People
Faculty and Staff
Arnold R. Alanen is currently an emeritus professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture, where he taught courses in landscape history and cultural resource preservation from 1974-2009. He continues to write on an extensive range of topics: the history of planned communities and landscape architecture; company towns; rural and immigrant settlements; and vernacular architecture. The majority of his publications focus on North America, although several have been based in Finland, Norway, Australia, and Japan. His books include Morgan Park: Duluth, U.S. Steel, and the Forging of a Company Town (2007); Finns in Minnesota (2012); and a co-edited volume, Preserving Cultural Landscapes in America (2000). A co-authored book, Main Street Ready-Made: The New Deal Community of Greendale, Wisconsin (1987), was re-published in 2012 on the eve of the town’s 75th anniversary. He also was the author of the 2000 field guide for the Vernacular Architecture Forum in Duluth, and co-editor of two volumes for the 2012 conference based in Madison.
Dr. Alanen helped to found Landscape Journal during the early 1980s, and served as co-editor until 1991; he is also the founder and editor of the Wisconsin Land & Life series, published by the University of Wisconsin Press since 2003. As an advisor to the National Park Service, he and his graduate students documented cultural landscapes in Alaska and the Midwest throughout the 1990s. Dr. Alanen has received seven national research and communication awards from the American Society of Landscape Archtects, and was named an Honorary Member of ASLA in 2008. The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture recognized him five times, naming him the recipient of its Outstanding Educator Award in 2001, and electing him to its Academy of Fellows in 2007. He has been selected as a Fulbright Graduate Fellow, a W.K. Kellogg Foundation National Fellow, a visiting research professor at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and the Finlandia Foundation’s National Lecturer of the Year. Prof. Alanen served as chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture from 1985-88, and 2001-03.
My interest is in understanding human causation of environmental change and applications of this knowledge to the fields of conservation and restoration ecology. With my solid background in social sciences, ecology, and philosophy of science, I address many of the methodological and conceptual challenges to making studies of human-environmental interactions causally relevant. My goal is to use this knowledge to understand how future actions will affect undesirable environmental changes, thereby enhancing conservation and restoration project designs and implementation. My interdisciplinary training and attention to causation provide unique tools for students to use in site analyses, planning, and management in order to prevent the recurrence of problems. I have mostly applied this approach to plant invasions and changes in wetland-plant diversity.
I have conducted research on human-environmental interactions in the United States, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Newfoundland Canada. I have published articles on the causes and management of plant invasions, wetland ecology, concepts in human ecology, and the uses and limitations of local ecological knowledge (knowledge produced outside of the scientific community) in causal studies and ecological restoration. My teaching emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding environmental problems and restoration design.
Courses to which I will contribute include: -LA 710: Theories of Landscape Change -LA 651: Restoration Ecology Workshop -LA 866: Restoration Ecology Seminar -LA 920: Graduate Workshop
In addition, I am developing a course titled: "Human-Environmental Interactions", an introductory course that will allow students to explore how humans use and shape the natural world, and, in turn, how the natural world has shaped human culture and society. I am a member of the Ecological Society of America, the Society for Ecological Restoration, Society of Wetland Scientists, the Estuarine Research Federation, and the Nordic Society Oikos.
Research Interests: -social dimensions of environmental design at all scales
Dr. Dennis is an associate professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and has affiliate appointments in Agroecology, Environmental Studies, Geography, Family Medicine and Urban and Regional Planning. As a geographer and landscape architect, his research practice focuses on understanding and creating environments that support human health and well-being, especially for young people. He is particularly interested in the role urban open space plays in preventing chronic disease. Although he continues to pursue his early interest in the social construction of landscape meaning, his current research engages communities in environmental assessment using a tool called participatory photo mapping.
