Lisa Kunst Vavro, Pittsburgh, PA

Sustainable Environments Manager/Engaged Scholarship Manager for Penn State Center Pittsburgh

Want to speak with this expert?

Lisa Kunst Vavro, Registered Landscape Architect, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a self-designed major, “Restoration of the Urban Environment”, in 1975 from the University of Pittsburgh.  She began her graduate studies in landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in 1975 and graduated with a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Illinois in 1981.  Following her post-graduate studies, Lisa worked in New Zealand; Houston, Texas; New York City; and Saratoga Springs, New York before returning to her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Following nine years in the private sector and thirteen years in the public sector at the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Engineering and Construction, she became the founding director of Chatham University’s Master of Landscape Architecture program in 2004, which received initial accreditation in 2007. Her areas of interest include sustainable design, innovative stormwater design, participatory urban design, adaptive reuse of brownfield sites, and historic landscape preservation.
In 2010 Lisa accepted the position of Sustainable Landscape Coordinator with The Penn State Center Pittsburgh where her work included creation of Pennsylvania’s first multi-municipal shade tree commission; municipal green infrastructure design and project management; grassroots community development through The Pittsburgh Studio; as well as mentoring interns.

  • Green Infrastructure 

  • Sustainability / resilience

  • Urban design

 

Back to Action Corps