Olmsted Award

The Olmsted Award was established in 2015 in Tennessee in honor of the founding father of Landscape Architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted, and to promote the ideals he established to ensure the health and enjoyment of the environment by all mankind. Eligible Recipients include Firms, Landscape Architects, Allied Professionals, Clients, Organizations, Elected Officials and other individuals who have made a significant contribution to the Landscape Architecture profession. The award is presented at annually at the Tennessee ASLA State Conference.

The award gives recognition for significant contribution to:

The Landscape Architecture profession in the State of Tennessee
The preservation of the landscape of Tennessee
The enhancement of Tennessee’s physical environment
Landscape Architectural education.

To nominate someone for this award, click the awards page here.

Past Olmsted Awardees

2023 - Ward Archer (Founder - Protect Our Aquifer)

2022 - Carol Evans (Exec Dir - Legacy Parks Foundation)

2021 - No state conference due to the national conference in Nashville

2020 - Michael Fowler (Ross/Fowler)

2019 - Charles ‘Charlie’ Newman (Attorney with Burch, Porter, Johnson LLC)

2018 - Larry Mizell (TNASLA Leadership)

2017 - Caron Beard (retired)

2016 - Barbara Hyde (Philanthropist - Hyde Foundation)

2015 - Jeanie Nelson (Exec Dir - The Land Trust for Tennessee)

2014 - Sam Rogers (University of Tennessee in Knoxville)

Biographies:

Ward Archer

n 2002, Ward Archer became interested in the Memphis Sand Aquifer after working on a fundraising effort to save the headwaters of the Wolf River from being clear-cut by a logging company. While touring the headwaters, Archer learned that the Memphis Sand appears at the surface there and serves a recharge source for the pristine water enjoyed in Memphis. Fascinated with the idea of 1,000 feet of water being below Memphis, Archer researched the aquifer for over a year and wrote an article, Liquid Assets, which was published in 2005. When the Sierra Club sounded the alarm of TVA’s plan to tap the aquifer for cooling water in 2016, Archer was among the first to protest and eventually started the citizen’s group Protect Our Aquifer, which is still fighting TVA’s plans, working to reform the Shelby County Groundwater Ordinance and developing a long-range plan to protect the Memphis Sand Aquifer.

Ward serves on the CAESER (Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research) Advisory Board at the University of Memphis and served as a member of Governor Haslam’s Tennessee H20 task force. He is the former CEO of the advertising firm Archer Malmo and is president of the board of Memphis magazine.

Carol Evans

Carol Evans joined Legacy Parks Foundation in 2005 as a founding member of the Board of Directors; and became Executive Director in 2006. Under her leadership, the foundation has raised over six million dollars for parks and open space, helped conserve 1,000 acres of forest and farmland, and added over 600 acres of parkland in Knox County. Legacy Parks Foundation is a non-profit organization which works to assure that our community enjoys exceptional recreational opportunities, natural beauty and open spaces, and that those assets exist for generations to come.

The Legacy Park Foundation has helped fund planning, design and construction of many of the outdoor spaces in our area. Miles of greenways, dog parks and implementation of Seven Islands State Birding Park were among the early priority areas. Other projects include local pocket parks with community focused historical markers and public art. Legacy Parks helped establish the now world-renowned Knoxville Urban Wilderness, a expansive mountain bike trail network with downhill trails, several bike parks, natural playgrounds and a future mixed-use outdoor center at Baker Creek Preserve. The Urban Wilderness concept facilitated a development boom in what was once sparsely populated and under-developed areas of South Knoxville. Other projects such as the High Ground, a Civil War Era open space combines a recreational trailhead with roots in Knoxville’s historical battlefield sites. Currently, Carol is developing mountain bike trails and blue ways to better connect Knoxville with the French Broad and Tennessee River watersheds. Without Carol and Legacy Parks, I doubt that my wife and I would still live here.

Besides living her passion through the Foundation’s work, Carol spends most of her time outdoors hiking, biking and spending time with her family. Carol has two daughters, one dog and four grandchildren.

