improving their lot is the goal of the students and the department. included: History Plan/Brand/Identity Wellness These topics were narrowed through Charrette week to a group of seven senior teams who carried these topics to useful plans and designs for South Salt Lake City.
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3. Demographics 4. Health and
Good news from the fall with this foundational studio was the opportunity to run the studio without virtual tools. The prevalence of Zoom studio meetings in the past two years took a toll on Studio Culture. This sophomore and first-year graduate class was really focused on learning the theories, methods, and investigative skills. The acceleration of learning from students being in the studio is unquestionable. The social and collaborative skills are invaluable and attainable through face-to-face interaction.
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SITE ANALYSIS & DESIGN
1.
Erin Clark, Allysia Angus, Marc Ryan and Billy Fleming also worked directly with the students, giving advice as some of the best practitioners in the industry. In addition, outside consultants including Wenk Associates and BRS Architects, shared their expertise. This was a process the seniors will not soon forget and will set them up for success in their future careers.
Each year the graduating seniors have the opportunity for a semester-long project based in real practice. After leading the entire department in a week-long charrette, our seniors did a deep dive into the city of South Salt Lake (SSL). Sharen Hauri (MLA, 2000), SSL’s Director of Neighborhoods, was the main contact for the students. She made sure this year’s project had an emphasis on equity. SSL is a home to a large, underprivileged population, which includes a large number of refugees. Consequently, SSL is rich with culture and diversity. Mayor Cherie Wood and others in government positions are fighting to provide opportunities for these populations to better their standings, while at the same time celebrating and embracing the diversity of their city. Along with rich cultural diversity in SSL, our seniors had the opportunity to address the loss of the beloved Granite High School, future plans for what is now a rail yard, and SSL’s proximity to the Jordan River.
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The capstone class put our seniors through a rigorous process of critiques. They had constant access to Professors Todd Johnson, David Anderson and Keith Christensen as well as SSL’s Sharen Hauri, who put them in contact with engaged stakeholders and investors of the city. Throughout the semester, the guest lecturers from our Speaker Series
South Salt Lake, UT CHARRETTE & CAPSTONE
”I am amazed by the changes in our city over the last decade, and still, the USU plan for the next decade is astounding. I am not afraid of change and love to make bold moves, and the students held nothing back. Thanks for working with our unique community, our partners including Sapa, and everyone who wants to see South Salt Lake reach its potential.”
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- Cherie Wood, Mayor of South Salt Lake -
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First Place Winners: Harrison Merrill, Kennedy Perry, Azure Briggs, Maylene Livingston
During Spring Semester 2022, Dave Evans taught Site Analysis and Design II, and built on the principles taught in Site Analysis and Design I. The culminating event for the studio course was the seventh annual Dean’s Prize competition for the LAEP sophomores and first-year graduate students. This is an annual collaboration of Professor David Anderson and Associate Professor David Evans, funded by CAAS Dean Ken White. The 2022 Dean’s Prize was the preparation of a site master plan for land owned by Utah State University located east of 1200 East and north of Aggie Boulevard. The primary program elements are a new academic building referred to as the USU Design Center, new student housing and new parking structures with ground floor retail facing 1200 East and Aggie Blvd. The Dean’s Prize is an opportunity to provide a real-world experience for LAEP students, receive feedback from high profile jurors and be acknowledgment for their outstanding performance. A total of 9 student teams of 4 to 5 students each competed. CAAS Dean Ken White offered $2000 in
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SITE ANALYSIS & DESIGN II prize money that was split between the first and second place teams. The jury consisted of CAAS Dean Ken White, CAAS Associate Dean Brian Warnick, Professor Ernesto Lopez, Jordy Guth, Associate Planner for USU Facilities, and Professor David Anderson. Dean White presented the awards to the students following the jury review on April 27, 2022.
FOR DevelopmentResidential
The students were able to apply their knowledge of bioclimatic strategies, and wind and solar design strategies that they learned throughout the semester when creating concept diagrams for the city. Their work was shared with the city of Hyde Park. It was evident that the juniors were also able to develop a stronger studio culture as they worked together and learned from each other where they couldn’t in the years prior due to Covid-19. They are now confidently heading into their senior year! PLANNING
LAND
This year, the Junior Studio had the opportunity to help the city of Hyde Park explore a variety of housing opportunities as the city continues to grow. Hyde Park is a small city with a current population of just above five thousand people (US Census, 2020). Throughout the years, agricultural and open space areas have been replaced with new homes and additional roads.
The students were able to produce a detailed housing development that integrated the current urban trend, while establishing its own identity and improving the quality of the city’s surrounding area. The selected parameter for this project was along the eastern part of the city near the mountain range. The total amount of space used for each section of land depended on the types of homes selected, the connectivity between the city and its surrounding environment, as well as infrastructure needs.
Fresh from a year-long sabbatical in spring, 2022 Dr. Ole Sleipness taught the Recreation Design and Open Space Planning studio, with assistance from senior Tyler Croft. In previous years, the studio was offered during the fall semester, concurrently with Planting Design. This year, Rec and Open Space was moved to the spring semester and offered concurrently with the Residential Design Studio, taught by Dr. Carlos Licon. Since most undergraduate LA students take both studios, this arrangement allowed students to explore the relationship between housing and open space in a joint studio project located in Cache Valley’s Hyde Park. To prepare for this project, students completed a series of case studies on how open space can provide an organizing structure for residential developments of various scales and typologies. Students then conducted a land-use suitability analysis on a 900-acre unit of land located on the bench east of Hyde Park. In teams, students proposed innovative ways of clustering housing and linking residential areas to a variety of recreational opportunities and outdoor spaces. Students presented their design concepts to members of Hyde Park City government, Cache County, and local landowners. Building on previous work by Extension Landscape Architecture faculty, the project illustrates the value of continuing the department’s legacy of communityengaged learning in our design studios. Additional projects throughout the semester provided undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to
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Ole is lining up projects for Spring 2023 that will provide students with a new set of design opportunities. He’s looking forward to future collaboration with colleagues, alumni, community partners, and of most of all: LAEP’s outstanding students.
Our visit to Daybreak was guided by LAEP alumni professionals at lo|ci: Mike Budge, David Durfee, and Cameron Blakely, who graciously showed students a variety of exciting park design projects, including some still under construction. It was fantastic to see professional projects, and hear insights, from former Rec and Open Space students David and Cameron. Following his time away on sabbatical and COVID-related restrictions on in-person studio learning, Ole was thrilled be back in the studio and sharing his love of design with an engaging group of students. The studio provided a good reminder of the timeless benefits of robust discussions of design ideas with a pen in hand, and how creation of an image can catalyze discussion.
