This year's Whittemore Lecture features a panel discussion on the topic: "Landmark Women in Landscape Architecture." The free event is from 5-7 p.m. in Forum Hall in Palmer Commons. The Institute for Research on Women and Gender is co-sponsoring this year's lecture with SNRE. The panelists are:

• Barbara Faga, first woman to be principal designer in EDAW, and then on the board of the largest design build firm in the world, AECOM, when EDAW was sold to AECOM.  Designer of the Atlanta Olympics site plan.  
• Linda Jewell, one of the four women landscape architecture faculty in the nation in 1975. Former chair of the LA programs at Harvard and Berkeley.  Co-editor of the forthcoming book, "Women in Landscape Architecture: Essays on History and Practice."
• Darwina Neal, first woman to be president of the American Society of Landscape Architects, first chair of the ASLA Committee for Women, longtime landscape architect in charge of national park service design and management in Washington, D.C.

(Map, parking information for Palmer Commons)

More about Barbara Faga:

Barbara Faga is an urban designer with experience including Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta, GA; Parc Diagonal Mar, Barcelona, Spain; Carter Presidential Center, Atlanta, GA; Celebration, FL; Schuylkill River master plan, Philadelphia, PA; the Wharf District Park of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, the downtown park over the $15B "Big Dig" in Boston; Porta Nuova, major redevelopment in Milan, Italy; East Edisto, master plan for 70,000 acres near Charleston, SC; and the Atlanta BeltLine, a 22-mile ring of new development around the downtown. She has also worked as a public sector planner and designer in Alexandria, Virginia and the City of Atlanta.

She has a celebrated 30 year career. During that time, Barbara has helped elevate the position, scope and profile of landscape architecture and urban design on the global stage, while serving as a mentor and inspiration to young professionals. Barbara joined AECOM (then EDAW) in 1980. She chaired EDAW’s board of directors from 1996 to 2005 and later served as executive vice president, Planning Design + Development, North America.

She has extensive experience directing complex teams on large, time-sensitive and award winning projects including housing and community development plans, downtown revitalization, waterfront development and parks. Considered a leader in advocacy and participatory planning processes, she has led several high profile public and private commissions in the United States and internationally.

An influential mentor of young professionals, Barbara is a regular speaker at universities and was a participant and supporter of EDAW's Summer Student Program which was honored with an American Society of Landscape Architects Award of Excellence in 2000. Barbara is an experienced community and business leader who has served on a number of citywide task forces; conducted hundreds of public meetings; served as a board member; and chaired environmental, professional and retail associations. She speaks regularly in the United States, Europe and South America on urban issues for professional associations, public agencies and universities. In 2007, Design Intelligence named her one of the top 15 women who are changing the world of architecture. She is the author of several articles. Her book, “Designing Public Consensus: The Civic Theater of Community Participation for Architects, Landscape Architects, Planners and Urban Designers,” is required reading for many graduate-level design and planning students.

More about Linda Jewell:

Linda Jewell is a professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, a partner in the Berkeley firm of Freeman & Jewell and, until 2011, a consulting partner in the Raleigh, N.C. firm, Reynolds & Jewell. She holds a bachelor of architecture with honors from North Carolina State University and a master's of landscape architecture (summa cum laude) from the University of Pennsylvania. Jewell has written more than 40 articles for Landscape Architecture magazine and other professional and academic publications.

Her design work and publications have won numerous ASLA merit and honor awards, including the prestigious Presidential Award in Communications for her Construction articles in Landscape Architecture, the Bradford Williams Medal and the Jot Carpenter Teaching Medal. She has taught at North Carolina State and the University of Pennsylvania as well as served as chair of landscape architecture at Harvard University and UC Berkeley. She is presently working on the book, Gathering on the Ground: Experiencing Landscape in the American Outdoor Theater.

More about Darwina Neal:

Darwina L. Neal retired as chief, Cultural Resource Preservation Services, National Capital Region, National Park Service (NPS), in April 2009, after 44 years of government service with NPS. While in that position, she managed the regional archeology, history, historical architecture and landscape architecture and architectural conservation programs and was involved with park staff, other agencies and community groups in the research, planning and design of various parks, memorials and cultural landscape projects throughout the region. Previously, she was chief of design services from 1989-96, managing a multidisciplinary team of architects, landscape architects and civil, electrical and mechanical engineers charged with responsibility for the design and development of a wide range of projects in the Washington metropolitan Area.

After Neal joined the NPS in 1965, during Lady Bird Johnson's Beautification Program, she was actively involved with various agencies and citizen groups in the design and rehabilitation of parks and play areas, then planned and developed downtown parks for the 1976 Bicentennial; served as consultant for various projects at the White House and landscape plantings at Camp David; and coordinated the design and construction of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove. She also designed and managed the construction of the award-winning U.S. exhibit at the 1980 Les Floralies Internationales de Montreal.

