One Master of Landscape Architecture candidate at the University was selected to act as the inaugural committee chair of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ new Student Advisory Committee in October.
Joni Emmons, a second-year graduate student of the University’s Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, was appointed as chair of the committee by ASLA President-elect Vaughn Rinner after the process of choosing six members to comprise the committee.
“When I saw the email from ASLA about the creation of the board at the beginning of last summer, I had just finished my first year of the MLA program here,” Emmons said. “Since the field stands at the intersection of art and environmental science, students often come from a range of backgrounds and have unique interests, and I’m fascinated by how those all come together to contribute to the definition and evolution of landscape architecture as a profession.”
Emmons originally graduated from the University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Philosophy. She has been a member of ASLA during her first year of graduate school, which is a great way for students to get involved in the professional world without being landscape architects yet, Emmons said.
ASLA was founded in 1899 and serves as the “national professional association for landscape architects,” as stated on its website. The association has over 15,000 members from more than 40 professional chapters and more than 70 student chapters.
“ASLA has been increasing its outreach to students and emerging professionals in recent years, and they created this committee in an attempt to better engage students and make sure that their involvement with the society is meaningful,” Emmons said. “It’s a way for them to better understand what the needs and concerns of their student members are.”
Prior to the creation of the committee, a student representative position existed, but difficulty was found in trying to establish and maintain contact with the student chapters around the country, Emmons said.
While Emmons was not part of creating of the committee, she saw the potential to strengthen ties between the student chapters and national ASLA by focusing on creating programming and resources specially-aimed toward student outreach as well as helping build bridges to ease the transition from student to landscape architect, Emmons said.
The process for Emmons to be selected as committee chair began with a nomination from Louisiana’s chapter of ASLA. Each state chapter sent in their nominations and then ASLA President-elect Rinner selected six to serve on the committee. Of the six, Rinner chose Emmons to serve as the chair.
“It was an exciting surprise to find out that I’d been selected as the inaugural chair,” Emmons said. “It’s been a great experience so far — it’s really interesting meeting with the other members of the committee who come from different parts of the country and hearing about their schools and projects and experiences as a student.”
Earlier this year, Emmons was also selected for a Cultural Landscape Fellowship from The Cultural Landscape Foundation. In addition, Emmons also got to attend the annual meeting of ASLA, held in New Orleans in October, and meet the other members of the committee as well as the ASLA president and staff.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm around this new committee — so far, all of the ASLA administration and trustees I’ve met have been very supportive and excited to have a student at the table in discussions about the state and future of our profession and the ASLA’s role in it,” Emmons said.