LASN is happy to report that members of the ASLA state chapters are increasingly voting for licensed, Practicing Landscape Architects (PLAs) to lead their organizations. Over the last three election cycles, the number of non-licensed individuals elected to the office of chapter president has decreased across the nation.

 

According to LASN research, among the group of 2023-2024 presidents, eight show no record of ever having been licensed as a Landscape Architect, with one individual possessing a license from another country. This means that nine past presidents who served all or part of their term during 2024 were not licensed in the U.S. With a total of 49 ASLA Chapters, this means that in 2024, 18.37 percent of chapter presidents were not a licensed Landscape Architect.

That number drops in the group of 2024-2025 presidents, with no record of licensure available for seven individuals, or 14.29 percent. The trend has continued, with only five non-licensed presidents elect who will rise to the office of chapter president in the fall of 2025 or 2026. LASN is also aware that at least one of these individuals is currently working towards licensure and will hopefully be a PLA by the time they become president, bringing that number down to four. This group was elected as attention was being drawn on a nationwide scale to the importance of licensure, resulting in the election of current ASLA President-Elect Bradley McCauley, PLA, FASLA. With only four chapter presidents lacking licensure, this figure will have effectively been cut down by over half in just three election cycles, from 18.37 to 8.16 percent.

These trends indicate a growing, nationwide acknowledgement of the need to have the most qualified professionals serving at the highest levels of the society in order to advance the profession and assert its prominence in the realm of design.