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Dear MD ASLA Community,
Happy Holiday Season!
It’s been a busy beginning to this new term and there is a lot to report in my letter to you.
First, thank you to the University of Maryland for hosting our first 2023-2024 Executive Committee meeting on November 29. We had an excellent turnout – a majority in person, which was great, with many UMD students present. The students presented UMD SASLA fall activities, including their recent Giving Tuesday fund drive to send landscape architecture students to LABash at UC Davis this coming March. They have raised almost $4,000.00 – please consider sponsoring the students, if you have not already supported them. Well done!
Speaking of sponsors, apparently ‘tis the season to celebrate and thank those individuals and fims who make possible so much of what we do as an organization. At our annual Holiday Party we fêted our sponsors and early in the new year we will do the same for the donors who make up our Circle of Support. Stay tuned for further details - I am sure it will be a fun-filled evening.
As we look toward 2024, MD ASLA has some exciting things lined up. The Professional Development and Climate Action Committee has been working hard to create a 2024 Climate Action Challenge for LA students whose programs fall within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. This includes landscape architecture programs in Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. We have received enthusiastic response and are excited to unveil the Challenge soon. In the meantime, UMD and Morgan State students should begin thinking of projects that could fit with the ASLA Climate Action Plan and would benefit the health and longevity of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Stay tuned for more.
MD ASLA has also reached out to the Baltimore Architecture Foundation’s Adopt-A-School program to see how we might be more involved as an organization and make students in grade school aware of landscape architecture as a profession. The hope is to have some activities / events in April of next year as part of World Landscape Architecture Month. The Student ASLA chapter from Morgan plans to be involved and they would love participation from UMD, as well.
Once again, it is wonderful to have so many people interested in being involved with Maryland ASLA. I have heard from a few of you and would love to hear from more about how we can be more effective and transparent as an organization. Which leads me to my final note – we are accepting nominations for Fellows (due January 15, 2024) and need some names of potential candidates. If you have someone in mind and are not sure if they are eligible, please send me an email and I will respond as soon as I can.
It was great to see many of you at the Holiday Party!
Sarah Trautvetter, ASLA
2023-2024 President