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The Planting Design Studio focused primarily on water conservation, with an emphasis on native and low-water use plant material. Advancement Board member, Jan Striefel (BLA ‘78), co-taught the class with David Evans and teaching assistant, Danny Fullmer. Early in the semester, the class toured the Red Butte Water Conservation Garden and the Jordan Valley Conservation Garden Park. This field trip was an introduction to the design potential of water conserving plants and served as an inspiration for the student’s design work throughout the semester.
DESIGNPLANTING
The first project of the semester was a water conserving garden design for an underdeveloped area of the Logan City Boulevard. Logan Mayor, Holley Daines, Parks and Recreation Director, Russ Akina and neighborhood residents visited the design studio to review the concepts and provide feedback to the students. These concepts will serve as a starting point for a broader public discussion and design process. Additional projects included design concepts for the ‘greening’ of a large, local parking lot with a focus on stormwater management and the use of a water conserving "With water shortages and drought all across the west, I was pleased to see the focus of the class on water conservation and water conserving plants. The students embraced the idea, did much research, and shared their findings with the class through team presentations - a format I found engaging and teambuilding. I personally enjoyed the students and their enthusiasm, and was very proud of their achievement and growth."
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- Jan Striefel, BLA ‘78-
INSITES 14 plant palette. The students also developed design concepts for pollinator and medicinal gardens as a component of a water-wise design approach for a key academic quad on USU’s campus. Over the course of the semester, student teams also presented plant and planting design research tied to the course objectives. These teaching experiences expanded group knowledge and added to student research and presentation skills.
LAEP’s team was Pioneer Development, and was comprised of LAEP seniors Bailey Johnson and Cooper Parson, Kenley Roberts from USU’s Interior Architecture program, and Austin Taylor and Luke Littlefield from the University of Utah’s real estate development program. Todd Johnson was their faculty coach. Their proposal was called The Zephyr, the executive summary for which is as follows; Pioneer Development was pleased to present The Zephyr, a transformational development that will kickstart the redevelopment of Station Center. The Zephyr is a mixeduse project consisting of a state-of-the-art life science office tower, an amenity-rich apartment building, and engaging ground-level retail space. The Class A office building will provide space for companies of all sizes, from Research Park startups needing more space to large corporations looking to relocate to take advantage of Utah’s incredible quality of life. The apartments, 40% of which will be held affordable, will provide space for a diversity of people and inject life into the neighborhood. The Zephyr’s retail space will provide space for community-focused small business and University of Utah community health programming, providing essential services and invigorating the surrounding streets. Pioneer Development will build all of this space with a focus on sustainability, equity and inclusion, innovative and appropriate design, and providing the best tenant experience available in our region. Pioneer Development looks forward to working with the University of Utah and the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency to transform Station Center into a diverse and vibrant transit-oriented innovation district that honors its past while embracing the future and serves as an economic powerhouse for the region. Our team’s proposal was awarded the top prize of $20,000.
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15INSITES E-STUDIO E-Studio examines entrepreneurship as an attribute of highquality planning and design. The goal of the course is to position students for professional practice through preparing work for and competing in national competitions. One such competition that students regularly participate in is The Utah Real Estate Challenge (UREC). UREC is an intercollegiate real estate development competition for undergraduate and graduate students throughout the state of Utah. The competition fosters an understanding of real estate development by giving students the opportunity to prepare and present a real estate development plan to a panel of expert judges. This year’s competition was focused in the Station Center Innovation District next to the Rio Grande in Salt Lake City. The goal was to create a vision for the whole district, grounded in innovation and community.
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Future growth, industry, and sustainability are some of the topics seniors grappled with in LAEP 4100 (Urban Theory, Systems, and Design) in an effort to revitalize the Metro Township of Magna, UT. The students partnered with the Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District (MSD) to work on designs that will reinforce key ideas and themes proposed in the Magna 2021 General Plan. MSD is an organization whose role is to evaluate the needs of Metro Townships and use funding to accomplish these needs. By working in tandem with MSD, the studio is working to help shape future growth in the region. Magna is a Metro Township located just southwest of Salt Lake City. Adjacent to the Oquirrh Mountains and the Great Salt Lake, and is surrounded by wonderful assets. With these assets comes an important need to preserve and leverage them. With the Salt Lake Valley intended to see exponential population growth, thoughtful design and planning is necessary to help shape growth in a sustainable way. To tackle this complex task, students were divided into teams to approach the project from nine different lenses. The teams included: Economic Opportunity & Development Zone, Water, Natural Systems and Open Lands, Utah Inland Port Authority, Environmental Issues, Socio-Cultural Dimensions and Housing, Transportation, Historic District, and Tourism. Once divided, the teams went through the design process to investigate, explore, and create a final design. The process started with a site visit to Magna to better understand the perceptual dimensions of the area. From there, students researched and collaborated with the MSD team to get the information needed to make informed decisions. Through the design process students were pushed to explore the systems that manifest themselves in the complex urban fabric that make up a city. By doing so, the interconnectedness of these systems became clear and led to strong partnerships within the teams and resulted in holistic designs aimed at responding to these systems. This idea of “interconnectivity” within the landscape is one of the key ideas in the studio. This pushes students to think of design as something that transcends a physical site and encourages them to begin thinking more about the relationships and links.
Urban Theory, Systems, & Design
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Ultimately the studio culminated with a final presentation in Magna with stakeholders and the public. The students presented a diverse range of projects and proposals aimed at addressing the key issues in Magna. Some of the proposals varied in scale from redesigning Magna Main Street to developing an elaborate canal trail running through the city. After the presentation, students continued refining the designs and began packaging all the team’s projects into a single proposal that will be given to MSD to use as a resource as they continue working with Magna. When asked to reflect on the studio, Cooper Parsons, a senior in the class, said, “I’ve learned a lot about working with different groups of people, like MSD, and that you can’t hold back with your designs. If you really want something to change in a community, you have to shoot for the stars.”
Theme 1: Deep dive into data
Data is the building block of analysis and understanding the source, quality, grain, and extent of one’s data is critical to successfully using it to create information. Team 2 focused on historic data of Cache Valley to understand the change in wetlands over time. The team’s work revealed the challenges of using data from different eras and moments in time. Team 6 dove headfirst into the emerging world of hyperspectral data through analyzing proprietary third party data provided to the group from a private contractor. This data is a very precise measurement of light reflecting off objects at various wavelengths. The team assessed the viability of using this data in rural and forest settings. They found that this data is most useful for site specific restoration projects like riparian corridors and conducting a detailed inventory of existing conditions on a site. Landscape ecology examines the function and structure of landscapes including those modified by human activities. Landscape ecology can be used in many management and planning contexts. The information derived from landscape ecology analysis can be used to inform and guide decision making. In this class we focused on understanding landscape ecology through both data analysis and real-world settings. Students were taught the fundamental building blocks needed to assess landscapes and statistically evaluate changes that are occurring. To ground the theories of landscape ecology in real world settings, students designed and conducted team research projects. The students spent the final two months of the semester researching local planning challenges that interested them to develop a personal project proposal detailing how a student team could analyze, and make planning recommendations based on the principles of landscape ecology. Students then started digging into data, analyzing their sites, and applying their thinking to planning decisions. Below are three themes that emerged from this work and brief descriptions of the projects that fell within these themes. All teams’ final posters can be viewed online here.
