News related to Landscape Architecture

The Student Senate Caucus and the Undergraduate Academic Information Centre held its ‘Recognition of the Contribution of Teaching’ reception on Monday, March 31, 2014 at the University of Guelph.  Professor Sean Kelly was one of the recipients who was acknowledged for his contributions to the academic experience of students.  Sean was nominated by BLA Student Senator, Justin Whalen, a 4th year BLA student.

The nomination praises Professor Kelly as someone who:

“embodies the exceptional qualities expected of an educator”;

The Ontario Association of Landscape Architects ‘OALA Honourary Member Award’ was presented to Mr. George McKibbon on Friday, March 28, 2014 at the OALA Conference and AGM at the Sheraton Hamilton Hotel.  The Honourary category of membership is for non-landscape architects for whom the OALA Council wishes to recognize for outstanding contributions in their own fields to improving the quality of natural and human environments.

The Ontario Association of Landscape Architects ‘David Erb Memorial Award’ was presented to Professor Sean Kelly on Friday, March 28, 2014 at the OALA Conference and AGM at the Sheraton Hamilton Hotel, Hamilton.  The award named after David Erb who was an outstanding volunteer in furthering the goals of OALA and his example set a truly high standard. This prestigious award is considered the best way to acknowledge the one outstanding OALA member each year whose volunteer contributions over a number of years have made a real difference.

Two groups of University of Guelph students in the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture program received awards in the Student Design Competition at the recent Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel (OSSGA) AGM in Ottawa.

The Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation (LACF) announced the recipients of its 2014 grants in support of research, communication and scholarship.   

Five of the eight grants awarded went to individuals and groups with Guelph affiliations.  SEDRD Professor Robert Corry, MLA students Mark Affum, Chad Neufeld and Kathleen Corey, MLA alumni Jon Woodside, Jeffrey Beaton, and BLA alumni Victoria Bell, Adrienne Hall and Robin Mosseri are all among this year's recipients.

Juri Peepre was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada on December 29, 2013 for his role in protecting the Canadian wilderness for future generations.

This fall, the Ontario Agricultural College and School of Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD) were proud to offer a new award. The new Thompson Graduate Studies Scholarship will be presented annually to a deserving student in the Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) program.

Leila Todd, a recent Master of Landscape Architecture graduate, has won a 2013 City of Hamilton Urban Design and Architecture Award for her Emerald Park Concept (based on her MLA Thesis) in the Excellence in Environmental Design category. The jury stated it was "a unique idea and very appropriate." The jury suggested that the City should trial Leila's idea for improving the temporary use of brownfield sites in the City of Hamilton to apply this idea across the City.

Landscape Architecture Instructor, Nadia Amoroso is featured in the December 2013 issue of the Magazine of the American Society of Landscape Architects.  The article (on page 54), entitled "Life Comes to Maps. New Tools find Intriguing Patterns Hidden Right in Front of You" features her work as Co-Founder of DataAppeal.  DataAppeal translates numerical information into three-dimensional shapes, colours and textures.  The DataAppeal models are then fed into Google Earth, which is being used as the primary program for sharing geospatial data with the public.

This past spring, Stephanie Wilson completed her master’s degree in landscape architecture (MLA) in a little-studied topic in Canada.  Her MLA thesis focussed on enhanced cross-country course design at the University of Guelph Arboretum.  See At Guelph article.