LAEP Speaker Series
LAEP's Speaker Series is a fantastic opportunity to learn about the design of places and systems that shape our world. Anyone interested in how his or her life and career might be enhanced through learning about planning and design will enjoy attending. Students from Art, Graphic Design, Performance Art, Engineering, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, and Outdoor Product Development and Design are likely to be enlightened by this series.
Speakers include leaders in design professions who are making a difference. They are encouraged to answer the questions: “How am I, and the work I do, relevant?” The intent is that through these 40- minute talks, speakers will reveal problem-solving approaches in the creative process. Through visual examples of their own work, they share how this is accomplished.
The goal of the LAEP Speaker Series is to make the content of the presentations reveal problem-solving methods and the attitudes that support collaborative behavior. The underlying premise is that these qualities can be taught, and that seeing the results in the practice of designers is very beneficial to students and practitioners.

Spring 2021 Speaker Series Schedule
All lectures are hosted virtually over Zoom at 3:30 p.m. MDT.
January 29, 2021
February 19, 2021
March 5, 2021

Gina Ford, FASLA
Brie Hensold, HASLA
Agency Landscape + Planning
Optimism and Action
March 26, 2021

Anya Domlesky, ASLA
SWA Group
Practice-based Research for a Changing World
April 2, 2021

C.L. Bohannon, PhD, ASLA
Virginia Tech
Notes on Community Engagement, Leadership, and Social Change
April 16, 2021 | Budge Lecture

Bill Johnson, FASLA
JJR + PWP
Past Speaker Series Talks
To make Speaker Series acessible to all, the talks are recorded by Utah State's Media Production Department. All talks can be viewed online and previous speakers will be listed below.
2020-2021
- 9.18.20 - Frameworks for the Future | Kristina Hill | Craig Johnson Lecture
- 9.25.20 - Urgency to Act Now | Mia Lehrer
- 10.9.20 - Planning for Public Lands | Shannon Ellsworth
- 10.23.20 - The Big, the Small, the Here and There | Gene & Dorothy Dyer
- 11.6.20 - Sabbatical Experiences & Reflections | Caroline Lavoie
- 11.13.20 - A Family Affair | Steven Spears & Rebecca Leonard | Vern Budge Lecture
2019-2020
- 9.13.19 - Planting Design and Vegetation Techniques in Anhalt, Germany | Wolfram Kircher
- 9.27.19 - Creating Resilent Urban Places | Forster Ndubsi | Craig Johnson Lecture
- 9.30.19 - Geodesign and Regional Coastal Planning | Carl Steinitz & Harry Dotson
- 10.4.19 - The Role of Beauty in Design | Phil Waite
- 10.25.19 - The Disneyland Effect: Theming and Experential Placemaking for the Built Environment and Beyond | Dave Gottwald
- 11.8.19 - Design: What Matters? | Stephanie Rolley
- 11.22.19 - Emerging Alumni Panel | Tyson Murray, McKenna Drew, Brett Hoffer, Stephanie Tomlin
- 1.24.20 - Design and Aloha | Simon Bussiere
- 2.7.20 - Utelite Lecture: Diversifying Forgotten Spaces to Become Community Places | Scott Jordan
- 2.21.20 - Segments: Similarities & Differences | Karen Phillips & Perry Howard
2018-2019
- 9.28.18 – Shifting Scales | Anna Cawrse
- 10.12.18 – Toward an Ecology of the City | Kurt Culbertson
- 10.26.18 – Collective Cognition | Heather Morgan & Todd Fein
- 11.9.18 – Designing Purposeful Interactions | Greg Walker
- 11.30.18 – Opportunities and Impact in Low-Income Communities | Jeremy Keele
- 12.7.18 – Reclaiming the Post-Industrial City | Shalae Larsen & Sharen Hauri
- 1.25.19 - Creating Conditions of Possibility | Keith Christensen
- 2.8.19 - Keys to Successful Approval Proccesses & Engaging the Public | Jared Carlon
- 2.22.19 - Planning, Diversity & Inclusion | Stacy Harwood
- 3.1.19 - The Aesthetic of Proof | Andrew Sargeant
- 3.22.19 - Meaningful Public Involvement | Zoe Rogich & Greg Graves
- 3.29.19 - Journey: Art, Discovery, Environment | Larry Kirkland | Craig Johnson Lecture
- 4.19.19 - Second Act | Jamie Maslyn Larson | Vern Budge Lecture
2017-2018
- 7.17.17 – A Love Affair with Design | Robb Berg
- 9.8.17 – Start, Design, Learn | Spencer Burt
- 9.22.17 – It's All Connected | Craig Johnson
- 10.6.17 – Building Stories | Jennifer Guthrie – Vern Budge Lecture
- 10.27.17 – The Ecology of Cities | Stephen Goldsmith
- 11.3.17 – Blake Wright
- 1.26.18 – Integrity of Place | Mike Albert
- 2.9.18 – Making Plans | Fritz Steiner – Craig Johnson Lecture
- 3.16.18 – Lawrence Halprin | Kenneth Helphand
- 3.30.18 – Where Do Ideas Come From? | Davorin Gazvoda
- 6.13.18 – Henry Beer – Vern Budge Lecture