Folklorist Janet C. Gilmore links the Department of Landscape Architecture with UW-Madison's Folklore Program and the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures, in a "cluster" appointment that began in 2003. A native of Oregon, she graduated from Reed College in Portland, and received graduate degrees in Folklore from Indiana University, with specialties in dialect, folklife, and material culture. She offers coursework and field school opportunities in cultural resource preservation, field methods, and regional, ethnic, and occupational folklife, folk art, and foodways. Dr. Gilmore brings to the cluster many years working as an independent public folklorist and humanities consultant, documenting and presenting folk artists, their handiwork and the creative process, in a variety of public formats. She has interviewed a broad range of traditional practitioners, from needleworkers and knot-tyers to wood-carvers, boat-builders, and welders, and her research has introduced her to widely varied indigenous, long-settled immigrant, and recent emigré populations in the Upper Midwest and the Pacific Northwest. She is particularly interested in traditional artistic expression--including foodways--in occupational settings like commercial fishing, where individuals combine several cultural strands as they regularly adapt materials, structures, tools, techniques, and perspectives to ever-changing physical, social, and economic contexts.
Professor Harrington's research targets prairie and savanna systems of the Upper Midwest, as well as changing vegetation patterns in urbanizing regions. Professor Harrington has engaged in studies with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, The Prairie Enthusiasts, and the National Park Service exploring land cover patterns and change in southwest Wisconsin and on the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve. He is currently studying the role of fire and grazing in the recovery of oak savanna (http://www.la.wisc.edu/projects/grazing/) and the influence of seeding rates on the long-term composition and structure of restored dry prairie.
Professor Harrington served as chair of the Department from 1996 to 2001 as well as Chair of the Campus Natural Areas Committee (1999-2004) and the 19th North American Prairie Conference (2003-2004). He currently sits on the Science Advisory Board for Nygren Wetlands (Illinois Natural Land Institute), design review boards for the University Research Park and Fitchburg Center, Inc., and the City of Madison's Urban Design Commission.
Doug received a BSLA in Landscape Architecture from Rutgers University in 1990 and MA in Landscape Architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010. As an undergraduate he spent a summer studying Medieval hill town Urbino in the Marche region of Italy and nine months in the Andalucía region of Spain, studying Islamic gardens and landscapes.
Doug worked with Taliesin Preservation, Inc. for seven years, working on and cultural and natural resource preservation and planning for the National Historic Landmark Taliesin Estate. While with Quinn Evans Architects, Doug assisted in the development of plans for several National Park Service properties.
Doug's primary role in the Department of Landscape Architecture is as an Instructor. He currently teaches LA201: Introductory Landscape Design Studio. He also co-teaches LA250: Survey of Landscape Architecture, LA262: Landscape Inventory and Analysis, and LA462: Regional Design.
Doug's interest in landscape architectural design is broad and spans a range of project types and scales. One of his focuses, however, has been the use of Geographic Information Systems in the design, planning, and management of the landscape.
Evelyn is a plant ecologist with a passion for midwestern grasslands, savannas, forests, meadows and marshes. Her primary teaching and research interests are the preservation, restoration, and management of native systems and the use of native species in landscape design. She loves to study and enjoy these wonderful native ecosystems, and to take action to help ensure their survival for future generations. Together with her students and colleagues, Evelyn has worked on projects for the National Park Service, the US fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy, the International Crane Foundation, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the City of Madison Conservation Parks, the UW-Madison Arboretum and the UW-Madison Lakeshore Nature Preserve, as well as for several Wisconsin counties, cities, and school districts. Evelyn loves working with students at all levels both in and out of the classroom. She teaches ecology in the Biocore Program (an undergraduate four-semester cross-college sequence of honors courses that provides a foundation for many of the campus biology majors), as well as graduate courses in restoration ecology, vegetation management, and landscape theory and a first-year course in site inventory and analysis. She really enjoys being part of interdisciplinary teaching teams in several of these courses, working with landscape architects, geographers, anthropologists and biologists who specialize in areas other than ecology. A member of the UW-Madison Teaching Academy, Evelyn belongs to the Bradley Residential Learning Community, and is past co-Director of the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) residential learning community. She has received two major teaching awards from the college and the university. Evelyn’s most recent publication is a textbook on restoration ecology (one of the first), which she co-authored with Landscape Architecture Professor John Harrington and Steve Glass who recently retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum where he served as restoration planner and fire manager. She has also co-edited (with David Egan) a book on historical ecology, and published articles addressing natural landscaping, exotic species control, the effects of fire on prairie forbs and grasses, prairie restoration techniques, and vegetation assessment. Evelyn served as Chair of the Landscape Architecture Department from July 1988 to June 1993, and more recently from July 2003 to June 2011. She was also the head of the UW-Madison Faculty Senate from January 1996 to June 1997. She is past Chair and current member of the Wisconsin Natural Areas Preservation Council, a citizen’s group that advises the Endangered Resources Program of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. She also serves on the City of Madison’s Habitat Stewardship Committee. When Evelyn is not busy at her desk, in a classroom or studio, or out in the field, you can usually find her playing with parrots; reading biographies, mysteries, classic fantasies (Tolkien) or history; watching/listening to Milwaukee Brewers games; taking in a play, opera or musical; watching episodes of Doctor Who; baking cookies; and/or listening to her iPod.
