Upcoming Events

Clear all filters Staff Quinney College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning

Oct

LAEP Speaker Series: Joe Diaz, Which Career Path in Landscape Architecture Will You Take?

Lecture/Readings

2026 Distinguished Alum Lecture Review of different career paths that are available for landscape architects; including experiences in working for a non-profit, private sector firms, and a large public sector agency. A discussion of challenges, successes, and opportunities for growth in all areas. Joe Diaz Jr. is a licensed landscape architect that has worked both in the private and public sector throughout his career. His primary focus has been on working with communities and developing spaces that encourage community connections, safe durable spaces, and maintaining the integrity of the surrounding environment. Early in his career, Joe contributed to a wide range of residential and public projects while working with PDSA and James Dalton and Associates. His work spanned multiple states, including California, Texas, South Carolina, Illinois, Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona. These developments integrated thoughtfully designed entry monuments, community parks, gathering spaces, fountains, lakes, and pedestrian connectivity. During this period, he also collaborated on many government park projects around the country further solidifying his commitment to public-facing design.

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm | Fine Arts Visual | More Info

Oct

LAEP Speaker Series: Mike Johnson, Turns Out, Location Matters...A Lot!

Lecture/Readings

In 1854, John Snow, MD, used geographic analysis and maps to determine the primary source of the cholera epidemic in London. Public health spatial analysis was born. Much more recently, organizations across government, utilities, and private industry have discovered the positive impact of adopting a GIS-based location intelligence strategy using spatial analysis and maps to communicate potential outcomes. This session will offer some historical insight into early GIS in Utah and describe the current diversity of location intelligence applications through case studies. Examples represent stakeholder engagement, climate and environmental issues, transportation, and development challenges and will reference outcomes representing a strategy for balanced interaction between humans and the natural environment.

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm | Fine Arts Visual | More Info

Nov

LAEP Speaker Series: Alonzo Coby, When Land Leads: Indigenous Planning for Community Futures

Lecture/Readings

This lecture explores applied approaches to Indigenous planning through real-world examples in place-making, cultural landscape interpretation, land justice, stewardship, and planning policy. The session highlights how Indigenous planning frameworks move beyond conventional land-use models to center ancestral relationships to land, language, ceremony, and systems of community governance. Rather than treating planning as a purely technical exercise, this work positions it as a vehicle for cultural continuity, self-determination, and nation-building.

Alonzo Coby serves as Planning Director for the Shoshone Bannock Tribes, where he advances sovereignty-centered planning grounded in cultural identity, land stewardship, and long-term community well-being. His work demonstrates how tribal planning functions not merely as a regulatory framework, but as a powerful instrument for nation-building, self-determination, and the protection of ancestral relationships to land, language, and ceremony.

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm | Fine Arts Visual | More Info

Dec

LAEP Speaker Series: Huaqing Wang, Landscape Research and Design for Human Health

Lecture/Readings

This lecture introduces Huaqing Wang’s recent research on how built environments influence human health, and discusses how these insights translate into landscape and urban design studio teaching. The talk highlights ecological thinking and evidence-based design as bridges between research and pedagogy.

Huaqing Wang is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at Utah State University, affiliated with the Data Science & Artificial Intelligence Center and the Berryman Institute. She is also a licensed landscape architect and an AICP member. Her research integrates landscape ecology, human health, and data-driven methods to examine how urban green spaces influence health and equity, with work published in leading journals and featured in outlets such as Forbes and Medical News Today.

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm | Fine Arts Visual | More Info

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