The deadline to register for the Fall Symposium and Awards is Tuesday, October 27, 2026.

Symposium and Awards Schedule

Awards Celebration Parking Instructions & Arrival

Parking is available in Lots 1, 2, 4, and 5, and guests may use the ParkMobile App where required. If you have a Virginia Tech parking pass, you may also park in any permitted lot that accepts your pass.

Enter through the South End Zone, Gate 2. You’ll enter the glass-walled area to access the elevators. Take the elevator to the 3rd floor. When you exit, walk through the automatic doors and proceed to the left, following the hallway to the South End Zone West Space. Signage will be posted to assist you.

Hotel Accommodations
There are many hotels in and around Blacksburg, Virginia to choose from. Please note that the symposium takes place on the same weekend as Virginia Tech’s Fall Open House, which is expected to increase demand for accommodations. We strongly recommend booking your hotel as early as possible to ensure availability and secure the best rates.

Symposium Education Sessions (Saturday, November 7)

Session 01
Bridging Practice and Academia: Building Collaborative Landscapes(1.0 PDH/LACES)

Session Description
Collaboration between practitioners and academics can create meaningful opportunities for shared learning, innovation, and research while connecting education to real-world challenges. But how can these collaborations be sustained, mutually beneficial, and relevant to both professional practice and academic inquiry? This session discusses the value and potential of long-term partnerships between educators, landscape architecture professionals, and community organizations, drawing on the more than decade-long collaboration between Virginia Tech’s Landscape Architecture Program and Wetlands Watch, the City of Virginia Beach, and WPL as a case study. Perspectives from educators and practitioners will explore benefits for students, professionals, communities, and research, accompanied by an exhibition of student work.

Panel Participants

• Shereen Hughes, Ambassador, Wetlands Watch, Norfolk
• Dr. Mintai Kim, Associate Dean and Professor, Landscape Architecture Program, Virginia Tech, School of Design
• Dr. Irene Curulli, Associate Professor of Practice, Landscape Architecture Program, Virginia Tech, School of Design
• Billy Almond, PLA, FASLA, WPL
• Moderator: Amari Ross, Neighborhood Resilience Project Manager, Wetlands Watch, Norfolk
  
  

Learning Objectives

1. Explore the mutual benefits of sustained collaboration between landscape architecture educators, practitioners, and community partners for education, practice, research, and communities.
2. Share perspectives on how collaboration can bring together academic knowledge, professional expertise, and community experience to address real-world landscape challenges.
3. Discuss different models and opportunities for building meaningful, reciprocal partnerships, including studios, research, community engagement, and professional practice, and consider how these relationships can be sustained over time.

Session 02
Hazardous to Resilience, not Resistance(1.0 PDH/LACES)

Session Description

SGA will lead a symposium session focused on the reuse of a former American Legion and commercial marina located on Knitting Mill Creek along a branch of the Lafayette River within the Elizabeth River watershed in Coastal Virginia. The session will focus on Elizabeth River Project’s headquarters office, known as the Ryan Resilience Lab and Learning Park and its journey of transformation from a brownfield to a forward-thinking vision for our collective futures. Communities across Virginia are now faced with climate adaptative challenges, the Resilience Lab and Learning Park creates a reuse blueprint for the next fifty years.

• Timothy Stromberg, ASLA, Founding Principal at SGA
• Mike Fox, FASLA, Principal at SGA
  
  

Learning Objectives

1. Due diligence, brownfield remediation, and adaptive reuse strategies.
2. Public Education Facility and approach to Environmental Education
3. Resilience, climate-responsive design, green infrastructure, and sea-level rise.
4. Lessons Learned - Contract delivery and advisory service aspects of practice

Thank you to our (current) Sponsors and Exhibitors! 

Maple Sponsors 

Symposium Exhibitors