Michael Fowler

Michael Fowler, FASLA has been in practice for almost 50 years and has helped plan and shape some of the most memorable places in Tennessee. His practice Ross/Fowler, established in 1974 with Charles Ross, AIA, includes both landscape architecture and architecture, which is reminiscent of the Olmsted/Calvert Vaux model of practice.

More than 15 of his projects have won awards, including the 12 mile Tennessee River Park in Chattanooga, World's Fair Park and Volunteer Landing in Knoxville, and the Tennessee Bicentennial Capitol Mall in Nashville. Overall, Ross/Fowler has compiled an outstanding legacy of practice in Tennessee that has undoubtedly contributed to the growth and respect for the landscape architecture profession in Tennessee.

Mike graduated with a BLA degree from North Carolina State University and worked for TVA before establishing Ross/Fowler. He also served part-time as an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Tennessee teaching site planning and landscape history. He volunteered his time to assist the new UT Landscape Architecture program in achieving its early success. Mike has also served as TNASLA’s Trustee and been an active member for decades.

Charlie Newman

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 30, 2019

Charlie Newman, Local Attorney, Received Prestigious Olmsted Award

MEMPHIS, TN --- Memphis based attorney, Charles F. Newman of Burch, Porter, Johnson LLC received the distinguished Frederick Law Olmsted Award bestowed by the Tennessee Chapter American Society of Landscape Architects (TNASLA) at their state awards dinner and conference April 25.

Newman was honored for his leadership in conservation and his role in providing access to and protection for the most prominent and beloved public landscapes in Memphis-Shelby County.

Through Charlie’s decades of service, he shared the values of the landscape architecture profession by working behind the scenes on complex legal strategies to secure acquisition and protection for notable parks and greenways such as Overton Park, Shelby Farms Park, Shelby Farms Greenline, and Big River Crossing (formerly Harahan Bridge).

In the 1970s, Newman led the Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Vole case that saved Overton Park. In the 2000s he shaped the establishment of the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy, negotiating the conservation easement. Later he negotiated with CSX for the acquisition of the abandoned railroad corridor that is now Shelby Farms Greenline. Most recently, he was instrumental in reaching an agreement with Union Pacific Railroad for shared use of the Harahan Bridge.

Charlie Newman said, “Landscape Architecture is perhaps the most important of the visual arts, the most consequential with the most significant social consequences. I have been very lucky to have had, in over 50 years, so many opportunities to support what you [landscape architects] do, and I appreciate this award very much.”

The purpose of TNASLA’s Olmsted Award, named in honor of the founding father of Landscape Architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted, is to promote the ideals he established to ensure the health and enjoyment of the environment by all mankind. The award is given annually to recognize significant contributions in one of four categories: contributions to the profession in Tennessee, preservation of the landscape of Tennessee, enhancement of Tennessee’s physical environment, or landscape architectural education.

Owen Harris of Dalhoff Thomas Design Studio and TNASLA President-Elect, said “The TNASLA Past-Presidents Council awarded Mr. Newman for his lifetime of service and leadership in protecting some of the most significant public spaces in Memphis.”

Newman is a graduate of Yale University and Yale Law School and has been listed for 25 years in Best Lawyers® in America. He has served on the Memphis Landmarks Commission, TN Nature Conservancy, Wolf River Conservancy, Environmental Action Fund, Memphis College of Art, and Civil Rights Museum Foundation.

Past TNASLA Olmsted Award Winners include Barbara Hyde, Jean Nelson, Larry Mizell, and Caron Beard.

Tennessee Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects is a non-profit dedicated to the advancement of knowledge, education and skill in the art of Landscape Architecture and the promotion of the profession of Landscape Architecture as an instrument of service in the public welfare. For more information visit www.tnasla.org.

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Larry Mizell

This year’s Olmsted Award was bestowed upon Larry Mizell. The purpose of TNASLA’s Olmsted Award, named in honor of the founding father of Landscape Architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted, is to promote the ideals he established to ensure the health and enjoyment of the environment by all mankind. The award is given annually to recognize significant contributions in one of four categories: contributions to the profession in Tennessee, preservation of the landscape of Tennessee, enhancement of Tennessee’s physical environment, or landscape architectural education.

