2007 Commencement Address by Ted Spaid

By Ted H. Spaid, ASLA

Introduction

I would like to first thank Dean Dennis Law, Dean Wendy Ornelas and Dean Lynn Ewanow for giving me the wonderful opportunity to address the Class of 2007. I am also joined here by my wife Jill Spaid, a graduate of landscape architecture from Penn State University.

I would like to thank all of the professors for enriching the lives of these young men and women and challenging them to a future of stewardship. The hard work and sacrifice that all of the professors make are known throughout the professional community and help to ensure that K-State will continue to be one of the top ranked colleges in the country.

I am sure that many of you graduates today would not be here if it were not for some of the parents, family members and friends that have supported you throughout this challenging journey.

My Walk

Many of you graduates have taken a variety of walks to get to this point in your life. I, for one, was inspired as a child by the beauty of the outdoors through camping, working in the garden, drawing, catching butterflies, snakes and spiders (much to my mother’s dismay). Now, I was lucky enough to have a father who was a city planner and he suggested to me, at age 11, that I should pursue a career as a landscape architect. Like a dog with a tennis ball, I latched on to this notion, never letting go. So when asked, what are you going to do when you grow up? Of course I gladly replied, a landscape architect.

Now in 1972 not too many people knew what a landscape architect was. Let alone that there was a program at a university that had such a professional focus. My father introduced me to this rare breed of professional and I came to agree, this was for me.

As luck would have it, my family moved to St. Louis midway through high school where I learned that Kansas State University had a top ranking College of Architecture, Planning and Design. My parents were even happier when they found out about the reciprocal agreement between the States of Kansas and Missouri for in-state tuition. For those of you keeping track of time through inflation, that was $380 per semester for unlimited credit hours in 1979. I am told it is now $6000 per semester which I still believe to be one of the best deals for this outstanding education. Well done for making this investment in your lives.

While at KSU

I made my way, tentatively, to the Little Apple realizing that here is my dream before me in a program that had a reputation for toughness in academic excellence. I questioned whether or not I could make it through the program.

As I started school in this little town in the middle of prairie, I began to question many of my values and decisions. Through futile cow tipping efforts, and my drive from I-70, I was surprised to find a hidden beauty known as the Konza Prairie. I began to learn the diversity of our country and Earth. This was also evident in the student body. I learned about small town people, farmers, kids who had traveled from Africa to study Grain Science and made friends with a chicken farmer from Puerto Rico named Rafi Carbolla.

The KSU community is rich with culture. When I first started here, Aggieville had venues that catered to the Country Swing Dance crowd, pop rock, jazz, and yes, Disco. Earth Wind and Fire, Huey Lewis and the News and Charlie Daniels Band where all favorites of mine. One could even find this city boy swing dancing next to cowboys at the Rock-n-K. It was this diversity of going to an urban high school and landing in this wonderful land-grant collage melting pot that created a foundation for my life. My well-rounded career at KSU ended as a Resident Hall Staff at Moore Hall which provided me a valuable lesson in personal relationships and conflict resolution.

The College of Architecture, Planning and Design is yet another extension of this diversity. Your education provides you with an understanding of the interrelationships of teaming with other design professions, integration of building systems, awareness of the built and natural environments and our human response to the built environment. You should all know that your education has been carefully crafted by the caring faculty whose dedication is of the highest quality in the country.

Needless to say there are countless examples of this devotion to learning. I remember in 1982 the faculty forged an underground movement called “Operation PC.” Not many of us knew that PC was code word for Personal Computer. This band of renegade professors, Dennis Day, Ken Brooks, Dennis Law and others brought the students together to announce their strategy of attack, on the 21^st century at KSU. I remember as if it was yesterday the words of Dennis Day, “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are quickly becoming dinosaurs……..we need to provide you access to learning on the PC, however the Kansas Board of Regents will not provide our College with the money to make this transition.” Wow, we were riveted to our seats….how can this be? Aren’t our drafting machines, parallel bars, and Texas Instrument calculators enough technology?

So the faculty revealed their plan calling for our parents, relatives and even the teachers to make special donations to the College allowing funding for Operation PC. By the beginning of the next semester the faculty had mobilized their ingenious plan by opening up the first computer lab and course. I was one of the lucky students to learn such cutting edge programs such as Word Star and Lotus 1-2-3. We spent hours being entertained by the wonders of the dot matrix printer and our very first spread sheets, developing earth work calculations.

