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2026 Whittemore Lecture Honors Joan Nassauer

2026 Whittemore Lecture Honors Joan Nassauer
Professor Joan Nassauer catches up with her former student, Joel Perkovich (MLA ’07), who carried out lawn-to-meadow conversions in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as part of the Allegheny County Parks Department.
By Andrew Housman (MS ’27) | 
October 15, 2026

The 2026 Whittemore Lecture in Landscape Architecture, held Oct. 1, examined work by practicing landscape architects who have studied with Professor Joan Nassauer. She will retire in June 2027 after more than 50 years of research, teaching, engagement and service to the profession. The University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability Landscape Architecture faculty focused the event on Nassauer’s influential research on the socio-environmental, well-being and ethical implications of aesthetic experiences of landscape care. 

The event included an alumni dinner, studio open house and panel presentations of project work and design. Panelists included: Isaac Brown (MLA ’05), McMillen; Greg DeVries (MLA ’03), Heritage Landscapes; Jennifer Dowdell (MLA ’07), Biohabitats; Marilee Hanks (BS ’97, MLA ’99), Knot Studio; Oliver Kiley (BS ’03, MLA ’08), Smithgroup; Joel Perkovich (MLA ’07), Allegheny County Parks Department; Fred Rozumalski, Barr Engineering; and Tao Zhang (MS/MLA ’08), Sasaki. 

2026 Whittemore Lecture honors Joan Nassauer.
Fred Rozulmaski discusses his design for a bog ecosystem atop the portico roof of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. "People care for what they understand," he said about the project.


 

2026 Whittemore Lecture honors Joan Nassauer.
Marilee Hanks (BS ’97, MLA ’99) talks about the interdisciplinary staff at her Portland, Oregon-based landscape architecture firm Knot Studio, which heavily incorporates experts in communications and environmental justice in their people-centered projects.


 

2026 Whittemore Lecture honors Joan Nassauer.
SEAS Landscape Architecture Professor Lisa Du Russell, SEAS MLA alumna Jamie McArdle (MS/MLA '17) and SEAS Lecturer M'Lis Bartlett pose together during the Whittemore Lecture reception.


 

2026 Whittemore Lecture honors Joan Nassauer.
Oliver Kiley (BS ’03, MLA ’08) discusses community-centered planning for urban greenways in his "Care Through Infrastructure" presentation. "It's important to build empathy in the place you're building," he said.


 

Tao Zhang (MS/MLA ’08), whose work at Xinyang University campus in Henan, China, incorporated stormwater infrastructure and biodiverse habitats, reminisces about his time at SEAS with his former MLA classmates and professor Joan Nassauer.