News from Alums
serv that updates subscribers about upcoming events, research results, and other items of interest. ■ Carrie Makover has not yet learned how to be retired, but is working on it. This year she steps down from the CSLD board after fifteen years. (See related article in School News.) She works part-time as website project manager for the Town of Westport, CT. ■ Noting frustration in dealing with the municipal council in Rawdon, PQ, Canada, Jean-Pierre Marcoux has stepped down as park planner and coordinator. He now works as building and environment inspector for a rural municipality and is planning a trip to Barcelona and the Catalan region and “meeting with the spirit of Ghandi.” 1987 Tim Brooks is a principal at Winterbrook
Planning in Portland, OR, where he notes that communities are starting to plan again after a two-year hiatus in conservation planning caused by the passage of a deceptive property rights ballot measure. His office is fortunate to be helping to shape these conservation plans. He also writes: “Recently, I had a great visit with friend, Jean-Pierre Marcoux '86, exploring Montreal and Quebec City again, twenty years after our Conway trips. We solved some ancient mysteries, like where that awesome ‘toast bar’ had been in Quebec. We also worked in an urban design critique here and there, of course, for good measure.” ■ Charles Cocca is a landscape architect with Cherenzia and Associates in Westerly, RI. ■ Karen Tiede continues to create decorative and functional sculpture, colorful paintings, textiles, jewelry, and more at her art studio in central North Carolina. 1988 Class Agent: Will Waldron (waldron88@csld.edu) Will Waldron is a senior realty specialist for the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Hadley, MA. He has been responsible for acquiring land for many National Wildlife Refuges (NWR): in New Jersey—Cape May and Great Swamp; in Rhode Island—John H. Chafee NWR, Ninigret NWR, Block Island NWR; Maine—Rachel Carson NWR; West Virginia— Ohio River Islands NWR. He is also a member for the regional office’s Green Team, which focuses on reducing energy consumption, recycling, and sustainable design at the Hadley office. 1989 Having graduated in 2002 from Southwest Acupunctural College in Santa Fe, NM, Elizabeth Fay now has her own practice as an acupuncturist and herbalist with offices in Newton and Cambridge, MA. She writes, “I still love to look at gardens and good design and always treasure my work as a designer for ten years and all that I learned at Conway.” ■ In 2005, Cynthia Knauf opened her own business in Montpelier, VT,which does site design, master planning, and project
management. She has worked with architects and civil engineers on larger scale commercial and residential projects on Nantucket and in Chicago, IL, and Jackson, WY. Her collaboration with architect Sarah Susanka was recently featured in the book, Outside the Not So Big House (Taunton Press) by Susanka and Julie Moir Messervy. Refer to the link at csld.edu for Cindy’s website and more information about the book. ■ Mary Crain Penniman is in her third year of running a thriving residential master planning business from her home in Acton, MA. Her son, Jake, is twelve, and her husband, Bill Brumback, battles invasive exotics and works on the Flora of New England Project from Garden in the Woods. ■ Sarah Drew Reeves has a landscape design firm in Norwich, VT and also works as a conservation and community planner as well as a volunteer teacher. She coordinated the Open Space Priorities, Informal Plan for Norwich. A link to the plan can be found on csld.edu. ■ Gordon Shaw continues to work for the Concord Land Trust in Massachusetts. ■ Jim P. Urban is a project manager for Land Design & Development, Inc. in La Grange, KY. 1990 Vance A. Barr has taken a job as Facilities
Planner at NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. ■ Greg Drake became a registered landscape architect in Massachusetts this year and works at Ayoub Engineering in Pawtucket, RI. ■ Wendi Goldsmith’s firm, The Bioengineering group, is heavily involved in the restoration and redevelopment of the Gulf Coast, which she reports is leaning in a very green direction. Her firm has been asked to open an office in Baton Rouge to support the array of environmentally sensitive transportation corridor repair, land development for housing displaced people, green infrastructure in urban areas (wetlands and stormwater management greenways in New Orleans and elsewhere), coastal habitat restoration, and even some project work tied to the liberation of the Mississippi from its leveed state to feed the delta ecosystem according to natural trends. Those seeking positions should refer to the link at csld.edu to review opportunities at her firm. 1991 Class Agent: Annette Schultz (schultz91@csld.edu) Susan Space is a self-employed landscape designer in Rhode Island. 1992 Carla Manene Cooke recently took a trip to Costa Rica led by naturalists Laurie Sanders and Fred Morrison whose work as been feature on public radio. ■ After taking a break from his career to serve as the stay-at-home parent for his two young children, and building a new house as part of a co-housing community in Northampton, MA, John Saveson has reentered the design world as a freelance landscape designer.
1993 Class Agent: Amy Craig (amy.craig@verizon.net) Mark Benkley has opened a firm, Garden by Design Inc. in Allston, MA. ■ Abbie Duchon is project manager in the Land Acquisition Program at the NYCDEP. The purpose of the program is to protect the environmental quality of the watersheds that supply the city of New York with drinking water. ■ Ann Sinclair continues to practice landscape design and master planning at Ann Sinclair Landscape Design in Jamaica Plain, MA. 1994 Jonathon Ellison was a guest critic at
CSLD for residential projects in fall 2005 and worked with students in the studio this fall. This past year, he has been a consultant and educator for tsunami relief programs in Sri Lanka. He has also been a lecturer at the Chambly Academy High School in Montreal, PQ and Stanstead College, Stanstead, PQ. ■ Lynn Harper sits on the Athol planning board and the board of the Mt. Grace Land Conservation Trust. ■ Melissa Mourkas was recently licensed as landscape architect in California, where she is working as preservation planner for the City of Sacramento with occasional teaching, consulting, and designing. 1995 Class Agent: Art Collings D. Alex Damman is an analyst with Vectren Environmental Service in Evansville, IN. ■ Amy Klippenstein owns Sidehill Farm in Ashfield, MA, where she continues to grow produce for the CSA and also sells at the Ashfield Farmers Market. ■ Jonathan Schwartz is married to his business partner Emily Ross. They live in a little house with a big garden in southwest Seattle, WA, where they design and build mostly residential gardens as ecosystems and connect residents to their land. Their favorite thing to do is grow gardeners.
Jonathan Schwartz ‘95 and Emily Ross
1996 Amy Spencer Ackroyd has moved to Olympia, WA. ■ Jean (White) Tufts presented case studies on low impact site development at the Chesapeake Conservancy Landscaping Council’s Conference in November, 2006: Turning a New Leaf, organized by Lauren Wheeler ’03. 1997 Class Agent: Susan Crimmins (sbcrimm@crocker.com)
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