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From Studio to Storybook: Career Discovery Program Inspires New Course for Future Landscape Architects
Ball State University Stories by Design Students
By blending storytelling, STEM education, community engagement, and landscape architecture, Stories by Design demonstrated the power of creative learning, and opened new possibilities for how future designers can communicate ideas to the next generation.
At Ball State University, one faculty member transformed a lifelong love of children’s literature into an innovative new learning experience for landscape architecture students.
Inspired by ASLA’s STEM Literacy by Design initiative, Kathleen Unland, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture designed a Spring 2026 elective course that challenged students to turn complex design concepts into engaging children’s books. The idea combined two personal passions: encouraging literacy through landscape architecture and creating meaningful, creative learning opportunities for students.
The course, titled Turning Landscape Architecture Topics into Children’s Stories, invited students to move beyond traditional classroom learning and into the highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, synthesizing knowledge and transforming it into something entirely new. Students selected landscape architecture topics they were passionate about and reimagined them as children’s stories designed for young readers.
M. Kathleen Unland, Ball State University
After a long career in the aerospace and defense industry, Kathy returned to school to earn an MLA at Ball State University, where she later returned as an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Landscape Architecture Department. During summers, she is a landscape designer at Mader Design LLC in Beech Grove, Ind.
Her idea for this class emerged out of a life-long of children’s stories, from reading (seemingly hundreds of) storybooks to her youngest brother and taking an undergraduate class in Oral Interpretation of Children’s Literature, to reading many bedtime stories to her own children.
She is an LAF Olmsted Scholar and is one of the inaugural participants in the CELA/CLARB Faculty Licensure Advancement Program. Kathy also holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and an MBA, both from California State University, Fullerton.
Before developing their own books, students studied an assortment of children's books from ASLA’s STEM Literacy by Design collection to better understand storytelling techniques, character development, and the structure of successful children’s literature.
The class also became an immersive community partnership. Through Ball State’s Immersive Learning program, students collaborated with Acton Academy at Fall Creek, working directly with children ages 8–11 throughout the semester. During multiple visits, students gathered feedback on reading preferences, tested draft stories, and refined their work based on input from young readers.
The partnership helped shape stories filled with imaginative elements like time travel and animal characters while still teaching important landscape architecture and STEM concepts.
For ASLA leadership, the course reflects the larger impact of STEM Literacy by Design and its mission to connect literacy, learning, and landscape architecture.
“STEM Literacy by Design was created from my belief that every child deserves access to stories that spark curiosity, creativity, and a sense of connection to the built and natural environment,” said Lisa J. Jennings, Senior Manager, Career Discovery and Diversity. “Seeing university students transform landscape architecture concepts into engaging children’s books is exactly the kind of ripple effect I hoped this initiative would inspire. It’s exciting to see literacy become both a teaching tool and a pathway into the profession.
Lisa J. Jennings
By the end of the semester, each student completed and professionally printed an original illustrated children’s book complete with an ISBN. Copies will be shared with Acton Academy, while students retain full copyright ownership of their work—allowing them to continue developing or publishing their stories in the future.
According to Unland, the experience exceeded expectations.
“While we are creative people and used to drawing and creating designs, illustrating a children’s book requires a whole new level of drawing,” she shared. “From the sheer number of illustrations to the emotions and expressions required for the characters, the students showed incredible creativity and dedication throughout the semester.”
The response from students was overwhelmingly positive, with many already asking when the course will be offered again.
Readers can now explore the creative work produced through the course. The full collection of student-authored stories, including original illustrations and STEM-focused landscape architecture themes, is available on ASLA’s STEM Literacy by Design web page. These stories showcase the imagination, research, and communication skills of the next generation of landscape architects while providing engaging educational resources for young readers, educators, and families.
STEM Literacy by Design
In 2024, National ASLA introduced its first Introduce a Girl to Landscape Architecture initiative as part of its 125th year celebration and during World Landscape Architecture Month. The initiative quickly grew in popularity among all student groups leading ASLA to scale the program into its STEM Literacy by Design initiative which included an expansion of ASLA's children's book collection.