Presidents MessageDavid L Stipe, ASLA, LLA
The 2015-2016 Executive Committee will begin our term this week without one notable participant. Courtney Landoll, our past president and ExCom member for the last five years, finished her executive service to WASLA at the national convention in Chicago this month. She leaves our group of chapter managers after helping forge a stable, dynamic organization that we can all be proud of. She will not be wandering far however. She has accepted a new leadership position with National ASLA as the Chapter President’s Council Chairperson. She will be leading the national assembly of chapter presidents at the mid-year meeting in Washington DC for the next two years and at the national convention in 2016 and 2017. She also has a new professional position with the Trust for Public Land as a project manager for the Parks for People Program. Courtney, we want to thank you for your service to the chapter and congratulate you on your new position at TPL.
The Parks for People program is a very important initiative started by TPL to assist communities, ensuring that everyone has parks, gardens, playgrounds, trails, and other natural places within a ten-minute walk from home. This is a very noble goal for TPL to tackle and we should all appreciate their efforts. I would be willing to bet that your community has benefited, or soon will, from TPL’s efforts to enhance recreation opportunities for everyone. Visit http://www.tpl.org/our-work/parks-for-people for more information about the program. Be sure to thank Courtney for her service to the chapter and her dedication to recreation access when you see her at our next happy hour. I will also take this opportunity to welcome our new ExCom member Julia Culp and not-so-new ExCom member Laura Thompson. Laura has served for the last two years as our Eastern Washington at-large member and became our President Elect following the national convention in Chicago. Julia replaces Laura as our Eastern Washington at-large member. Laura is a Landscape Architect with SPVV and Julia is a Landscape Architect at Michael Terrell Landscape Architecture. Both of them are from Spokane, Washington and will help continue the focus of WASLA in engaging LAs from across the state. For more information about Julia and Laura, along with all of the ExCom members, please visit http://www.wasla.org/executive. With new leadership coming on board the 2015-2016 WASLA ExCom has big plans for enhancing our professional practice, mentoring young professionals, and continuing to be relevant state wide. If you are interested in helping our dedicated group of leaders and volunteers, visit our website or contact me or Laura at [email protected] or [email protected]. |