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ECOLOGYLANDSCAPE
The application of data analysis requires students to create a bridge between their analytical lens and site-specific decisions. Team 3 focused on the riparian corridor of the Blacksmith Fork River in Cache Valley. Their work helped to identify parcels that should be developed and parcels that should be protected. Team 4 took a careful and constructive look at possible futures designs for a site in Sardine Canyon. They compared different potential development scenarios through a viewshed, vegetation and habitat perspective. The team found quantifiable critical habitat connectivity differences across these scenarios and were able to explain to local stakeholders the trade-offs between each development scenario. Students were challenged by the analytical approach of the class and rose to the occasion. Many of them appreciated the final project. In one student’s own words regarding what they found best about the class it was: “the final project idea was great, having people decide on what interests them really increases the amount of engagement that comes in a class.”
Theme 3: Bridging analysis and planning
Theme 2: Connecting threads
The students pushed their own boundaries and developed high quality analytical work that was used to inform local stakeholders. They learned to use data, apply landscape ecology theory, analyze landscapes, and create compelling posters.
Environmental planning and landscape design requires practitioners to create connections between seemingly different threads, such as natural hazards and economic development. Team 1 created an important and impactful connection between our perception of the loss of Cache Valley’s agricultural feel and the measurable loss of agricultural land. Their work showed that the cities within the valley are in fact losing agricultural land to residential development, while rural areas are expanding agricultural practices into the surrounding natural areas. Team 4 worked to connect forestry data with social vulnerability data. Their analysis indicated that the more socially vulnerable residents and workers in South Salt Lake have disproportionately less green spaces then those less vulnerable.
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“In recent years, it has become increasingly apparent that the issue of environmental quality is inextricably linked to that of human equality. Wherever in the world environmental despoliation and degradation are happening, they are almost always linked to questions of social justice, equity, rights, and people’s quality of life in this widest sense.” Agyeman, Space and InspiredPolicy.by the above quote from Julian Agyeman, a leading thinking on justice and sustainability, we challenged the students to use the LEED for Cities and Communities framework to investigate their selected places and design future visions for their sites. The LEED framework is a multi-criteria evaluation system that encompasses measurable indicators of social, economic, and environmental performance. The framework is used global to support local leader to create responsible and sustainable plans that contribute to quality of life for all citizens. To encourage creativity, ownership, and commitment, the students wrote their own proposals for projects that sparked their interests and related to justice and environmental quality. Through a vote, three winning proposals were selected. Then the rest of the semester the students were guided by a series of small deliverables that provided them with creative freedom and a structured timeline. The three projects and links to their deliverables are further described below. Project 1: Bringing Down the Bridge: A Land Use Revolution for the Claiborne Corridor A project team of 4 students identified a long-standing planning and design inequity in the city of New Orleans. The neighborhood of Tremé is the oldest Black neighborhood in the United States and may have contributed more cultural, political and artistic value to the nation than any other area of its kind. Claiborne Avenue was the thriving commercial heart of the neighborhood until the National Interstate and Defense Act leveled its massive oak trees, demolished Claiborne Avenue and erected the elevated I-10 Expressway in 1966. Nearly 500 homes were demolished, and the thriving business district immediately suffocated. In November of 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, reigniting the decades-old desire to search for a new future for Claiborne Avenue. Under this renewed focus on Claiborne Avenue, the planning team interviewed a variety of community stakeholders and established a goal to communicate planning solutions that will contribute to the existing dialogue on the future of Claiborne Avenue. The results of their work are not prescriptive and are meant to support the resilient, autonomous culture that has survived despite the grievous injury caused by the I-10 Expressway.
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REGIONAL LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS AND PLANNING
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Project 3: A Vision for Glendale: Strategies for Equitable Redevelopment in SLC A project team of 3 students developed a vision for a more sustainable and equitable approach to development in an underserved neighborhood of Salt Lake City. The focus of the team’s recommendations addressed analysis and planning recommendations at three scales: the region, district, and neighborhood. This allowed the team to understand and address such issues as light pollution, access to quality transit, increasing green infrastructure and the need for affordable housing, which cannot be fully understood at the district and neighborhood scales. During their regional analysis, the Glendale neighborhood was highlighted as a strong candidate for redevelopment, based on both on their LEED analysis, and the opinions of several experts on Salt Lake City, including several city staff members, UDOT, and environmental activists working in the area. Within Glendale, the design team identified the industrial park in the southeast corner of the neighborhood as the site for a visionary redevelopment plan to highlight the area’s potential and to demonstrate best practices and achieve their sustainable goals. The team’s redevelopment plan includes the creation of affordable housing, protections for residents already in the area, the development of commercial opportunities, a range of affordable housing types, a trail and park system, and improved recreational access to the Jordan River.
Project 2: The Growth of a Sustainable City: Envisioning the Future for Ivins
A project team of 3 students helped to strengthen the sustainable identity and future of the City of Ivins, Utah. Ivins is a successful example of sustainability by implementing programs like their Dark Sky initiatives, planning efforts from their sustainability council, and decreasing water usage throughout the city. Even within cities making such efforts, there is always room for improvement. The planning team’s aim for this project was to assess the sustainability practices throughout Ivins using LEED for Cities and Communities, evaluate their current status and make recommendations for areas of improvement. The team decided that they could best apply their knowledge as landscape architects and environmental planners in two of the main LEED categories. These categories are Natural Systems and Ecology & Water Performance. Ivins has made great strides in both categories, and after collecting the data needed to assess these credits, the team provided LEED scores based on their assessment. Working in collaboration with the mayor and other community leaders the team’s recommendations are directly correlated to the interests of the community. In the interest of sharing their research and recommendations with the citizens of Ivins, the team developed a website of their work for broad dissemination and community dialogue.
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Cascadia, home of the fabled Sasquatch, the Redwoods, Columbia River Gorge and some of the most progressive socio-political regions in the US is also the childhood home of Professor Brent Chamberlain. Growing up in the Willamette Valley meant many visits, trips and camping excursions to the beaches, mountains, rivers and national forests of the region. Long before he became a professor, and before his first year of doctoral studies in 2007, Dr. Chamberlain and his wife embarked on a two-week bicycle trip along Highways 101 and 1 from the northern coast of Oregon to the strawberry lined fields outside of Santa Cruz. They wanted to explore the region in an entirely new way. The trip was so influential and memorable, he vowed to someday lead a trip of students along the route if he ever was fortunate to land a faculty position someday.
