Policy Shapers Interview: ASLA President Perry Howard, FASLA

ASLA's Public Practice Advisory Committee's "Policy Shapers" Series Spotlights landscape architects who are active in shaping public policy. Nancy McLean, ASLA, interviewed Perry Howard, FASLA, for this article.

Why did you become a landscape architect?

ASLA President Perry Howard, FASLA, visiting Dubai in 2008.

I would say it was almost by accident that I became interested in the field. When I was in eighth or ninth grade, I passed down a hallway in the school where there was a drafting lab. There were high tables and stools, and it looked interesting. I was already involved in art classes, and my best friend convinced me to take drafting in the 10th grade. The school included a metal shop where containers for storing drafting tools were made, like a piece to hold a triangle, scale, and of course, the T square. After taking three years of drafting, I was doing architectural drafting, so naturally I applied to schools to become an architect.

I applied to Louisiana State University (LSU) with the intention of majoring in architecture. However, when I found the requirements included two years of calculus and physics, I was worried about flunking out. I had the university catalog open to the architecture curriculum, and on the next page, I saw the major of landscape architecture. So before ever registering in any architecture courses, I changed my major to landscape architecture. I found the chair of the program at LSU to be like family. Dr. Reich was kind to students and helpful in steering me to summer jobs and internships. Should I go to work for the Forest Service in Oregon? Dr. Reich steered me to work for EDSA, from whom I’d gotten a scholarship. And things led from there to Ed Stone’s office, then to Philadelphia the next summer. I was fortunate to have several good job offers when I graduated, and I chose to work for Ed Stone in Ft. Lauderdale. The work over five years included a lot of responsibility for projects, and I was an associate after one year. Demands of projects under construction and on the boards made me consider doing something else.

I was about to apply to graduate school when again I was steered in an unplanned direction: Harvard. I sent my portfolio, and I had a scholarship, but at that time, I had a wife and two children. Part-time jobs and teaching assistant positions didn’t allow a lot of flexibility. I lost a lot of weight!

When I finished my degree, I was set to manage. Should I work at a large company and make boring income projections against billable hours, or should I do something that was more of a challenge? I worked at Charles Caplinger Planners for a summer during grad school and then carried on with EDSA working on parks and larger residential golf course communities. It seemed to take forever to get things done with many approvals for these large projects. I was looking to be a partner in the company, but fate again intervened.

With a background in horticulture from Michigan State and a master’s from Berkeley in landscape architecture, Dr. Charles Fountain wanted to create a program at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and asked me to come to work and teach. I wondered, wasn’t teaching something that people did when they were older, after they had learned a lot? I had met him at an ASLA meeting in Atlanta several years earlier. He set up an interview and let me meet the faculty and present my portfolio. With 10 students and a tiny budget, it looked like a school in trouble. It was very different from being in private practice, where you could get what you wanted when you needed it.

Our program has developed into 50 to 60 students on average, with a maximum capacity of 75. As chair and program coordinator, I enjoy what I do immensely.

How do you find inspiration for your work?

I found great pleasure in drafting, with a list of challenges all of the time. Every job was new and different, and you couldn’t ever seem to finish. Keeping up with that list, like teaching, is inspiring in itself. It’s fulfilling to create projects to keep on the cutting edge of the profession and to inspire new knowledge in others.

What path did you follow to become the ASLA President?

I was involved as a trustee and with the North Carolina State Board. I also served as chair of the Council on Education and Committee on Blacks in Landscape Architecture. I was on the Task Analysis for CLARB, the Subject Matter Committee, and a grader, so I had seen the examination process. I was inspired to do more but overwhelmed at being nominated as a vice president in 1995. I served as the secretary to the ASLA Council of Fellows, and while serving as chapter president-elect in 2005, Darwina Neal asked if I would consider running for president. Later, I was pleased to run and am pleased to serve as president.

What’s most rewarding about your work?

As ASLA President, I enjoy going out to communities and talking to students. While teaching, I like to work on charrettes with trace paper and markers on real projects. It’s fulfilling to do something that’s needed.

Working with IFLA, I have looked at the Middle East and Africa, IFLA’s new region. Imagine if we could have a working group to go out to communities there: landscape architects without borders. I foresee a time when landscape architects could commit themselves to serve by working in a monastic setting and work only on projects of worldly interest.

How would you encourage other landscape architects to create change in the public realm?

Something new just comes to my attention, and I want to encourage landscape architects to entertain thinking in new ways. I was in China as the chair of a design jury, and the students overwhelmed me by taking photos and asking for my autograph, not just on the awards buton pieces of paper. Why did I deserve being treated like a rock star? I’m thrilled with their interest but a bit baffled at what they thought of me. It’s amazing to think that our work is known internationally and that we have the capability through the web and Landscape Architecture magazine to inspire new landscape architects.

I was at a chapter meeting in Florida, and they were discussing ecotourism and rain gardens. There were great presentations that could be used in other places, and I hope that those ideas can be explained to the public in a lecture series.