Join us in congratulating recent graduate Valeriia Tolkacheva and her faculty advisor, Adjunct Professor Gianno Feoli, on an outstanding achievement!
Valeriia’s MLA thesis project, “The Costly Truth About Lawns,” has been selected as one of 15 recipients of the prestigious World Landscape Architecture Awards from a competitive pool of 125 entries submitted by universities across the globe. Her project earned a Merit Award in the Graduate Design category, highlighting the exceptional talent of FIU’s landscape architecture students in addressing critical environmental, social, and urban challenges.
Adding to this remarkable recognition, Valeriia presented her award-winning project as a Game Changer at the National ASLA Conference in Washington, D.C., and at the ASLA Florida Conference in Orlando. Her work offers a powerful critique of the widespread use of lawns, proposing innovative, sustainable strategies to improve ecological health, foster community well-being, and enhance cost and resource efficiency.
We are immensely proud of Valeriia as she begins her professional journey with the mentorship of Professor Feoli at Calvin, Giordano & Associates. Congratulations, Valeriia, on this well-deserved honor.