Fast forward to 2018, Dr. Chamberlain joined Utah State and was placed on the faculty rotation of LAEP travel experiences. In January 2020, his dream finally came true. Over 20 students signed up for “Tour de Cascadia” and he teamed up with Dr. Katie Brown in the Nutrition Dietetics and Food Services Department to coordinate an interdisciplinary experience to teach about the region, concepts of sustainability, land-use and development, food and cycling. This amalgamation of interests led to a publication, A Healthy Design: Transdisciplinary Collaboration of Nutrition and Landscape Architecture Courses. Sadly, the course was abruptly ended when the pandemic hit. In 2021, LAEP attempted the course again, but an online version ended up being taught, an unfortunate means for a travel course. With the grip of the pandemic loosening, 2022 became the year of Tour de Cascadia. This last spring 31 students, Ph.D. student Phil Fernberg (as a teaching assistant), and Dr. Chamberlain loaded up on Sunday, May 8, into one minivan, two USU decaled minibuses and one glorious bright yellow 26-foot-long Penske Truck on their way to Portland, OR. There was an errant aura about the trip, with early morning hurdles and missed alarms, but aren’t adventures inevitably ripe with unknowns and insecurities and misaligned agendas!? In the next 12 hours, the class experienced the rapid shift from the Intermountain West toward the mossladen cliffs of the Columbia River Gorge and the power of Multnomah Falls – the rain and clouds looming over the vans
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INSITES 24 as they entered Portland. Yet, sunset brought breaks in the clouds and a beautiful late-night foray into the City of Roses. While in Portland, the group explored Washington Park, wondered along meandering paths in the Oregon Zoo and were mesmerized by the sensational meditative experience of the Japanese Gardens. They visited Mayer-Reed studio, led by USU Alum Carol Mayer-Reed, walked the Waterfront Park and the Esplanade, and enjoyed far too many calories at Voodoo Donuts. Along the coast, the class enjoyed a wide variety of food, physical activities and site seeing. They started at the worlds shortest River, the “D” and then polished off a bowl of famous clam chowder at Mo’s. The first cycling trip went from Lincoln City to Newport Oregon along the Siletz Bay, then it started to rain. And rain. And rain. And… they detoured to Salem, OR after visiting the Darlingtonia (endemic carnivorous plant) outside of Florence, OR. In Salem, they had a break from the deluge and routed along the flooded trails of Minto Brown Island Park adjacent to the Willamette River and walked under the Silver Falls later that afternoon. Their trip continued a couple days later, where they crisscrossed giant Redwoods in suspended bridges and rode into Redwoods National Park on bike for a late-night camp setup. The next day they collectively hiked over 400 miles, basking amongst the tallest trees in the world and sharing glances of the fern-blanketed floors and walls of Fern Canyon before emerging onto the beach and back again to sit and watch elk at dinner time. The redwoods region brought the longest bike ride of the trip (over 30 miles) through the Avenue of the Giants and perhaps the most precarious drive along Leggett Hills at the northern most point of Highway 1 in California. With a short stop in Fort Bragg and a personal tour at Sea Ranch, the group finished their coastal highway adventure biking across the Golden Gate Bridge near sunset. The next couple days, they explored the Golden City, Salesforce Park, Golden Gate Park, Fisherman’s Warf, Lombard Street and a whole range of interesting sites, sounds and smells. They visited the offices of SWA and CMG, the latter hosted by USU alum Corbet Belcher, and had plenty of free time to explore this grand city. The last evening was topped off with a local Chinese restaurant opening its doors after hours for an Ala-Carte themed dinner, and a few hours of vocal chord-straining Karaoke. It was grand. The group arrived back into Logan on Saturday May 21st, exhausted, proud, inspired and fortunately, pretty much in one piece. Many memories were sure to be made and many feats neverbefore-accomplished. As Eleanor Roosevelt once stated “Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively, unless you can choose a challenge instead of a competence.”
I am proud, thankful and humbled by this experience. Thank you to students (and Phil) for making this such a tremendous personally invigorating experience. -Brent
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By: Tyler Peterson As a sophomore in the LAEP program, I was happy to participate in a study abroad to learn about sustainability in Israel. I had the chance to travel there with around 23 people, including 3 professors of the LAEP program. The trip included multiple hours of flying, nearly 2 weeks in Israel, our tour bus getting stuck in the sand, and lots of learning and sightseeing. While we visited the Department of Environmental Studies in Tel Aviv, we were given a basic definition for what sustainability is, “having the ability to continue”. All through our trip, the 23 of us got to learn how Israel has given itself the ability to continue, to survive, and to create. Some of the major places we got to visit included Jerusalem - both the Old City and the New City of Jerusalem. Within these areas, we met with amazing architects who taught us about the sustainability of the parks and the recreation areas that they helped to design and create. A big portion of what we got to see was from the Mount of Olives, a beautiful hill that overlooks all of Jerusalem, with an especially good view of the Dome of the Rock. We also learned a lot about the style that Jerusalem was built by, including something called the “British mandate” which included a statement that all of Jerusalem would be built of stone. As we walked down the streets Professor Todd Johnson explained to us that when a stone was made the creator of the stone left their own personal mark on it. Making each stone unique to the one who placed it. We also had the opportunity to visit Masada. A location set on a hill; an ancient ruin built by Herod the Great. A true place of genius building and workmanship. One thing we got to learn about from Professor Daniella Hirschfield was how it was designed to allow flood waters to flow towards
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INSITES 26 the mountain and into cisterns, or water holders, that are in several places on the mountain side. The views on top of Masada allowed you to see lots of sand, desert, and the dead sea. We had an opportunity to then visit the Dead Sea, relax a little, and just float around. The Dead Sea is so salty, swimming isn’t really an option. Just lie down, let the saltwater carry you away.
Another area we got to take time to focus on was the Negev Desert, the southern edge of Israel. In this area they get around 2mm of rain every year. It is also home to a very large portion of date trees and farming. We got to visit the Arava Institute and learn that they must plant these trees one at a time, and very specifically, otherwise they will kill each other over water competition. As a class we got to see and hear all about how they use the water to grow these plants in a climate with so little water. The entire trip was so much more than we could have possibly asked for. Professor Caroline Lavoie probably has more sketches of Israel now than maybe the rest of the class combined. Between all of us, thousands of pictures no doubt. We learned far more than any of us had expected to, especially about blending old and new, creating landscapes that are inviting and beautiful. Every step of our journey was loved by each of us. Overall, the trip to Israel was possibly the best thing any of us could have done over the summer!
It was with this goal, to understand how thematic landscapes are fashioned and how they possess the ability to evoke emotion, that I embarked on a month-long journey across 18 states and over 5,000 miles to visit some of the nation’s best theme parks, zoos, aquariums, and museums throughout the heartland of America. During my sabbatical, I have specifically been focusing on how thematic design has moved from the theme park to the zoo over the last two decades, and how zoos are now designed using the thematic playbook, first developed at Disneyland, to create immersive environments meant to educate and inspire zoo guests; a design shift that has improved zoo conservation and education efforts and revolutionized the visitor experience.