It would be years after I graduated before I fully appreciate what our faculty had done for us. You see, it was not my ability to learn a program that made me a better design professional, but rather the ability to adapt to the changing world and accept the fact that I would be continuing to learn and expand my views of fresh new ideas.

About 20 years after Operation PC, I ran into Dennis Day and Ken Brooks at an ASLA convention with my business partner Jim Wolterman. I joked with Dennis about the old days of the PC and how impactful he was in recruiting us students into their grand plan. We all had a good laugh, but then Dennis gave me that familiar stare over the top of his glasses. I knew I was in for a lecture. He then asked me, “Are you using GIS?” My partner Jim and I looked at each other…..(I wanted to ask D.J. if GIS stood for Good Informative Stories) but I knew that this would just make things worse. So, I looked at the ground and said no, we are not using a GIS system yet. You got it….the lecture began and Dennis and Ken told Jim and I the importance of embracing this technology in our every day planning and business and warned us that if we did not we would become extinct like dinosaurs. This conversation went on for at least 10 minutes, but it felt like a two-hour class. We shook our head in agreement, smiled and assured their advice would not be dismissed.

As Jim and I walked away, he looked at me and said “So that is Dennis Day……I guess we better look into GIS.”

Learning does not end, nor does teaching. Thanks Professor Day!

Life after KSU and Visions for the Future

Now many of you will take a variety of paths but one thing holds true for all of you and that is your quest to make a difference in our world. For me, this quest began working with Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum for 11 years. I continued to hone my education in the skills of collaboration and multi-disciplinary approach to design. Interior architects, architects, planners and landscape architects work together to develop our designs. I believe strongly in respecting the contributions of other design professionals.

The world, grand at first, became smaller and more accessible in the 80’s and now I am told many of you graduates are well-traveled. I challenge you all to take advantage of understanding the interconnectivity of politics, our Earth’s environment, sharing information and experiencing your surroundings wherever your travels take you. As you do this, observe both the built and natural environments around you and challenge yourselves to how this might contribute to your outlook on design.

During the last 12 years of owning my own firm, collaboration has taken on expanded new meaning as we try to better understand the impact of design on humanity. Working with healthcare professionals, environmental scientists, recreational experts, urban foresters, artisans and many others, have allowed my firm to achieve both a practical and creative approach to design. This form of collaboration enriches our design and provides more purpose.

As we enter this age of environmental reconciliation, it will become even more critical for you graduates to embrace the experiences of others. Whether it be exploring more renewable material for furniture and buildings, planning more walkable communities, creating sites that are more ecologically sustainable, we will all need to be accountable to the future of mankind.

The use of technology will no longer be a trendy thing or gadget to incorporate into our design, but rather be a common tool. Detention ponds will be replaced by rain gardens, computers will help us manage our energy consumption, GIS will help us plan better communities allowing us to make informed decision, space planning can be easily understood in the third dimension by future users. The ideas of sustainability are not a fad or an acronym like LEED, it is a way of life. I challenge you all to reduce consumption and become a generation of healing. Plan for healthier living environments, communities that encourage recreation and social interaction and energy conservation, while inspiring the consumer to beauty and functionalism.

As you leave this campus to venture into your career, remember that design is more than a dedication to your art. It is an infusion of life experiences. So be willing to serve your community in other aspects. Be willing to serve your faith, be willing to provide outreach to others. Be willing to serve your family and take part in the development of the young and old. It is here that you can continue to learn and to shape your life skills.

I am blessed with a wonderful wife and children who are my greatest critics and collaborative partners in life. My formative years at KSU have truly been a part of my life and continue to be so. With each passing year I hold a greater debt of gratitude to this institution and the professors willing to dedicate their lives to us who have traveled the halls of Seaton. I gratefully request that the Class of 2007 look to your future with great anticipation while remembering this college as a school that has served you well. Continue to invest in Kansas State University for the sake of future generations. You are indeed a generation that will be looked back on as a great generation of healing.

Now I know none of you will remember this address. You will, however, remember your favorite bar or coffee shop in Aggieville, the music you listen to while here, the long nights in studio, cold walks back to your dorm or apartment late at night and the Wildcats whipping up on Oklahoma to be the Big 12 Football Champions…… However, try to remember to use your life for others and to make our Earth a better place to live for the next generations.

Congratulations, Class of 2007!