Cat Soergel Marshall

Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at Kent State University. Marshall’s work focuses on documenting fragile forest communities and cultural narratives. Marshalls cartographic drawings and large format photographic montages have been published and exhibited in various international venues. Her work traces natural forces and the spatial memory of the sublime forest landscapes using cartographic tracings and photographic montage to plot patterns of change over time.  Envisioned to broaden awareness, and sets out to visualize forest communities, tree abundance, and the biotic and abiotic factors affecting their changing territories. Building upon a larger body of knowledge the work examines the value of trees, not just a natural resource but also a cultural resource. 

She received a Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Art History at Ithaca College and a Masters of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she was awarded the Penny White Traveling Fellowship. At Kent State University Marshall teaches design studios, research seminars and representation courses. Previously, Marshall was invited to teach a Hyde Workshop at the University of Nebraska and was on faculty at Louisiana State University. 

Marshall is published in: 20 Imagined Landscapes: Material Models of Innovation and Discovery (in press),  Fieldwork in Landscape Architecture: Methods Action Tools (2025), Perspectives on Creativity (2009), Journal of Landscape Architecture, Landscape Architecture Magazine, national and international academic proceedings European Council of Landscape Architecture, International Federation of Landscape Architects World Congress, Environmental Design Research Association, The Association of Preservation Technology, Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation, and International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts and the Iraqi War Memorial Symposium.

Education

Harvard University Graduate School of Design | Master in Landscape Architecture
Ithaca College | Bachelor of Arts, Architectural Art History

Affiliations

American Society of Landscape Architects | Council of Educators of Landscape Architects (107836)

Media

Creative Process: Landscape and Art in the Built Environment | with Faculty and Friends Series with Gary Smith, FASLA | College of Architecture and Environmental Design | Kent State University | Kent, Ohio | October 21, 2020

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) Silent Auction, ASLA national meeting, San Diego, CA. |2019

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) Silent Auction, ASLA national meeting, Philadelphia, PA |2018

Publications

Book Chapters:
Observing and Speculating with Models | in book title 20 Imagined Landscapes | Editor: Trevor Lee | Birkhäuser | 2026 | 208 pages | ISBN 978-3-0356-3006-0   ISBN 13: 978-3-0356-3007-7

Walking and Drawing | in Book Title: Fieldwork in Landscape Architecture: Methods Action Tools | Editors: Paula H. Horrigan and Thomas Oles | Publisher: Routledge | 2025 | 256 pages | ISBN: 1138244325 ISBN13: 978-1138244320

On-site Drawing | in Book Title: Fieldwork in Landscape Architecture: Methods Action Tools | Editors: Paula H. Horrigan and Thomas Oles | Publisher: Routledge | 2025| 256 pages | ISBN: 1138244325 ISBN13: 978-1138244320

Creativity and Novice Design: The Liminal Territory of Transformative making, in Perspectives on Creativity | Editor: Lynn DellaPietra | Cambridge Scholars Press | 2009 | 320 pages | ISBN: 1-4438-0964-0  ISBN13: 978-1 – 4438-0962-1 
 

Journal Articles:
Seeing the Landscape Breathe | Journal of Landscape Architecture | Catherine Dee, ed. Autumn 2008, vol.6.
 

Peer Reviewed Conference Paper Presentations | Proceeding Articles 
Genius Loci of the Hemlock Forest | in Conference proceedings | Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture 2024 Annual Conference (CELA)|  St Louis, Missouri | 2024

Fieldwork: Case studies in the Initial Creative Process | Panel Moderator, Panelists: Sheryl Fishel Brown, Katherine Jenkins, Karen Lutsky and William Shriver | Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture 2023 Annual Meeting (CELA) | San Antonio, Texas, | 2023

Restorative Visions | Panel Moderator Panelists: Kofi Boone, Taraneh Maskani and Nayyirah Shariff | Environmental Justice and Ecology & Race 8th Annual Kent State ESDRI symposium | 2023

Territory of Trees co author Amanda Mumford, in conference proceedings | Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) | Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico | 2022

To Design Rust Landscapes in conference proceedings | International Federation of Landscape Architects World Congress (IFLA) | Oslo, Norway | 2019

