Honors & Awards

The ASLA Medal:
Carol Franklin, FASLA

"Ecological design suggests a richer and more complex achievement – where designers will work from a deep understanding of how the world is actually put together and from this understanding will create new 'organic' designs. These designs – for buildings, landscapes, cities and regions – will, I hope, be timeless, beautiful, and functional."

-Carol Franklin, FASLA

Carol Franklin is a founding principal of Andropogon Associates. She is a nationally-recognized expert in sustainable design and has been a leader in the field since 1975. As an ecological landscape architect, she has worked for more than three decades to develop sustainable communities and institutions, generating solutions that integrate historical, cultural, economic, and environmental concerns. Carol was an adjunct professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania from 1972-2002, and in cultural landscapes in the Department of Historic Preservation. She has written and lectured on American traditions in art, landscape and architecture. She is currently co-authoring a book on the social, political, and ecological history of the Wissahickon Valley.

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The ASLA Design Medal:
Douglas Reed, FASLA

"Doug’s design accomplishments, along with his advocacy for our designed landscape heritage and his ability to carefully intervene in protected spaces, mark him as a rare and special landscape architect— a designer for our time and for the ages."

-Nominator, Suzanne Turner, FASLA

Douglas Reed's career has been remarkable for the consistency of his design achievement, the passion he shares with students, colleagues, and clients, and his boundless commitment to improving the world we live in through design. He has successfully positioned select urban commissions into larger agendas to accelerate revitalization efforts within cities, most recently in Houston, Texas, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Doug is a founding principle of the firm Reed Hilderbrand LLC, a 2013 ASLA Landscape Architecture Firm Award winner. His projects, his communications, and his firm Reed Hilderbrand have all won awards from various professional organizations nationwide. Doug continues to share his expertise with his students, lecturing at a broad array of schools as well as taking part in review boards. Doug is also a founding board member of the Cultural Landscape Foundation and served as board co-chair for 13 years, carving out an agenda for the organization that delivers knowledge about design heritage and how it applies to people's everyday lives.

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Community Service Award - Individual:
Kimberlee Douglas, ASLA

"[Kimberlee] sees in the design profession that we have the opportunity to not only create beautiful spaces, but to wield our talent, experience, and time to make such spaces possible and accessible for all communities, including those that do not have the financial resources that would otherwise be needed to engage in a professional design and construction process"

-Nominator, Susan K. Weiler, FASLA

Kimberlee believes that each project must be considered not only for its natural systems, but for its social, historic, and economic impacts as well. She founded the award-winning firm STUDIO GAEA, where her commitment to inclusive design has driven pro-bono work on major community-oriented projects like Philadelphia's Titan Park Master Plan and the conceptual Master Plan for the city's George W. Nebbinger Elementary School. Kimberlee currently serves as director of the Landscape Architecture Program at Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson’s Lab for Urban + Social Innovation (LUSI). Kimberly has helped shape the Lab as a mechanism for uniting communities through innovative initiatives, such as the “Park in a Truck” (PiaT) project she co-created. Kimberlee also serves co-chair of the Architecture Construction Engineering (ACE) Legacy Project Committee, works with the Community Design Collaborative, and is an Associate with the Environmental Leadership Program which promotes and encourages new leaders in the environmental field.

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The Jot D. Carpenter Teaching Medal:
Dr. Lee-Anne Milburn, FASLA

"Dr. Milburn not only pushed the boundaries in teaching and mentoring her students but also, through my experience, taught us how we can create real and lasting change through the profession and in the future [...] Dr. Milburn is truly an advocate for the profession and shows it in her academic career and through the experiences and lessons that I learned that I still use today."

-Luis Pedraza Cardozo
Former Student of Dr. Milburn

Dr. Lee-Anne Milburn has been at California Polytechnic University for nine years, where she is a Professor, former department chair and lead instructor for the 606 MLA studio, where she helps serve one of the most ethnically diverse student populations in the country. She is active in the Southern California Chapter of ASLA and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA), and is a member of both organizations' Council of Fellows. She has published 45 scholarly publications to date, 24 of which were peer-reviewed. Dr. Milburn has been recognized for her intellectual, educational and service efforts with numerous awards and recognitions.

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The LaGasse Medal - Landscape Architect Professional:
Julie Hensley, ASLA

"Julie always brings with her a quiet determination to make every park the best it can be – both in providing memorable places that create a stronger sense of community and in being responsible stewards of our lowcountry landscapes."

-Nominator, William T. Eubanks, FASLA

Since the beginning of her career, Julie has been concerned with the proper management of the nation's public lands and the use of natural resources for the betterment and enjoyment of society. For 28 years, Julie served as the Director of Planning for Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission (CCPRC) in Charleston, South Carolina. Under her leadership, CCPRC grew from 5,000 acres of protected parkland to 12,000 acres and is nationally recognized as a model for operating an ever-expanding park system with little reliance on tax subsidies for growth. Julie was also very involved in the Charleston Greenbelt Program - which has protected over 21,000 acres of land to date and purchasing over 9,300 acres for future public parks and greenspaces. Now the owner of her own firm, Julie continues to provide pro bono services for parks and public landscapes, including her design work at Folly Beach park near her home.