It’s a Zoo Out There!
And at the heart of it all is storytelling and cinematics in the landscape. Let me share just a couple of examples to highlight this. Omaha Zoo is the undisputed king of thematic zoos, and much of the thematic design there is comparable to any Disney park. The new Asian Highlands exhibit, designed by CLR, highlights the importance of story and cinematics to the thematic design process. In fact, embedded in CLR’s design process is the creation of storyboards identical to what you would expect in the development of a major motion picture. In Asian Highlands, the visitor embarks on a trek to the top of the mountains to reach a sacred shrine inhabited by tigers. As you ascend, the planting palette changes and the trappings of civilization become fewer and more decayed. Enclosures that first suggested cultivated fields, give way to simple shelters, and finally abandoned and crumbling buildings. At the top, the importance of the shrine and its value to the pilgrims is legible in the decorations and craftsmanship of the buildings. Along the journey, the wayfinding and educational signage all supports the narrative of a mountain ascent in both their appearance and their language. Although you may not know what mountain you are climbing, your mind has convinced you that it certainly is not in Nebraska.
Sabbatical
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Ben George’s
A few years ago, I found myself standing in line with my young son for the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. While the ride itself is my favorite at the park, the design of the queue is the real star of the show. It’s a tightly integrated experience where the landscape, the architecture, and the ride itself, tell the story of an archaeological dig in the jungles of India where a cursed artifact in a lost temple leads visitors on an adventure full of danger and thrills. It’s immersive, experiential, and very satisfying as a visitor. It was also the first time I had been to a theme park since embarking on a career in landscape architecture, and it started me thinking: what makes thematic design work successfully, and even on a more fundamental level – what makes a design thematic in the first place? It’s easy to look at just the visible elements, the styling of the facades, the plant palette, the signage, the colors, even the costumed employees. But while all these elements are certainly eye-catching, describing thematic design as the sum of the visible entourage is simplistic and superficial. We might easily conclude that thematic design is simply a cohesive design with an unmistakable theme. However, what really makes good thematic design tick is the underlying elements of story and cinematics. In this short note, I won’t go into the social and cultural criticisms of thematic design that have continued ad nauseam since the day the gates at Disneyland first opened. Rather, I am interested in the fundamentals of what makes thematic design gel. I agree with Anne Spirn, who wrote in her book The language of landscape “It is easy to praise Disneyland and Disney World, and easy to condemn them, but no matter whether one is an admirer or a critic, both are models of rhetorical expression. To know landscape poetics is to understand how such settings are fashioned and how they achieve their effects.”
INSITES 28 At Fort Worth Zoo, a small African village sits on edge of the Serengeti as part of the African Savanna exhibit designed by Dunaway Associates. The village is a set, a stage on which the visitor are the performers. The surrounding props build a story of a vibrant village full of life, even though many of the shops exist merely to screen views “backstage.” It is from this village that the visitor can venture out into the grasslands of Africa to see giraffes, gazelles, ostriches, and more. The “safari” loop takes visitors through the grasslands, where the animal enclosures and the visitor areas blend seamlessly, and where you are likely to encounter vignettes capturing the story of some of those who have gone before you: a jeep stuck in the mud, some abandoned supplies, a rickety bridge. I certainly hope whoever it was that they made it out alive. Fortunately, there aren’t any carnivores in these African grasslands! I’ve recently shared research on thematic zoo design at CELA and at the Popular Culture Association conference, and you can look forward to a forthcoming article in Landscape Architecture Magazine. As I wrap up my sabbatical I am currently in negotiations with a publisher on a book examining the migration of thematic design from the theme park to the zoo. The more time I have spent visiting zoos, interviewing designers, and reading the literature, the more I realize how many research opportunities there are in this fascinating topic, certainly enough to carry me through a couple decades!
Professor David Evans serves as the faculty advisor to the student ASLA chapter, overseeing all chapter activities and Assistantevents.Professor, Jake Powell serves as PresidentElect for the Utah ASLA Chapter.
The American Society of Landscape Architects
The USU student chapter of ASLA saw unprecedented interest, with 127 student members! Activities and events were abundant – as they hosted Genius Hours, 101 Nights, an annual holiday party, t-shirt and mask design contests, and more. The events gave students the opportunity to learn about public speaking, graphic design in landscape architecture, adobe suite capabilities, and fellow students’ summer internships, among many other topics. In addition, the chapter was able to represent Utah State University in Nashville, Tennessee by sending 20 students to the National ASLA Conference.
Student officers President - Lillian Taft President Elect - Mary Claire Jennings Public Relations Specialist - Alaina Prasek Professional Development Coordinator - Corinne Bahr
Professor David Anderson serves on the ASLA Utah Executive Committee, and continues to strengthen the LAEP connection to the professional community.
Treasurer - Brayden Jasper Outreach Coordinator - Zachary Sannar Events Coordinator - Brynn Poulsen Secretary - Annika Tingey
Needless to say, the USU student chapter of ASLA has been active this year and is excited to carry on this momentum into the coming year!
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New this year was a full week of USU ASLA events in April to celebrate World Landscape Architecture Month. One of the events was a service project for Logan City, cleaning the canals of litter. Other events included a Genius Hour, a breakfast social, and landscape architecture-themed movie night to celebrate our future profession.
INCOMING LEADERSHIP & ADVISING
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31INSITES AWARDSSTUDENT2022 Nikki Holbrook ASLA Student Performance Awards Nairobi Jimenez Derek Jenson AWARDMERITGRADUATE Lloyd Sutton AWARDHONORGRADUATEAWARDSHONORUNDERGRADScholarships Conner Smith 75thScholarshipAnniversary Aimee Egbert CraigScholarshipJohnson Lilian Taft DavidScholarshipJensen Hallee Kinikin Logan Hall Class of ‘81
INSITES INSITES32 32 Derek Jenson Laval Morris FellowshipTravel Dylan McMurdie JacksonScholarshipFamily Daniel Sweisford Diversity in Landscape Architecture Scholarship Clara Baughan Professor A.A. Heravi LAEP Faculty Scholarship Braya Robbins Huculak Aggie ScholarshipFamily Nairobi Jimenez Laval Morris FellowshipTravel Corinne Bahr KenjiScholarshipShiozawa Nairobi Jimenez GAIA Scholarship Joseph Pancoast Utah ASLA ScholarshipMemorial Tyson Turner Kenneth G. ScholarshipVolkman Harrison Merrill Faculty Scholarship Afnan Mohammed Professor A.A. Heravi LAEP Faculty Scholarship
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Support from alumni and the Advancement Board has impacted career placement for students in so many ways this year. Thank you for your support in reviewing portfolios, participating in the career fair, serving as mentors, providing externship opportunities, and sharing internship and full-time job postings.
