BSLA Fieldbook BSLA 2015 Spring Fieldbook | Page 13

NOW /

BSLA

LETTER FROM THE
TRUSTEE
JEANNE LUKENDA, AS LA

Denver 2014 capped another significant
year of leadership and service for ASLA, the
Boston Chapter, and our membership. At
the Annual Meeting and Expo, ASLA pastPresident Mark Focht led an overarching
conversation about how landscape
architects have responded to the issue of
resilience. Noting “in many ways we’re
not doing anything differently than what
we’ve always done,” he challenged everyone
to reflect upon the meaningful role our
professionals have always played working
with land and nature, the legacy left, and the
opportunity still ahead. The general, field,
and education sessions exemplified this with
their overt demonstration of the breadth
and depth of knowledge and the selfless
stewardship amongst us.

Challenging itself to lead and serve
by example, the ASLA has undertaken
a particularly stringent review of
its obligations and responsibilities to
membership, embracing the very high
standards of the Baldridge Criteria for
Performance Excellence for Boards and
Administrations, it has led itself through
a critical and timely self-evaluation and
has put into effect numerous measures to
improve service to and representation of
landscape architects. Additionally, ASLA

has strategically
and aggressively
moved forward
the profile of the
profession through
many first-time invitations—
opportunity for dialogue with influential
global policy makers, including the National
Science Foundation, DuPont Summit on the
Environment, and White House Council on
Environmental Quality. Furthermore, the
upcoming renovation of ASLA Headquarters—
our largest asset and calling card— will help
ensure this evolving center for landscape
architecture innovation continues to reflect our
collective mission for decades to come.

Our Spring 2015 issue of Fieldbook exemplifies
our Chapter’s and members’ capacity to lead and
serve, first as students and then over decades
of professional practice. The clarity, intellect,
and team-building that is the hallmark of our
profession is expressed by the meaningful and
satisfying roles described throughout these
pages. Challenge yourself to lead and serve. As
President Focht celebrated, “it is who we are
and what we do.”

Jeanne Lukenda, ASLA
Trustee

Boston Society of Landscape Architects Fieldbook

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