Shawn Kelly, FASLA,PLA is originally licensed as a Landscape Architect in California, where he participated in projects in Spain, Mexico, and many of the continental United States. He is currently licensed in Wisconsin and is principal of Kelly Design Group, LLC, where he participates as a Landscape Architect and Land Planner on a variety of projects which range from institutional work to residential and estate plans, and many First Nations projects in northern Wisconsin. Shawn has also worked for the Agency for International Development and Consortium for International Development in Africa where he worked with indigenous people to track the condition of the local ecology through sampling and field work. Shawn also has been a full time educator for the past seventeen years at the University of Wisconsin, Madison campus in the Department of Landscape Architecture. He teaches a minimum of four classes per year with studios and acts as a student advisor along with committee work. Shawn has served ASLA as Wisconsin State Chapter President, Secretary, Two term Trustee, and is currently the ASLA Vice President of Membership. He authored the current Practice Act for Landscape Architects in Wisconsin, and dedicated eleven years to the passing of that law. He was invested as Fellow, ASLA in 2009 in the category of Knowledge.
Over the past seven years, Eric has earned an array of awards and scholarships. His main research interest is urbanism, which includes rural and urban issues involving landscape ecology and its intersection with systems of mobility, food, waste, energy and water.
As a new lecturer for the Department of Landscape Architecture, Eric is looking forward to pushing students in a design direction that ties into their individual passions, as well as helping them to understand how their designs operate at multiple scales.
Eric currently works at SmithGroupJJR and in the past has worked for OLIN in Philadelphia, PA and SWA Group in Houston, TX.
Trained as a landscape ecologist and landscape architect, I work on regional conservation strategies using geospatial analysis and cultural insights. Primary research includes support from The Nature Conservancy to build scenarios of forest conservation effectiveness in a changing climate. Through projects with MN & WI Sea Grant we developed innovative spatial literacy tools for Great Lakes coastal communities. Meanwhile, I collaborate with the International Crane Foundation to expand spatial studies for crane conservation both here and in China (see landscape conservation lab page). I chair the graduate program in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development within the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, helping to train conservation leaders through professional experiences (see CBSD page). My instructional emphasis in landscape architecture is Applications of GIS (LA 695) and creation of a GeoDesign program (course website). Previously I served on the faculty of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Washington State University (1995-1999), and was employed by the U.S. Forest Service in Pennsylvania and Upper Michigan as a landscape architect (1987-1993), and as a landscape ecologist (1993-1995). I have a B.S. in Landscape Architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Michigan Technological University, with emphases on cultural ecology, landscape history, and landscape ecology. I am involved in the International Association for Landscape Ecology (US Chapter), The Nature Conservancy, the academic consortium for GeoDesign, the Aldo Leopold Foundation, and the Society for Conservation Biology.
James Steiner received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from Louisiana State University in 1981. He is currently a registered landscape architect in the State of Wisconsin.
