Sean Rotar, FASLA

Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
by Staff

Indiana Chapter Category: Service

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Indiana Chapter Category: Service

Serving others is the motivating force behind almost everything Sean Rotar does. His dedication on behalf of the profession over the past twenty years has resulted in four service awards from ASLA state chapters as well as one from Ball State University. In his nine years serving on four national ASLA committees-three of those years as chair of two committees-and the Chapter Presidents Council, he has improved organizational structures, enhanced volunteerism, increased the inclusion and involvement of student members, and promoted understanding of the importance of STEM designation for landscape architecture. Locally, in Lafayette, Indiana, over the past six years, he has freely offered his expertise and hands-on assistance to improving neighborhoods and to helping local boy and girl scouts and school children develop a greater appreciation for nature and landscape architecture. At both local and state levels, Sean has been a leader and advocate for historic preservation, whether as trustee of Frank Lloyd Wright's Samara or by educating others about the importance of historic landscapes through the Indiana Landmarks Foundation. During Sean's thirteen years as a faculty member at Ball State University and Purdue University-serving as chair of the landscape architecture program at Purdue since 2017-he has developed an expansive repertoire from which hundreds of landscape architecture students have benefited. His five-time recognition as Outstanding Teacher at Purdue and his 2018 Excellence in Teaching Award from CELA attest to his wise, dynamic mentorship of students, many of whom cite Sean's service as inspiration for their own.