The West Virginia University landscape architecture program has successful alumni who have become CEOs, prominent landscape architects and successful developers.
Now, as part of the program’s 50th anniversary celebration, six landscape architecture alumni will return to campus to discuss the future of the profession and mentor current students. The alumni will visit March 17-18.
A panel presentation featuring the alumni and current landscape architecture professionals will be held at 2 p.m., March 17, in 1021 South Agricultural Sciences.
The presentation will cover topics such as the future of the profession and the future of landscape architects, as well as welcome questions from students, faculty and staff in the audience.
“There are divergent opinions on the future of the profession and it’s important to have an open discussion on the topics,” said Charlie Yuill, chair of the landscape architecture program in the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design. “To accomplish this we’ve invited seasoned veterans and young professionals to speak.”
Panel members include:
• Nina Chase, a landscape architect with Sasaki Associates in Boston with a passion for designing to accommodate for water in cities. A graduate of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and West Virginia University, Chase was recently named “Landscape Architect to Watch” by “Green Building & Design” magazine. Her graduate work along the Chicago River received national acclaim, as she won a 2012 American Society of Landscape Architects Student Honor Award.
• Rob Dinsmore is a Morgantown, native and a 2010 WVU graduate. Currently a landscape architect for GRW Engineers, Architects and Geospatial in Lexington, Kentucky, Dinsmore is responsible for site design, land development and master planning services in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee. In 2012 he received the WV ASLA Honor Award for Design Excellence for the Upper Big Branch Miners Memorial, and the WV ASLA Merit Award for Design Excellence for the Nuttallburg Mine Complex Site Design.
• Richard “Gus” Drum, a 1972 graduate of WVU, serves as the senior lead planner in the Plan Formulation Section of the Huntington District Planning Branch. Drum joined the Huntington District in 1973 and has worked in all phases of civil works planning. Several of Drum’s career accomplishments include being project manager for the development of six public port master plans for the West Virginia Public Port Authority, formulating the nonstructural components of the post-Katrina Mississippi Coastal Improvement Plan and being lead planner for the 13-state Ohio River Basin Comprehensive Plan. He is currently the lead planner for the Ohio River Basin Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies Pilot Study, and lead planner for the ongoing Ohio River Navigation Dams Rehabilitation Prioritization Study.
• Zachary Lette, a 2001 graduate of WVU, is the managing principal and vice president of Land Planning and Design Associates. Throughout his career, Lette has worked on a variety of projects of significant diversity and scale, including mixed use development, urban design and planning, community planning, defense, institutional, parks, trails and greenways. Under his direction, LPDA has expanded its portfolio and service to its clients throughout the Washington/ Baltimore region managing over $30 million in design and construction projects throughout the last five years. Lette is an active member of the American Society of Landscape Architecture and sits on a steering committee for WVU’s landscape architecture program.
• Steve McHale is a 1983 graduate of WVU and co-owner of McHale Landscape Design, a design build firm that focuses on high-end residential projects and features landscape architects and designer with masonry, construction, landscape and maintenance divisions. A registered landscape architect in Maryland and Virginia, McHale manages the firm’s Annapolis, Maryland, and Eastern Shore offices. The firm received numerous awards from the Landscape Contractors Association of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia; the American Landscape Contractors Association, and other national awards for design build projects.
• John R. Tschiderer, who has more than 30 years of real estate development experience, is the senior vice president of development and redevelopment for Federal Realty Investment Trust in Rockville, Maryland. He oversees the comprehensive direction and management of all phases of project development for the Trust’s Core Retail Portfolio. His responsibilities include site development feasibility analyses, development program master planning, land use entitlement and government relations, design and construction management, and project budget and pro forma maintenance. He’s an active member of the Urban Land Institute and the International Council of Shopping Centers where he sits on the CenterBuild Planning Committee. He is a member of the Alvernia University President’s Advisory Council and is a founding board member of Bethesda Green, a nonprofit partnership promoting sustainable business and living practices in Bethesda, Maryland
On March 18, the panelists will work with current landscape architecture students during a day-long charrette, an intensive design session where a team of designers and other interested parties create solutions to an identified problem.
“The charrette has a long tradition in design practice and exposing students to the activity during their education prepares them for professional practice,” said Peter Butler, associate professor of landscape architecture. “Our students and alumni have expressed an interest in working with each other on a meaningful activity and this is one way to bring them together.”
For the purposes of this charrette, teams of alumni and students will be tasked with creating designs for the areas adjacent to the new Agricultural Sciences Building.
Prior to the event a short survey was sent to faculty and staff of the Davis College inquiring their thoughts and ideas about opportunities for the areas.
“The responses will provide the charrette teams with a basic understanding of the desires of many faculty and staff members. This information will guide their conceptual design process,” Butler said. “Ideas for programming of outdoor spaces for teaching and research were particularly interesting as well as concepts for celebrating the unique breadth and character of the Davis College.”
At the end of the design session concepts will be presented to faculty, staff, students and other stakeholders from 6:30 – 9 p.m. at the Erickson Alumni Center.
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CONTACT: Lindsay Willey, Public Relations Specialist
304.293.2381, Lindsay.Willey@mail.wvu.edu
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