Last year LASN inaugurated its Women in Landscape Architecture issue. LASN readers suggested this theme. We thought it was a great idea then, and still do. Last year the Women in Landscape Architecture issue was in October; for scheduling reasons, this year it's our November presentation.

LASN has of course been presenting the work of women landscape architects since the publication began 31 years ago. In fact, some of this year's selected Women in Landscape Architecture have previously been featured in LASN. So why present an issue centered around women in landscape architecture? According to the ASLA, as of Oct. 26, 2016, 62.07 percent of its membership is male; 35.88 percent is female (318 members, or 2.05 percent, did not identify their gender). If ASLA membership is indicative of the breakdown of the percentage of men vs women in the profession, women are still significantly outnumbered in the field of landscape architecture.

It's interesting to note, however, the 311 responses of ASLA's 2016 online survey of graduating students in accredited undergraduate and graduate landscape architecture programs. Curiously, 173 respondents (56 percent) were women; 135 respondents (44 percent) were men. The 2016 survey also revealed that female students were pursuing graduate degrees in landscape architecture at higher rates than their male counterparts, 45.5 percent vs 26.6 percent.

LASN was so pleased to review this year's submittals for the Women in Landscape Architecture issue. Some of the women were landscape architects we've worked with before; others were less familiar to us, but we were happy to learn about them and their work.

Some things never change. Selecting the women for this year's issue was no less difficult than last year. All the women who submitted their curriculum vitae and a sampling of their project work were worthy candidates. Still, in the end, as we did last year, it was necessary to select a dozen women to profile.

For all those who submitted, thank you for "putting yourselves out there." We could not have done it without you. For those women not selected, it's likely that LASN will present your work in an upcoming issue. LASN is always looking for great looking projects to present, so we hope you won't hesitate to send them our way.


LASN's 2016 "Women in Landscape Architecture" are, in alphabetical order:

Clara Couric Batchelor, ASLA, LEED AP
Principal and Founder
CBA Landscape Architects LLC, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Kristin Booker, ASLA
Booker Design Collaborative,
Louisville, Kentucky

J'Nell Bryson
J'Nell Bryson Landscape Architecture,
Charlotte, North Carolina

Allison Colwell, ASLA, LEED AP
Colwell Shelor Landscape Architecture,
Phoenix, Arizona

Jennifer Horn, ASLA
Jennifer Horn Landscape Architecture
(JHLA), Arlington, Virginia

Ive Haugeland, ASLA
Shades of Green Landscape Architecture
Sausalito, Calif., Owner and Principal

Lu Gay Lanier, LA, FASLA
Timmons Group, Richmond, Virginia

Marian Marum, ASLA, LEED AP BD+C
Marum Partnership,
Principal Landscape Architect,
San Diego, Calif.

Trini Rodriguez, ASLA
Principal, ParkerRodriguez, Inc. (PRI)
Landscape Architecture Land Planning
Urban Design, Alexandria, Va.

Pamela Shadley, FASLA
Principal, Shadley Associates, P.C.,
Lexington, Massachusetts

Dolores Silkworth, PLA, ASLA
RDG Planning and Design,
Omaha, Nebraska

Peg Staeheli, FASLA
SvR Design Company,
Seattle, Washington