School of Landscape Architecture and Planning Alumni

CAPLA is proud to announce Michael Grassinger MSUP '78 as its Alumnus of the Year. Grassinger will be recognized during CAPLA's Homecoming Garden Party on Friday, October 23 and at a university-wide celebration in March 2027.

Alumnus Edward Marley, FAIA, B.Arch ’82, received CAPLA’s Distinguished Service Award and FCARM Presidential Medal for advancing architectural licensure, leadership, and education, including renegotiating the North American Tri-National Agreement.

The College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture is proud to acknowledge August and Gina Benzien as the 2023-2024 Alumni of the Year. The Benziens are among 15 alumni chosen from across the University of Arizona who will be honored during the Alumni of the Year Awards Ceremony on February 22.

Forest Replogle, a transportation planner with the Mid-Region Council of Governments Metropolitan Planning Organization in Albuquerque, New Mexico, graduated from the UArizona MS Planning degree after serving in the U.S. Coast Guard, an experience that helped him think about "how the built environment affects health, wealth and ecology."

Georgia Pennington, who is originally from Kansas City, Missouri, came to UArizona to study sustainability. While in the BS in Sustainable Built Environments program, she found herself most drawn to the urban planning courses, so then enrolled in the MS Urban Planning accelerated master’s program option. Upon graduation, she accepted a planning job with the City of Tucson.

The Arizona Alumni Association has named Heather Henricks Lenkin ’79 B.Arch as its 2020-2021 Alumna of the Year for the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture. Heather was chosen for her outstanding career success, passionate work to protect the world’s cultural resources and unwavering support of the university.

Assistant Research Scientist Adriana Zuniga came to CAPLA from Mexico in 2008 to pursue her MS Architecture degree. Since then, she has also earned a PhD in Arid Lands Resources Sciences and has taught and conducted research on human-landscape connections at CAPLA since 2015.

Despite the challenges presented by job hunting during a global pandemic, Lena Porell '20 MS Urban Planning recently moved across the country to Providence, Rhode Island to start her career as a staff planner.

With her MLA, Kendra Hyson has followed a path to leadership not just in landscape architecture but also in the movement for social equity in built environment design—as both a founder of The Urban Studio and in her current role as a landscape architect and planner for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

For Gabby Abou-Zeid, who graduated with her Bachelor's in Sustainable Build Environments in 2019, her path exploring transportation and urban planning has been anything but linear.

Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Built Environments and Master of Science in Architecture graduate Rachel LaMantia tried a number of programs at the University of Arizona before finding the SBE program, which kick-started her education and launched her career.

"I have a message for current students: while being knowledgeable in your profession is essential to job performance, I can’t stress enough how important building professional relationships with professors, mentors, and—in my case—residents, board members, and developers is toward professional success."