In March, representatives from 16 employers shared company information and valuable job-seeking advice with over 30 LAEP with juniors, seniors, and grads students. The next week, seven Advancement Board members reviewed portfolios with 26 students. Twenty-one professionals volunteered to serve as mentors to LAEP students. Students described the mentorship program as, “super helpful for networking and finding internships” and their mentors as “wonderful”and “so helpful.” Mentors provided tips on improving as a landscape architect and building strong portfolios. Participants determined their own methods of communication, which included virtual and in-person meetups. Insight from the fall Advancement Board meeting led to the formation of a CREATE proposal to fund externship opportunities. Five students visited 12 firms, eight of them out-of-state. Three students had job offers at companies they visited for their externships.
CAREER & PLACEMENT
Alumni sent dozens of job openings for internships and full-time positions that were posted for students. If you’d like to share your job opening, please reach out to our Careers Coordinator, Deandra Harps at deandra.harps@usu.edu.
Additionally, students can view LAEP alumni through a map in Canvas. If you would like to be added to the map to help students build their network, please reach out to Deandra. Thank you for your support!
This year, we encouraged students to participate in externships. With CREATE funding to help make it possible, students spent short periods of time shadowing in professional settings. This provided an opportunity to observe, explore, and ask questions, gaining insight into professional practice. Here are a few experiences!
SHARE AN OPPORTUNITY
It was really neat to see the dynamic that exists in the office. They have one designer and a lot of people helping with CDs and graphics, which they let me step into and be a part of the team! At the end of the first day they had material that I had stared that was good enough to be used in their designs and graphics! They were super willing to answer any questions and help me understand the process of design for a residential firm. One of my favorite things was a tour of their projects. Since Derek was one of our co-teachers in CDs, we had used one of their projects as our grading assignment. He took me to see that project (now completed) and it was a “light bulb moment” for me to see how the plans on paper translate into the construction of the site! Derek was INCREDIBLE to work with and has kept communication open since the externship. He has answered several questions about our profession and is willing to help connect me with other firms as well that are looking for interns. Overall, a fantastic experience!
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Corinne Bahr, Landform Design Group
The team at LandDesign was kind enough to allow me into their office to tour their various studios and observe some of the projects that they were working on. They have a large office (about 50 employees) with a good mix of Landscape Architects and Civil Engineers. They showed me their work on some multifamily residential projects, some master-planned community projects, some parks, and several other projects. I also got to sit down with a few of their associates and ask them about their company values and focuses. They also took me out to lunch with a good cross-section of employees having different years at the firm so that I could get their various perspectives. Overall, they seem like a great firm and the city is beautiful and well-planned. They even have a green roof, an experimental garden, and an outdoor deck for client meetings. It was a valuable experience not only to visit the firm, but to get to see the culture, landscape, and environment of the east coast. I even got to sneak a peek at the National Mall and Arlington Cemetery before I flew home!
If your firm is hiring or you’re aware of another opening that may be of interest to our students or recent grads, please get in touch by visiting: laep.usu.edu/alumni/student-placement
EXTERNSHIPSDerekJenson,
Land Design (Alexandria, VA office)
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To start the year, we heard from Margo Wheeler about her experience as the Director of Planning Services for Palm Springs, San Bernadino, South Gate, Monterey Park, Davis and Las Vegas among others. She also joined the department as the Canyon House’s inaugural, 2021 Distinguished Visiting Professor. Greg Montgomery also spoke about his experiences during his 40+ year stint in the Planning Division of Ogden City. Patricia Algara discussed works from her award-winning firm, BASE, in San Francisco and Portland, which emphasizes the importance of both interactive and educational designs that also benefit pollinators. Kevin Shields is a USU graduate who has served in the role of Senior Landscape Architect for the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints for 24 years. One day after receiving the 2021 President’s Award for Service and Leadership, Elizabeth Kennedy flew to Logan to speak about her unique firm: Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape Architecture, which is the longest running Black-owned and woman-run firm in the country. Our last speaker of the fall semester was our own Dr. Brent Chamberlain who discussed the importance of statistics and intuition in the field of design. He challenged students to consider how our own biases impact design encouraged designers to pay attention to evidence-based decision making. Spring semester brought another all-star lineup, which began with urban planner and real estate lawyer Erin Clark. Clark helped kick off the 2022 charrette week with her lecture and assisted students throughout the week as they worked on the City of South Salt Lake project. The next lecture was given by Wolfgang Wagener and Leslie Erganian who coauthored New Wheeler Greg Montgomery
The Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning department’s annual Speaker Series hosted twelve esteemed guests during the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters. This was an important year for Speaker Series as we began to bring the events back to a face-to-face setting.
SPEAKER SERIES 2021-2022 Fall 2021: • Margo
•
• December 2 - Daniella
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• Brent
Patricia Algara Kennedy Chamberlain
• Elizabeth
INSITES 36 West: Innovating at the Intersection, a visually stunning book that explores the development of the West through the four phases of innovation: steam, steel, oil and information. This is all illustrated with authentic mid-century linen postcards. Our next speaker was Allysia Angus, who has the highly coveted landscape architecture position at the Bureau of Land Management: one of four in the nation. She discusses her work and the unprecedented issues surrounding the order to reduce Bears Ears National Monument by 85% in 2017 for resource extraction. One of our faculty, Sean Michael, spoke about his research uncovering the business practices of one of the oldest and most successful firms in the nation. He urged students and anyone in the field to improve their business literacy to make themselves a better candidate for employment. Marc Ryan visited our department from his office, PUBLIC WORK, in Toronto to speak about his firm’s outstanding work in Toronto’s public sector, which has undeniably improved the quality of the city and its position for growth in the future. Our last speaker of the year was Director of the Weitzman School of Design at University of Pennsylvania: Billy Fleming. He described some of his role in the ambitious Green New Deal and shared some of his student’s stellar work which contributed to its mission. COMING FALL 2022 • September 16 - Patty Stevens • September 23 - Catherine Seavitt Nordenson • October 7 - Mark Van Der Zalm • October 21 - Michael Boucher • November 4 - Brad Howe • December 2 - Daniella Hirschfeld Spring 2022: • Erin Clark • Wolfgang Wagener • Leslie Erganian • Allysia Angus • Sean Michael • Marc Ryan • Billy Fleming
Thesis Title: Development of an Instructional Course on Fire-Protective and Low-Water Landscaping in MajorUtah Professor: David Anderson
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Major Professor: Benjamin George This study explored the use of several platforms (Canvas, Base Camp, Conceptboard, etc.) to facilitate social interaction in online landscape architecture coursework.
The purpose of this project was to create an instructional course on how to design appealing, fireprotective, and low-water landscapes in northern Utah.
