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Applying Emotional Intelligence to Enhance Your Work Environment and Inspire Success
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Joe DeutschApplying Emotional Intelligence to Enhance Your Work Environment and Inspire Success
Credits: 1.0
Attendees will learn what Emotional Intelligence (EI) is and how to apply it effectively in the workplace or classroom. They will understand what it takes to create an environment where the conditions encourage others to flourish in their confidence, capabilities, and courage. Participants will learn how to leverage their emotional intelligence to create a shared mindset, communicate effectively, and hold each other accountable. Joe will utilize EI research and the four pillars of effective communication in order to provide participants with the necessary tools to create a psychologically safe environment that encourages greatness and creates a culture of ownership and accountability. Attendees will leave this session excited, inspired, and driven for success...no matter how they define success.
Reigniting Hope: How Unheard Voices Shaped the Design of a Nature-Based, Trauma-Informed Youth Recovery Campus
Speakers: Anne Machian & Molly HansonReigniting Hope: How Unheard Voices Shaped the Design of a Nature-Based, Trauma-Informed Youth Recovery Campus
Credits: 1.0
To address unmet needs for trauma and addiction-impacted youth and young adults in Iowa, Youth Shelter and Services (YSS) needed a new campus to meet current needs. This session will provide an understanding of the ethical considerations involved in working with at-risk youth and young adults. By walking the delicate balance of building trust and listening to their stories, we can leverage empathy, understanding, and information from subject-matter experts to effectively receive input for design.
The engagement process was enriched by diverse perspectives, including family interviews, collaboration with students from the Iowa State University College of Design, and direct engagement with staff and both current and future users. This inclusive approach ensured that all voices were heard and valued in the planning of the Ember Recovery Campus.
Nestled in a serene setting near Cambridge, Iowa, Youth Shelter and Services’ (YSS) new Ember Recovery Campus provides crisis stabilization and residential addiction treatment for youth and young adults. The nature-based setting, featuring natural elements and open spaces, is designed to provide a calming and restorative environment for its residents. Designed to provide treatment and support for Iowa youth, Ember offers a modern, homelike environment where healing begins. Upon completion, Ember will provide 70 beds for emergency shelter, crisis stabilization, and residential substance abuse treatment, accommodating up to 750 adolescents and young adults annually in a nature-based setting that promotes hope, wellness, and healing.
These insights can be directly applied to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of at-risk youth and young adults, as well as promote a restorative environment for families and staff. We will conclude by discussing how these stories influenced the master planning of the 50-acre campus and share the final design of the first phase of completed work.
Inclusive Play Matters: Innovating Outdoor Play Destinations for People of All Ages and Abilities
Speaker: Rob BlakeInclusive Play Matters: Innovating Outdoor Play Destinations for People of All Ages and Abilities
Credits: 1.0
Be inspired to innovate high quality outdoor play experiences for people of all ages and abilities by aligning evidence-based design best practices to inclusive play destinations to encourage active, independent, and meaningful play for all. Both a physical and social event, inclusive play is not solely about physically accessing an environment, but what experiences happen once an individual gets there. Learn inclusive design principles that go beyond minimum accessibility and intentionally address the needs of the whole child.
Sitting Still with Laurie Olin (Movie)
Speakers: Laurie OlinSitting Still with Laurie Olin (Movie)
Credits: 1.5
SITTING STILL is an original documentary that focuses on one of the world’s greatest urban designers and his profoundly social vision. This film offers a rare opportunity to get inside the mind of a brilliant and irreverent iconoclast…to see what he sees…and give voice to the environmental concerns that have been affecting our collective humanity like no other moment in history.
The Untold Story of the Five Pollinator Plot on Interstate 29
Speaker: Paul ClintonThe Untold Story of the Five Pollinator Plot on Interstate 29
Credits: 1.0
South Dakota’s rural landscape is a mix of agricultural and urban areas, where prairie fragmentation forces migrating species to rely on narrow roadway corridors. Key habitat nodes, like rest areas, provide essential food, shelter, and resting spaces for wildlife.
Paul Clinton, PLA, of IMEG, has led the development and monitoring of Pollinator Habitat Plots at South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT) rest areas along the I-29 corridor in eastern South Dakota. These plots are designed to support monarch butterflies and other pollinators by creating habitat aligned with the South Dakota Monarch Conservation and Management Strategic Plan.
The project faced challenges balancing habitat protection with invasive weed control and site maintenance. Paul worked closely with SDDOT and contractors to implement science-based management strategies that protect pollinators and restore native prairie plant communities.
Key elements of the project included developing seed mixes tailored to prairie ecosystems, conducting plant identification, and using Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) to measure ecological health. The project also applied expertise in herbicides, mowing, and pollinator migration to guide adaptive management.
As the first large-scale pollinator project for SDDOT, this effort demonstrates how ecological restoration, grounded in STEM principles, can successfully reintroduce prairie landscapes and support biodiversity along transportation corridors.
Visit Paul's project site Scavenger Hunt on the way to Fargo, and take this quiz!
Graduation to Licensure: The Why and How of Getting Licensed
Speakers: Dennis Bryers, Jolene Rieck & Chris BrandrietGraduation to Licensure: The Why and How of Getting Licensed
Credits: 1.5
Presentation will cover what is licensure, the importance of getting licensed, the requirements fro becoming licensed, an overview of the Landscape Architect Registration Examination (L.A.R.E.), and the process to getting licensed. This presentation is for students in a landscape architecture program and those who have graduated and are working towards becoming licensed.
Finding Common Ground: Strengthening Unity in Community Planning
Speakers: Jolene Rieck & Gordon LemmelFinding Common Ground: Strengthening Unity in Community Planning
Credits: 1.0
Community planning is increasingly tackling more highly-charged topics with many different “realities” and “truths,” often driven by political complexities and self-motivation. Learn about a systems thinking approach that focuses on finding common ground, building on strengths, co-creating a vision, creating alignment, and fostering trust and empathy.
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