After graduating from LSU, James worked in the areas of landscape design, design-build and architectural construction in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. He moved to Wisconsin in 1986, where he was hired as the lead landscape architect for the Zimmerman Design Group in Milwaukee. While at ZDG, James expanded his professional experience by working on interior design, space planning and architectural projects. From 1993 to 1997, he worked for Stano Landscaping, then joined Tom Mortensen, ASLA, as a partner in Landgraphics Landscape Architecture in Milwaukee.
In 1997, James joined Quorum Architects, Inc. in Milwaukee as a senior designer, where he continues to work on site, architecture and interior design projects, as well as architectural rendering and presentation graphics. In 2000, James was hired as an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison’s Department of Landscape Architecture. In 2004, he became a permanent faculty member, dividing his time between teaching design and graphics at UW and working on both large and small-scale design projects at Quorum Architects.
James' educational and professional focus is design communication and the promotion of integrative design process, as a way to efficiently promote clear and sustainable practices from an equitable team of interdisciplinary designers, engineers, clients, and technical specialists.
A native of Wisconsin's Door County Peninsula, Professor Tishler completed graduate work at Harvard University. He undertook additional study at the University of North Carolina, the Nantucket Preservation Planning Institute, Cornell University, and the Attingham Summer Institute in England. He is past president of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, has served on the Board of Advisors to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has been chairperson of Wisconsin's Historic Preservation Review Board, and Vice-President for the Arts of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters.
Professor Tishler lectured widely throughout his career; his professional achievements include six Professional Awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects, Historic Madison, Phi Kappa Phi Honorary Fraternity, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has been a Senior Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., and served as the H.W.S. Cleveland guest professor at the University of Minnesota. His many papers, reports, and articles on historic preservation and landscape architecture include the award-winning book that he edited, American Landscape Architecture: Designers and Places (1989), acclaimed by a reviewer as "one of the most significant works published on landscape architecture in the past decade." More recently, he served as editor of Midwestern Landscape Architecture (2000), and co-produced the award-winning documentary film Jens Jensen a Natural History. He also has edited the forthcoming book Jens Jensen: Writings Inspired by Nature.
Professor Tishler also organized and serves as co-director of The Clearing Landscape Institute at the home and school of the noted landscape architect, Jens Jensen, in Ellison Bay, Wisconsin. A Fellow of the American Association of Landscape Architects, he received the 1998 Award of Distinction from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture. In 2012, he received the Henry Glassie Award for Special Achievement in Vernacular Architecture Studies from the Vernacular Architecture Forum.
I advise Department business travelers and help process their expense reimbursements. I also set up student hourly appointments and assist with timetable matters in Debi’s absence.
My broad background in computer and IT issues were gained while I was making other plans. I am responsible for Landscape Architecture Departmental Labs, computers, network, servers, printers and scanners, student logins, software maintenance and installation. I currently split half of my time at LA and half of my time as a GIS Specialist at Land Information & Computer Graphics Facility.
My interests include Permaculture (I have 2 PDCs), gardening, dry stack stonework, aquaponics, energy, community, restorative justice, science fiction. I take care of chickens, bees, fruit and nut trees and shrubs on 1.17 acres in the City of Madison.
In the Department of Landscape Architecture, Carin serves as a marketing project assistant. She helps to create newsletters, design the website and recently developed Contour, the Capstone Catalog.
Originally from Baltimore, Carin graduated from Loyola University Maryland (formerly Loyola College) in 2011 with a double major in Communication (specialization: journalism) and Political Science with a minor in Information Systems and Operations Management. There, she worked for Technology Services as a Multimedia Specialist for five years, teaching faculty new content management systems and working with audio, video and photo editing software. She is currently pursuing a Masters Degree at UW-Madison through the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
As Department Supervisor I work among great colleagues to assist students, staff and faculty in personnel, payroll, purchasing, professional development and problem-solving: constructing budgets, managing research grants, hiring, processing employee benefits, and generally navigating within our bureaucracies. |
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