School of Planning, Design and Construction

Message from the President

This update seems longer than usual because we accomplished so much this past year due to the focused efforts of the board and a successful working partnership with both the School (SPDC) and the LA Program.

I am honored to begin serving the last year of my two-year term as the President of the LAAAB! We have finished a productive year of change under the program leadership of Dr. Jun-Hyun Kim and Interim School Director, Dr. Rene Hinojosa. We will enter the new year with a new School Director; Dr. Jun-Hyun Kim.  I am pleased to give you an update on the many exciting things that the MSU LAAAB is doing to support the growing Landscape Architecture program, as well as the students, faculty, and school.

2024 Outgoing Board Recognitions

First the board and I would like to recognize and thank the outgoing Board Members; Cheryl Zuellig, Scott Reinhold, Josh Seyfried, Joe James, and Christy Summers, for advancing our mission and leaving the new board in a such strong position.

Cheryl Zuellig led the board through the challenging times of the pandemic. She revisited our organizational structure and initiated planning for the 125th LAnniversary Celebration in the fall of 2023. She and her committees recruited fantastic new members to create a more diverse and effective board.

Scott Reinhold, lead of the Nominating Committee, has again recruited six strong new members to replace members whose terms expire in July of 2024. You can learn more about new and continuing members of the board in a separate article in this newsletter. Scott also was active in planning the 125th LAnniversary event, of which his company, Landscape Forms, was our lead sponsor.

Josh Seyfried has led the Event Committee for several years. As part of the planning for the 125th LAnniversary event, Josh developed and implemented a sponsorship program. Additionally, through more attentive management of our LinkedIn site Josh was able to recruit several panelists and participants.

Joe James stewarded one of the most successful years for student engagement by organizing lectures, coordinating closely with the Student ASLA Club, creating a roster of alumni resources, organizing portfolio and resume reviews prior to the career fair and arranging for practitioners to do critiques and speak in classes. 

Christy Summers has supported numerous committees and board activities during her two terms on the board.

LAAAB Board 2023-2024 Achievements

Students fully returned to the campus and are recovering from the pandemic and unfortunate campus tragedy of February 13, 2023. The size and diversity of the LAAAB board has increased to include representatives with experience in local, state, and federal government, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and members who have held adjunct faculty positions in several institutions. We have new board members with strong administrative, leadership and fundraising expertise.

The MSU Program leadership, the Board and Committee Chairs have implemented an internal filing and communication systems. This system uses google drive and email. It will serve as historical record of Board membership, documents and activities.

The Board has coordinated with the MSU Development office on friend and fundraising strategies and has gained approval of a sponsorship policy from the School, Program and University. There are multiple sponsorship opportunities to support students and the program. We were able to host the 125th LAnniversary Celebration without cost to students or alumni due to thirteen generous sponsorships.

Collectively we planned and hosted a stellar 125th LAnniversary Celebration in October 2023 to celebrate the longest-running landscape architecture program in the country. The full day event included Campus Tours, Sketch Walks, Displays of Student and Alumni work, Alumni and Student Panels, Dinner and Keynote Speaker David Rubin of Land Collaborative. For more details see the article in this newsletter.

Two Board members, Bob Chipman  and Josh Seyfried, traveled overseas with the study abroad program to Italy and Portugal. We hope Board Members will continue to join trips in upcoming years. Learn more about this experience by reading articles in this newsletter by students and board members.

Thanks to the re-energized Student Support Committee led by Joe James, the board had our most robust year of interactions with students. We lectured, coached, held workshops, made presentations and reviewed projects, portfolios and resumes.

This year the partnership between the program and the Michigan DNR's Parks and Recreation Division celebrated it’s 13th year. It was recognized with an award from the National Association of State Park Directors. Read Vicki MeGhee’s article in this newsletter for more details. Students participated in a Viridis design project on Grand Rapids Riverfront. The planning and design work by Wenk Associates and Viridis will be part of our Fall Lecture Series planned for September 19, 2024.

The Student Support Committee has created a roster of Alumni who want to engage with students. We will continue to grow this. Alumni can engage without being a member of the Board.

Last year we published a survey, focused on friend raising and finding opportunities to encourage more Alumni to engage with students. Several of the panelists for the 125th LAnniversary event and new board members were identified through the survey. There are opportunities to lecture, serve as reviewers and mentors and apply for the Distinguished Alumni Award.

We had a successful friend raising and fundraising year which will allow us to provide more support to students to attend state and national conferences.

LAAAB Board 2024-2025 Activities and Priorities

The 2025-2026 LAAAB executive committee will remain unchanged with each officer serving final year of two-year term. The EXCOM includes Sandy Fischer, FASLA as President supported by Tim Britain in the Vice President/President Elect role, Vicki McGhee as Treasurer and Katy Hallgren as Secretary.

Committee leads will change with Charles Cross and Mike Meyers co-chairing the Student Support Committee. Incoming member Alex Fenech will lead the Event Planning Committee that will possibly merge with Student Support, Vicki McGhee continues as chair of finance and fundraising committee be supported by Tim Britain. Dan and Bill Wenk. The chair of nominations committee is yet to be identified.  Refer to the article "Meet the LAAAB Board" in this newsletter for more details on the full board including biographies of the five new members who will join in July.

We are optimistic about the 2024/2025 school year.  Our dedicated board members will continue to focus on alumni and student outreach, student enrichment activities, friend raising and expanding the roster of Alumni who are interested in engaging with the program.  We remain committed to helping students become our future leaders. We will continue to expand interaction between students, Board Members, and Alumni.

Last year we collected over 125 examples of alumni projects. The work was displayed at the 125th LAnniversary Celebration in the classrooms and remains a digital reference library for students. Potentially we can grow this resource as students benefit from having professional projects to reference. We would like to expand this to show all aspects of a project from proposals through construction.

The Program is looking for projects that can provide students with practice experience. The 13-year partnership with the Michigan DNR Parks and Recreation Division will continue offering students the opportunity to contribute to real projects.

This fall we will sponsor a lecture on September 19, 2024. We are honored to have the ASLA President SuLin Kotowicz joining us. Mark your calendar and read the article on the LAAAB Distinguished Speaker Series in this newsletter to learn more about the event.

Opportunities to Connect

If you have not had a chance to connect with the Landscape Architecture program recently, the board  encourages you to check out the program's website or Facebook page as well as our alumni LinkedIn page.

The Michigan State Landscape Architecture program is growing and gaining national recognition. Continuing and increasing Alumni engagement and support will ensure MSU continues to deliver top-tier graduate landscape architects. 

If you are in a position now to offer financial support or to volunteer your time, please let us know. If now is not opportune, please keep the LAAAB and the MSU LA program in mind going forward. Thank you for your continued interest.

If you would like to learn more about the Board and engagement opportunities or if you have any questions, I would be happy to contact you. Please feel free to email me at President.MSUlaaab2023@gmail.com.