This thesis explores the effectiveness of three types of vegetation solutions, three types of mechanical air filtering solutions, two types of zoning solutions, a local sales tax solution and freeway walls in improving air quality. The study site was a small desert town in southern California with a large low-income population and several air quality problems blown in from other regions.
Major Professor: Brent Chamberlain
Liz Braithwaite | MLA Thesis Title: Implementing a Digital Sharing Space in Online Studio Coursework in the Field of Landscape Architecture
Rebecca Merrell | MsEP Thesis Title: Comparison of Solutions to Reduce Air Quality Impacts to Environmental Justice Neighborhoods
Congratulations to all of our students! Completion of a graduate degree requires hard work and dedication. If you are interested in browsing any of these theses, scan the QR code or visit: digitalcommons.usu.edu/laep_stures
Thesis Title: Developing and Piloting a Design Guide for Outdoor Classrooms in Utah
Derek Jenson | B+MLA
Major Professor: Jake Powell
The goal of this research project was to enhance the quality of Outdoor Classroom Grant proposals by creating a research-based design guide to help simplify the design process.
Jordan Goff | B+MLA
Major Professor: Daniella Hirschfeld
Major Professor: David Anderson
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Landis Wenger | MsEP Thesis Title: Managing Summer Camps: A Study of Culture and Practices at Environmentally Conscious Camps
With ample research showing how nature and being outside can help improve, or be restorative for, the mental state of individuals, this project developed an analytical method for understanding the restorative potential within Utah State University’s Logan, Utah campus landscape as a whole and within districts.
This study explores practices currently used within summer camps where a value of the natural world is an important part of their culture. This study also considers the process camps have gone through to implement these practices
Amelia Wilcken | MLA Thesis Title: The Healing Landscapes of USU: Discovering Spaces of Potential Mental Restorativeness: A Geospatial Analysis of USU Campus
39INSITES INCOMING GRADS Corinne Bahr BLA+MsEP Tate Barney MLA Forest Cook PhD David Evans PhD Kori KurtzebornMsEP Richard Steiner MLA Chris Wilson MLA Aishwarya Korkode PhD Alanna Nafziger MLA Welcome to LAEP! We’re excited to see all that you will achieve while you are here!Learn more about these student’s backgrounds at laep.usu.edu/directory/ graduate-students
David Anderson, MLA, ASLA was honored as the 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year by the USU College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences. He also received the Educator Award from the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture. In addition, Dave was promoted to the academic rank of Professional Practice Professor. Dave continues to lead the LAEP 1030 course, which again was taught to over 1,100 students during the 2021-22 school year.
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Keith Christensen, Ph.D. who currently serves as LAEP’s Department Head, has spent a good part of the past year learning to find joy in paperwork. When he wasn’t doing paperwork he was working on papers, publishing articles with students and colleagues this past year on the design of inclusive environments. He continues to lead a major research effort to better understand and advocate for the role of the built environment in supporting individuals with disabilities’ community living and participation. Keith was also able to return to teaching landscape grading and drainage this past year, a course where he finds a great deal of joy in helping students succeed. Our faculty are one of the greatest strengths of our program. Check out some brief highlights of what they’ve been up to this year!
Benjamin George, Ph.D.spent the year on sabbatical. Read about his adventures on page 27.
David Evans, ASLA was able to work with Jake Powell and teach the inaugural Base Camp Studio, where incoming graduate students and non-matriculated undergraduates learned more about the tools needed within the program and the profession. He also co-taught Planting Design with alumni Jan Striefel, who is an expert on the subject. Dave also taught Site Analysis II and Construction Documents, where he enjoyed working with several alums who shared their expertise with students. These alumni contributed real-world projects that added to the complexity of the work and student skill development. Brent Chamberlain, Ph.D. is continuing to work on several funded projects from USDA, NSF, DoD, HHS and UDOT, advising over 20 graduate and undergraduate students. Together they have published and presented at a number of venues. To provide a richer research environment for his students, Brent completed training through the NSF-sponsored Center for Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research. He co-hosted the Visual Resource Stewardship Conference this year and joined Scenic America as a national board member.
Daniella Hirschfeld, Ph.D. is focused on understanding practical ways we can build resilience into the planning and design of places. Her international collaboration on sea-level rise science resulted in a well attended global workshop and she will be presenting as a key note speaker in Singapore about this work. Recently she won an external grant through USDA’s The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) program, which provides funding for work that advance agriculture-related sciences. Through this grant she will collaborate with economists, soil scientists, and computer engineers to understand the ecosystem services of agriculture land and apply that knowledge to the protection of agriculture landscapes despite growing pressures to develop that land. Her work on coastal site design for resilience was published in the Journal Coastal Management.
Carlos Licon, Ph.D. taught two studios this year. Undergraduate students produced housing development proposals for Hyde Park and grad students worked in collaboration with the Salt Lake County Metropolitan Service District in a Geodesign exercise to analyze development and conservation alternatives in the region surrounding this region. Carlos continues his work in sustainability education and assessment. He also spend this year learning more about our graduate programs and exploring other programs’ curricula.
Todd Johnson, MLA, FASLA guided the Site Analysis I students as they returned Studio Culture to it’s pre-pandemic form. He enjoyed teaching studios face-to-face again, and seeing student gratitude for being able to work together in person. The vibe is back! Todd serves on our Speaker Series Committee, and loved helping us bring accomplished and engaged speakers to share with our students. He enjoyed hosting several speakers on trips to Utah’s Spiral Jetty. Todd also led our UREC Team to a fantastic first-place win!
Sean Michael, Ph.D. Following a 1-year sabbatical, Sean began a new joint appointment, serving in both LAEP and Outdoor Product Design & Development (OPDD). In the fall, he led two campus-wide courses: Foundations of Sustainable Systems, and Introduction to the Professoriate. Spring courses included a revised ‘pro practice’ class based on his study of Design Workshop’s business practices. The latter research was presented to colleagues at the annual Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture conference in Santa Fe. At the same event, he led a tour of J. B. Jackson’s nearby home, which is likely the only residence of a scholar in our field that is on the National Register of Historic Places. Jackson’s home played a central role in the career of this renowned “father of cultural geography”, including serving as a riding base for his unique and enduring use of motorcycles for immersive study of landscapes, which Sean presented on at the same event.
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Caroline Lavoie,MLA, MPL, CSLA, professor in LAEP, led a successful urban design studio this past fall in Magna, Utah, collaborating with the Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District and alum Matthew Starley (MLA 2019). Caroline also recently published an article entitled “Reading the Changing Deserts of the American West: Perception and Reality | Lire les déserts changeants de l’ouest américain: perception et réalité” in Leaves, University of Bordeaux-Montaigne.
