2009 VA-ASLA President’s Message from Nancy Rodrique, LA 

Dear Virginia Chapter ASLA Members,

I would like to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to serve as your President for the next two years.  We have several new members on the Executive Committee that I would like to welcome and several returning members that are to be applauded for all their hard work.

The current "economic downturn" that has been the focus of our nation has had a devastating impact on our profession in the last year.  Although the prediction for the future is good, the market turn around for design professions usually lags behind the construction industry.  Now more than ever we need to take advantage of this time to forge new relationships with other landscape architects and strengthen our ties to related professions.  We need to share our knowledge and look at ways of increasing our flexibility for the future.  We need to look for opportunities as a profession to take the lead in the political arena and  to vocalize our opinion on new initiatives such as CLEAN TEA, Complete Streets, Safe Routes to Schools, Transportation Enhancement funding, and funding for NPS to administer and manage the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS).  The passing of licensure to replace certification in Virginia is reason for celebration but will bring with it the responsibility of maintaining continuing education credits.  The Virginia Chapter is going to strive to meet the following initiatives this upcoming year to better serve you as members:

• We will encourage all Virginia ASLA members to take an active role in our organization. We need every member to commit to making this organization a priority and to actively participate in committees and events in at least some small way. We encourage your feedback on the types of continuing education programs we now offer and on constructive ways that we can improve our state organization. The executive committee is a volunteer based group that meets in person for 6 meetings during the year- refer to the schedule on the vaasla.org website and let us know if you are planning to attend a meeting.

• We will provide more education opportunities. We are working to become a licensed provider through ASLA and will provide pre-approved CEU's for the spring conference in 2010. We will work towards offering smaller events and lectures around the state and keep you up to date on programs being offered at the universities to our members.

• We will promote greater ties to related design professions such as AIA, APA, VRPS, USGBC, ULI, APLD, VDDA and ASCE by keeping you informed on upcoming events to provide additional learning and networking opportunities for our members. If you are currently an active member of any of these or related organizations and would like to be our representative by sharing event information we would welcome your assistance.

• Improve on our communication to keep all members informed about events, continuing education, job, networking, and social opportunities through regular newsletters, website updates, and an annual membership directory. This directory will feature our design award winners and will be published for the first time in the fall of 2009.

I welcome your feedback and thoughts on ways that VA ASLA can better support you.  I am looking forward to meeting each one of you and working with you to make our organization stronger.  There will be great opportunities and accomplishments in the upcoming year as we work together.

Thanks,

Nancy Rodrique