Julie Stevens, Iowa State University assistant professor of landscape architecture, presented the 10th Annual Charles H. Burger Memorial Lecture March 1 as part of the 2016-2017 Landscape Architecture Lecture Series at the North Carolina State University College of Design.

In her lecture, “Dos and Don’ts: Lessons Learned (while building gardens) in Prison,” Stevens candidly shared the ups and downs of the ISU Department of Landscape Architecture’s partnership with the Iowa Department of Corrections and Iowa Correctional Institution for Women, with which she and her students have worked over the past five years. She described the path of engagement that started out with projects focusing mostly on the wishes of the administration but now, after building trust and understanding, projects begin with the women offenders and details are cleared with the administration.

Read more in “The Case for Humane Prisons,” an article about Stevens’ lecture in the American Society for Landscape Architects’ blog, The Dirt.