Since joining the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in 1965, Neal has been active at all levels: national president 1983-84, the first woman elected to that position; vice president 1979-81; treasurer 1977-79; and for several years (1975-79) wrote a monthly column on national legislation for the ASLA newsletter. She coordinated the first committee for Women in Landscape Architecture and participated in various ASLA task forces and workshops. As a member of the foster of Visiting Evaluators for the Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board, she participated in evaluating a number of schools for accreditation. On the local level, she served as Potomac Chapter trustee, president and secretary.

She was the first ASLA ex-officio representative on the board of the U.S. Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (US/ICOMOS) from 1985-98, served as treasurer (1998-2004) and trustee (2004-7) and has been a member of the ICOMOS/IFLA Cultural Landscape Committee since 2005. In 2007, she was made a US/ICOMOS Fellow. She is now serving another term (2011-14) on the US/ICOMOS Board.

Neal served as ASLA Delegate to the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) from 1989-92 and 2000-03 and then was elected secretary of the IFLA Western Region (2003-06). She served as IFLA Americas region vice president (2006-10) and is a member of the IFLA Cultural Landscape Committee.

Neal co-authored the July 1973 ASLA Bulletin on "Women in Landscape Architecture" and the "Guide to the Landscape Architecture of Washington, DC" in the April 1970 Landscape Architecture Quarterly magazine; coordinated and co-authored a section of the November 1981 Landscape Architecture magazine on "Landscape Architecture of Washington, DC"; and coordinated and wrote the introduction to the book, Women, Design and the Cambridge School, by Dorothy May Anderson. As trustee and president of the ASLA Potomac Chapter, Neal was active in support of local environmental issues; previously, she chaired and served on several chapter committees.

Neal has served on the national panel of Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association; the board of directors of the National Society of Park Resources Branch of the National Recreation and Park Association (1978-80); the board of directors (1985-91), Architectural Control Committee (1977-2000) and Landscape Committee (2000-02) of Beekman Place Condominium; was secretary and member of the board of trustees of the Washington Metropolitan Area Chapter of the Pennsylvania State University Alumni (1972-74) and is on the board of  directors of the National Preservation Institute (2009- ). She is also a member of the National Association for Olmsted Parks, The Garden Conservancy, Alliance for Historic Preservation, US/ICOMOS, Preservation Action, the Historical Society of Washington, the Committee of 100 for the Federal City of Washington, DC, and the DC Preservation League (DCPL), and now serves on the DCPL Project Review Committee (2011- ).

Neal received a bachelor of science in landscape architecture from Pennsylvania State University in 1965. In 1981, she received an Alumni Achievement Award from the College of Arts and Architecture Alumni Society of that university for superior achievement in her profession and now serves on the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture Advisory Council (2011- ). In 1982, she was elected as ASLA Fellow for superior service to that society. She was awarded the ASLA President's Medal in 1987.

Since retirement, Neal has remained active in her professional organizations and has volunteered her time to edit various IFLA publications, author articles in professional journals and serves as a reviewer/evaluator for UNESCO World Heritage sites.

ABOUT THE LECTURE SERIES: 

Harlow O. Whittemore (1889-1986) was a nationally recognized leader in landscape architecture and community planning, and served as professor and chairman of the Department of Landscape Architecture and City Planning at the University of Michigan. He received his master’s degree in Landscape Design from the University of Michigan in 1914 and was invited to join the landscape architecture faculty the very same year, serving until his retirement in 1958.  In addition to his prominent role at U-M, Whittemore was instrumental in developing the concept for the Huron-Clinton Metropark Authority.

Along with a colleague, Henry Curtis, Whittemore developed the concept of a park system along the Huron and Clinton Rivers from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie in 1936. The Harlow O. Whittemore Lecture series at SNRE was established in 1977, named in honor of Professor Emeritus Whittemore. The endowment fund for the Harlow Whittemore Lecture was established with gifts from many of Professor Whittemore’s family, friends and former students.
 

PAST WHITTEMORE LECTURES:

• 2011: Cynthia Girling, professor of Landscape Architecture in the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of British Columbia,
• 2009-2010: As part of its 100th anniversary celebration of the Landscape Architecture program, SNRE organized the Harlow O. Whittemore Panel Discussion during the fall 2009 celebration. The discussion was titled "Reflecting on the Past, Designing for the Future." Four alumni—Andi Bullock Cooper (MLA ’00), Lisa Delplace (MLA ’88), Eugene Herbert (MLA ’81) and Ted Wolff (MLA ’79)—shared their thoughts and experiences in a wide-ranging discussion that addressed the evolution of the discipline, its current role and the role of landscape architects in the future of a more sustainable society.
• 2009: Rosa Grena Kliass, principal, Rosa Grena Kliass Paisagismo Planejamento e Projetos Ltda.
• 2008: Randall Sharp, a landscape architect with Sharp & Diamond LLC
• 2007: Kenneth Helphand, professor of landscape architecture at the University of Oregon
• 2006: Walter Hood, professor of landscape architecture at the University of California, Berkeley
• 2004: Lisa Delplace (MLA 1988), principal with Oehme, van Sweden & Associates in Washington, D.C.