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NOV 12 | 2 PM EST Credits: 1.5 PDH
Panelists: Vaughn B. Rinner PLA, FASLA, SITES AP, Landscape Architect, VRLA Elizabeth J. Kennedy RLA, ASLA, Principal, EKLA Studio Magdalena Aravena Incoming President for IL ASLA, Lamar Johnson Collaborative Diana Fernandez ASLA, PLA, Associate, Sasaki Cheri Ruane ASLA, FASLA, Vice President, Weston & Sampson’s Design Studio Victor Stanley is excited to bring together female leaders in the landscape architect field to discuss important issues in our premiere panel, Our Journey through Leadership in Landscape Architecture. Please join us in this discussion where we will cover topics such as mentorship, sponsorship, seeking new leadership opportunities, and last but not least navigating the COVID environment. Leadership roles for women are disproportionately affected even in the best of times and we hope that this panel of women will be inspiring, educational, and offer tools to further advance women in landscape architecture. Learning Objectives: Understand as landscape professional how to step into more leadership roles as a woman | How to identify formal/informal mentors as well as sponsors | How do we advocate for stronger female leaders in our profession | How do we best navigate the new environment of COVID and what the future of the profession will look like? | How to best work through disorienting dilemmas that we may encounter?
Vaughn B. Rinner
PLA, FASLA, SITES AP, Landscape Architect, VRLA
Vaughn is a Past President of the ASLA and is the Chair of the ASLA Climate Action Committee. A graduate of Iowa State University, she has over 45 years of experience as a landscape architect in private practice in upstate New York and the mid-Atlantic. She has worked in small landscape architecture studios and as a partner in interdisciplinary firms, managing teams with a variety of related professionals. She was privileged to attend the first Women in Landscape Architecture networking event early in her career and has continued to promote women both in her firms and in the profession through her work with professional organizations and with universities. She currently is practicing as a consulting landscape architect in Seattle.
Elizabeth J. Kennedy
RLA, ASLA, Principal, EKLA Studio
Elizabeth is a nationally recognized expert in the interpretation of cultural sites through landscape design and is also known for innovative work in green infrastructure, which has received awards for excellence in design, stormwater management, and preservation. She speaks regularly in public on issues in urban design, community revitalization, and sustainable cultural preservation. Her planning and design approach is based on a clear analytical perspective that derives from construction industry experience, training in environmental psychology and landscape architecture, and the practical insights of a small business owner. In its 25th year, EKLA helps non-profit organizations and government agencies plan, construct and sustainably maintain heritage landscapes. Under Elizabeth’s direction, the firm has trained and fostered the careers of young landscape architects, architects, construction managers, planners, illustrators, graphic designers, and administrators.
Magdalena Aravena
Incoming President for IL ASLA, Lamar Johnson Collaborative
Magdalena is a designer at Lamar Johnson Collaborative in Chicago, with six years of experience in Landscape Architecture, and is an engaged volunteer and leader in ASLA. Driven by her experiences as a first-generation immigrant from Chile, she is passionate about exploring the role of designers in improving disadvantaged communities through education, advocacy, and collaborative design. She pursues opportunities for growth through volunteering, outreach programs, leading and participating on professional educational panels, and through her leadership in various national and local committees, most recently serving as Membership Co-Chair and incoming President for the Illinois Chapter of ASLA, and served on the ASLA Board-elected CEO Search Committee which led to the eventual hiring of Torey Carter-Conneen as our ASLA CEO and Executive Vice President.
Diana Fernandez
ASLA, PLA, Associate, Sasaki
Diana is a proven thinker, collaborator, and leader, who teams effortlessly with architects, planners, urban designers, ecologists and civil engineers on the design of equitable and sustainable places. Her experience spans a broad range of projects from planning to built work. Diana provides critical thought and design leadership for our landscape and planning practice in the Urban Studio. She brings to each project - as well as a myriad corporate initiative - strong critical thinking, a willingness to engage in thoughtful debate, and a commitment to quality. She leads and champions better equity and inclusion in our planning and built design practices from a landscape perspective. Prior to joining Sasaki, Diana worked as a landscape architect and project designer in Philadelphia where she worked on urban and campus projects in the metro area. She writes and lectures in the discourses of landscape architecture, urban design, and equity.
Cheri Ruane
ASLA, FASLA, Vice President, Weston & Sampson’s Design Studio
Cheri is a registered landscape architect and Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects with an undergraduate BSLA from UMass Amherst and an MLA from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. She a Vice President leading the Landscape Architecture practice of Weston &Sampson’s design studio which is a Boston-based design practice within a 700 person multi-disciplinary environmental and infrastructure firm. Cheri has intentionally focused her career on landscapes within the public realm that improves quality of life and her work includes playgrounds and athletic facilities, urban downtowns, public commons, multi-use paths, and waterfront parks. Register here