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The LaGasse Medal - Non-Landscape Architect Professional:
Sally Jewell

"Sally Jewell has created a remarkable legacy as a steward of our nation’s public lands. She has walked the halls of the White House and cared for a fifth of the land in this country. She has demonstrated exquisite diplomacy at boardroom tables and leadership at one of the nation’s most successful outdoor retail companies, REI."

-Nominator, Thaisa Way Ph.D, FASLA, FAAR

From her time on executive boards to her time in the executive branch, Sally Jewell is known for her unwavering commitment to conservation and environmental protection. Sally spent her early career working in corporate America. In 1996 she joined the board of Recreational Equipment, Inc (REI) as Chief Operating Officer and later rose to Chief Executive Officer in 2005. During her tenure, the REI co-op facilitated 3 million hours of volunteer work in natural outdoor spaces and contributed three percent of annual profits on outdoor stewardship efforts. Jewel helped found the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, which named her to its Hall of Fame for 21 years of leadership encouraging people to venture outdoors. It was this leadership that led to her appointment as Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior under President Barack Obama in 2013. Expanding access to parks and public lands was a key focus of her time at Interior, where she ushered through pivotal programs such as the Every Kid Every Park initiative, which made every fourth-grade student in the country and their families eligible for a free one-year pass to every national park. After leaving government, Jewell went to the University of Washington as an advisor to the College of the Environment's EarthLab. She also joined the Board of The Nature Conservancy, where she will become the Interim CEO in September 2019.

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The Landscape Architecture Firm Award:
Heritage Landscapes LLC

"32 years ago, the only things that were deemed worthy of preservation and curatorial management were buildings and objects. This small band of landscape architects has played a principal role in changing that, in changing the field, changing public perception, changing academia, and in changing the regulatory situation of historic cultural landscapes."

-Nominator, Laurie Olin, FASLA

When Patricia O'Donnell founded Heritage Landscapes, LLC in 1987, there were virtually no official guidelines for historic landscape preservation works. Historic preservation traditionally focused on buildings, and few people thought of landscapes as having heritage value. Heritage stepped into that void, becoming the first landscape architecture firm in the world to focus solely on landscapes that make up our shared public heritage–places that already matter but need aid and guidance. Today, their work is fully informed by national and international preservation standards, guidelines, charters, and declarations, many of which they helped develop. Heritage strives for integration, with interventions discernible only to the trained eye, purposely in character with historic origins. They have completed off 500 projects nationally and internationally, including four World Heritage sites and some 40 National Historic Landmarks, and won 87 professional awards to date.

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The Medal of Excellence:
Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF)

"LAF has built a remarkable legacy as the organization invests in research, scholarships, and leadership initiatives to increase the collective capacity to achieve its mission to support the preservation, improvement, and enhancement of the environment, and to empower current and future landscape architects to use their unique skills to make change in the world."

-Nominators, Thaisa Way Ph.D, FASLA, FAAR & Jennifer Guthrie, FASLA

Founded over 50 years ago, LAF has pursued its mission to advance the profession of landscape architecture through research, education, and leadership. The Foundation has invested more than $3 million on groundbreaking research which informs professional practice, including over 150 case study investigation briefs and the Landscape Performance Series. Current research initiatives focus on the measurable environmental, social, and economic benefits of landscapes. LAF has also greatly expanded academic scholarship in the field, awarding over $1.5 million in scholarships to over 580 students since 1986. The powerful conversations, deliberations, and messages facilitated by LAF through its various programs and events continue to inspire practitioners and students alike, as it looks ahead to the next 50 years.

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The Olmsted Medal:
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)
United States Senate

"As I give my 200th 'Time To Wake Up' speech, the most obvious fact standing plainly before me is not the measured sea level rise at Naval Station Newport, is not the 400 ppm carbon dioxide barrier we have broken through in the atmosphere, is not the new flooding maps coastal communities like Rhode Island must face, nor is it the West aflame. It is not even the uniform consensus about climate change across universities, national laboratories, scientific societies, and even across our military and intelligence services, who warn us that climate change is fueling economic and social disruption around the world. The fact that stands out for me, here at number 200, is the persistent failure of Congress to even take up the issue of climate change."

-Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

Every week since April 2012, Senator Whitehouse has risen on the floor of the Senate and delivers a speech outlining the dangers of climate change and urging his colleagues in the Senate to action. He's delivered over 200 of these 'Time to Wake Up' speeches so far. He currently serves on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, responsible for environment and infrastructure. Further, he serves on the Subcommittee for Fisheries, Water and Wildlife whose jurisdiction includes drinking water, endangered specials, wetlands, coastal protection, and other critical areas of environmental safety and stewardship. During his tenure, Senator Whitehouse has introduced, co-sponsored, and supported numerous pieces of legislation that seek to protect the environment and coastal areas. He also co-founded the Senate Oceans Caucus and continues his environmental leadership on the U.S. Congressional International Conservation Caucus.

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