December 10, 2013UT Students, Faculty Attend the American Society of Landscape Architects Conference
By Master of Landscape Architecture student, Angelike Angelopoulos
On November 15-18, ¿ì»îÊÓƵ, joined more than 6,000 landscape architecture professionals and students from across the U.S. and world in Boston, Massachusetts for the National American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Conference. This is an annual event convening of industry experts, innovative technologies, and educational sessions led by some of the discipline’s top experts.Ìý More than 140 education sessions, field sessions, workshops, and general sessions were offered, ranging in topics from landscape performance and the human health component to systems ecology.Ìý Pioneers like Peter Walker (who Ìýthis fall), Laurie Olin, Michael Van Valkenburg, and countless others presented.
For the past two years, the has offered full support for student delegates to attend this national meeting. ÌýThis year, the Tennessee Student ASLA chapter vice president, Clay Lezon and I, chapterÌýpresident, Angelike Angelopoulos attended the conferenceÌýon program scholarships. We were joined by fellow student Cameron Rodman.Ìý Each of the MLA students engaged with professionals and industry leaders through the educational workshops, the Industry Expo and alumni reception.
2013 was the first year in the reception’s history that UT was represented. Students at UT’s reception table greeted professionals from across the state of TN, friends of the program from around the country, as well as program alumni and other UT graduates who had gone on to purse graduate studies in landscape architecture at other institutions.
Faculty members ,Ìý, and Ìýalso attended the conference, maintaining full schedules with visits to multiple Boston area firms, as well as meetings with potential graduate students. During the session breaks, UT representatives toured the city of Boston, making stops along the Freedom Trail to see the U.S.S. Constitution, Bunker Hill, and the new ‘big dig’ site, the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.Ìý Faculty members were given a private tour of portions of the Emerald Necklace and spent some time in the historical Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Next year’s ASLA conference heads to Denver, Colorado where the UT Landscape Architecture Program will continue to be represented by students and faculty.