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Huaqing Wang Joins LAEP
Huaqing’s research brings together the fields of landscape ecology and human health to investigate the environment and human health relationships and aims at bridging the gap between landscape architecture design practices and research. She uses spatial analysis, landscape pattern metrics, machine learning, survey, and experimental study methods to access the impact of urban green space on human health and health equity. Her current research offers landscape and environmental planners a tool to estimate the health outcomes of a design decision. Her work was published in The Lancet Planetary Health, Environment and Behavior, Journal of Environmental Psychology, etc. Journals. Her position as Assistant Professor begins the fall semester and will focus on environmental planning and human health issues.
Jake Powell, MLA, ASLA was recognized at the 2022 Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) conference as the recipient of the 2022 Excellence in Service Learning Award. He also received the 2022 Innovation and Creativity Award for his Utah Trail Master Steward program by the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals. He spent this year working to continue to elevate LAEP Extension’s role at a national level through his service on the National Extension Tourism Design team, at the state level as the Utah ASLA President Elect, and at the University level serving as the president of the USU Extension Specialist Association. Ole Sleipness, Ph.D. returned from a year-long sabbatical, following his promotion to Associate Professor with tenure. During his sabbatical, Ole spent his year exploring issues of rural resilience in the Intermountain West and how DOT policies impact design decisions in rural communities whose main streets double as state and federal highways. Refreshed and energized from his sabbatical, Ole was excited to be back with his colleagues and students, teaching studios, collaborating on research projects, and moving forward with this next career chapter.
Huaqing Wang holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Landscape Architecture from Shen yang Jianzhu University and a Master of Science in Landscape Architecture from Peking University. She completed her Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Science at Texas A&M University in 2021. Before joining USU LAEP, she served as a lecturer at Texas A&M University and worked as a lab manager at the University of Hong Kong.
RainWorks Challenge Led by environmental planning graduate student, Justin Jaques, an inter-disciplinary team of engineers and environmental planners were awarded an Honorable Mention in the 2021 RainWorks Challenge sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency.
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The team’s submission was a redesign of Utah State’s family housing unit, Aggie Village.
“The overall goal of this program is to produce environmental planning graduates with expertise in landscape level analysis and planning who will serve as leaders within a transdisciplinary environment to develop better alternatives for land-use decisions and policy,” said Keith Christensen, LAEP Department Head. LAEP will also offer an Environmental Planning minor, beginning fall 2022. Anyone interested in learning more about the new BsEP degree or the EP minor, can find the curriculum guide and a brief summary on the LAEP website, at laep.usu.edu/degrees
Bachelor’s of Environmental Planning USU’s LAEP Department will offer a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Environmental Planning.
This degree comes with the addition of a few new courses, including LAEP 1040 Introduction to Environmental Planning, and making graduate studio courses, LAEP 6200 and LAEP 6210, available at the undergraduate level.
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In Spring 2022, 24 students graduated with their Bachelors of Landscape Architecture Degrees. As of May 2022, 21 of those students had full-time employment offers, one was attending graduate school, and two were seeking employment. Five students completed coursework for their accelerated Bachelor+Master of Landscape Architecture Degrees. All five were employed upon graduation. Three students completed coursework for their Master of Landscape Architecture Degrees. Two have full-time employment, and one is currently not seeking employment. One student completed coursework for their Master of Environmental Planning Degree, and works full-time for Cache CongratulationsCounty. to all!
Sarah received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Arizona in 1988. In 1991, she began her studies at Utah State University, earning a Master of Landscape Architecture degree. While at USU, she worked with LAEP Professor Craig Johnson, and Environment and Society Professor, Robert Schmidt to publish Living on the edge: a process for redesigning campgrounds in grizzly bear habitat This article appeared in the Landscape and Urban Planning Journal.
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Mark van der Zalm (MLA, 1997)
Mark is the founding Principal of van der Zalm & associates (VDZ+A) in Vancouver – Canada. He has over two decades of working experience in Canada, the USA, China, and Europe. Mark is recognized as a Global leader in Action Sports facility design and City-wide Strategic Planning for Skateboarding and Bike infrastructure. Mark has presented on panels across North America advocating for greater appreciation for “Tactical Recreation” and diversity in programming, and support for youth culture. Since graduating from LAEP at USU, Mark has developed a practice that employs over 35 landscape architects, civil engineers, and urban forestry professionals. The firm has received National recognition and awards for Public Park design and planning. Mark has served as President of the British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects – overseeing the organization’s 10-year strategic plan. Mark is president-elect of the Pacific Parkland Foundation, a charitable ‘arm’ of MetroVancouver Parks. Mark has been a member of the LAEP advancement board, and currently sits as a member of the Heritage review board for the Township of Langley – his hometown.
After graduation, Sarah spent most of her time with the National Park Service. During the 1990’s, Sarah worked with the National Park Service’s Natural Sounds Program in Fort Collins, Colorado.
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In 2006, she began her career working as a National Park Superintendent. First, she worked at the War in the Pacific National Historical Park in Guam, then at Haleakala National Park in Hawaii and most recently at Olympic National Park. She also served as Interim Head of Grand Canyon National Park in 2019 and Lake Mead National Recreation Area in the summer 2021.
Sarah Creachbaum (MLA, 1995)
Mark enjoys working with his staff, interacting on complex projects that require collaboration, ingenuity, and bravery! Developing the firm, and overseeing the work of his staff has been the most rewarding aspects of professional life to date.
Beginning in January 2022, Sarah became the Regional National Park Service Director in Alaska. As the Director, she oversees operations for 15 national parks, preserves, monuments and national historical parks, as well as 13 national wild rivers, two affiliated areas and a national heritage area.
Seminal projects through Mark’s career include Yingkou waterfront design, Yingkou, China, Holland Park – City of Surrey’s first downtown ‘Urban Park’, City of Arlington, TX skateboarding master plan, The Forks Plaza – Winnipeg, Manitoba, City of Vancouver Green Stormwater Strategy, Linkoping community skate park – Sweden. City of Cardiff, Wales - Urban Skateboarding strategy, White Rock Pier Plaza, Rocky Point Waterfront Park, and The Northern Gateway Conceptual Master plan – Penticton, BC.
Please join us in honoring the lives and careers of these alumni to whom we have recently bid farewell.
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Douglas Campbell B.S., 1949 Marian Christensen BLA, 1941 Willard Erickson B.S., 1951 Edmund Fowler B.S., 1950 Eric Godfrey BLA, 2009 Michael Mark B.S., 1972
David McChesney B.S., 1966 Arlo Nelson B.S., 1951 Douglas Ohrn MLA, 1985 John Pehrson B.S., 1958 Dirk Sabin BLA, 1983 Henry Stengel BLA, 1952 Office of at Utah State University, 1, July 11,
2021 and
Please note, this list was provided by the
Advancement
2022. IN MEMORIAM
and includes individuals with a recorded death date between August
InSites 2022 The Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Magazine College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences Utah State University 4005 Old Main Hill Logan, UT 84322-4005 laep.usu.edu