Larry Mizell has more than 50 years of development experience in the private and public sectors. He has held every elected position in TNASLA leadership, including his current Trustee position, and is the patriarch of the organization. This award was bestowed on him for his lifetime of service to the profession. He is widely respected by his peers locally and at National ASLA where he is Vice President of Membership at Nationals.

As a Land Planner for the City of Franklin for 10 years he worked with developers to encourage good designs for a sustainable city. Larry said that “Quality of life is important to me. What makes up quality of life is design of the sites, and accessibility to facilities, accessibility to roads and streets and how you develop neighborhoods and core buildings.”

Caron Beard

This year’s Olmsted Award was bestowed upon Caron Beard who has dedicated over 39 years to ASLA. Beard, a long-time advocate for Landscape Architecture in Tennessee, was one of the principal driving forces to establish an Accredited Landscape Architecture program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Beard has held many offices in ASLA and of particular note his eight year service as Trustee for TNASLA.

The purpose of TNASLA’s Olmsted Award, named in honor of the founding father of Landscape Architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted, is to promote the ideals he established to ensure the health and enjoyment of the environment by all mankind. The award is given annually to recognize significant contributions in one of four categories: contributions to the profession in Tennessee, preservation of the landscape of Tennessee, enhancement of Tennessee’s physical environment, or landscape architectural education.

Barbara Hyde

This year’s Olmsted Award was bestowed upon Memphis-based philanthropist, Barbara Hyde, Chair and CEO of J.R. Hyde III Family Foundation and J.R. Hyde Sr. Family Foundation. Through Barbara’s philanthropic and personal leadership, she has played a significant role in moving parks and greenways to the top of the Memphis quality of life agenda, propelling the vision of open space in the Memphis region. Because of her leadership, the Hyde Family Foundations are influential in setting local priorities and have added livable communities and placemaking to their portfolio of entrepreneurial philanthropy.

Barbara Hyde said, “I am deeply honored to receive this recognition for our Foundations’ efforts to make Memphis a more livable community through greenspace projects. The work has truly been a labor of love and I can’t wait to see the continued transformation of these spaces.”

The purpose of TNASLA’s Olmsted Award, named in honor of the founding father of Landscape Architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted, is to promote the ideals he established to ensure the health and enjoyment of the environment by all mankind. The award is given annually to recognize significant contributions in one of four categories: contributions to the profession in Tennessee, preservation of the landscape of Tennessee, enhancement of Tennessee’s physical environment, or landscape architectural education.

Jeanie Nelson

Jeanie Nelson received the Olmstead Award from TNASLA for her work as President and Executive Director of the Land Trust for Tennessee. The non-profit she co-founded in 1999 with Governor Phil Bredesen serves to protect the state’s natural and historic landscapes and sites. She stayed in this role until 2016 when she retired. Her other service has included starting Nashville’s greenways system.

Jeanie serves or has served on the Board of Southern Environmental Law Center, National Land Trust Alliance Board, and Nashville’s Greenways Commission. Prior to her work in the non-profit sector, Jeanie was Chief Deputy Attorney General in Tennessee and General Counsel for the US EPA. She has a J.D. from Vanderbilt University.

Sam Rogers

In 2014, Sam Rogers, FASLA was the first to receive the TNASLA’s Olmsted Award. Sam, now a retired faculty member of University of Tennessee in Knoxville was instrumental in founding the Landscape Architecture program at UT. His career spanned more than 40 years with 30 of those years being at UT.

A quote from Brad Collett describes Sam’s service: “Both the landscape design and landscape architecture programs owe their vitality to Sam’s servant leadership, have derived a significant part of their identity through Sam’s expertise, and have been enriched by his emphasis on service-based learning in the classroom. Generations of alumni who studied under Sam carry with them an understanding of social responsibility through environmental stewardship, recognition of the value of service to the community, and have witnessed first-hand the impact that we as professionals can have through servant leadership.”

Sam has a BS in Agronomy and Soil Science from UT and an MLA from University of Georgia.