Visual methods for speculating transformative landscape processes, in conference proceedings | Creation/Reaction | University of Greenwich | London, UK | 2017

Deciphering Design Solutions Through Drawing the Multiplicities of Landscape: A Case Study of Southern Louisiana’s Sweet Olive Cemetery­, co author, Sheryl Fishel Brown, in conference proceedings | University of Greenwich | London, UK | 2017

Cosmological-order, Landscape-order a Typological Framework for UNSECO Poverty Point Cultural Site | Short Paper Presentation | The Association of Preservation Technology (APT) International | San Antonio, Texas | 2016

Teaching how to Track Landscape Experience | in Conference Proceedings | European Council of Landscape Architecture 2016 Conference (ECLAS) | HRS Hochshule für Technik, Rapperswil Switzerland | 2016

Teaching how to Track Landscape Experience Short Paper presented | Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture 2014 Annual Conference (CELA) | Baltimore Maryland | 2014

Transforming a Cultural landscape: Grand Chenier – Teaching Landscape Architecture students how to Speculate on Landscape Change | Short Paper presented | Environmental Design Research Assoc. Annual Mtg – Design with Change (EDRA) New Orleans, LA | 2014

Ordering the Louisiana Landscape: Geology, Geometry, Cosmos | Short Paper presentation | co author Risk, J.K. | Environmental Design Research Association Annual Meeting – Design with Change (EDRA) | New Orleans, Louisiana | 2014

Creativity and Novice Design: The Liminal Territory of Transformative making, in Conference Proceedings | Perspectives on Creativity | Cambridge Scholars Press | 2009

The Seaward March: the buoy and the pod, co-author with, Kristi M. Dykema | Foundation for the Netherlands Association of Landscape Architects | Apeldoorn, The Netherlands | 2008

Awards/Achievements

Student Honors /  The Cultural Landscape Foundation Nominated Olmstead Scholar
2024    Aya Keskeso (MLA Finalist awarded $5,000 scholarship)        
2014    Erin Perevault (BLA Winner awarded $15,000 scholarship)
 

International ASLA Student Awards
2025      ASLA Student Awards, National Honor Award in the General Design category, Riverfront Stitch: Mending Cleveland’s Industrial Valley, Morgan Mackey
2017     ASLA Student Awards, National Honor Award in the Planning and Analysis category,  Disaster Autopsy Model, Donguk Lee and Xiwei Shen.
2008    ASLA Student Awards, National Honor Award in the General Design category, The Lower Ninth Ward and Bayou Bienvenue: An Inherent Opportunity, Conners Ladner, Chris Barnes and Robert Bass
 

OCASLA Student Awards
2025  Ohio ASLA Student Honor Award in recognition of outstanding academic achievement for her Studio Project
                                 “Perched on Happiness” Morgan Mackey (25) 

2024  Ohio ASLA Student Honor Award in recognition of outstanding academic achievement for her Studio Project 
                                 “Comfort for All while Climate and Homeless Populations Rise” Aya Keskeso MLA (24)

2024  Ohio ASLA Student Honor Award in recognition of outstanding academic achievement for her Studio Project 
                                 “Lake Erie Marginal Freshwater Park” Asmita Dahal MLA (24) 

2023  Ohio ASLA Student Honor Award in recognition of outstanding academic achievement for her Studio Project   
                                 “Tree Stories: Community-Driven Design to Expand Cleveland's Urban Tree Canopy” Morgan Mackey MLA(25)

2023  Ohio ASLA Student Merit Award, in recognition of academic achievement for her studio project 
                                  “Green Recolonization” Saba Tajali, MLA (23)

2021  Ohio ASLA Student Honor Award in recognition of outstanding academic achievement for his studio project 
                                  “The Revitalized Valley” Brendan Alcorn MLA (22) 

2020  Ohio ASLA Student Honor Award in recognition of outstanding academic achievement for his studio project 
                                  “Maritime Emergence” James Sasser MLA (21) 

2019  Ohio ASLA Student Merit Award, in recognition of academic achievement for her studio project 
                                   “Bat Camp” Katherine Kelleher MLA (19)