Meet the Staff
Elizabeth has been involved in leadership roles at the Design Center since 1990 and as Director since 2000. She has a Masters of Landscape Architecture from Virginia Tech and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design from the University of Massachusetts. Her primary area of interest is planning and design assistance that affords healthy living opportunities and interaction with the natural environment while at the same time helping preserve the environment and open space. The purpose of Healthy Living by Design is to address two specific crises in this nation and how community design can help address the problem. They include the crisis of obesity (and other consequential health issues) and nature-deficit disorder, the cost of alienation from nature. Such work includes, in part, conceptual open space master plans; parks and greenway designs; landscape designs for outdoor learning; and rain garden designs for reducing stormwater runoff. She has overseen over one hundred projects at the Design Center, as well as initiating several publications and events including Lost Communities of Virginia, The Motorcycle Tour Guide to Lost Communities of Virginia, and Streetscapes of Virginia and The Lost Tour 2007.
Hayley is a recent graduate of the Virginia Tech Masters of Landscape Architecture program and holds a bachelor’s degree in Art History and International Studies from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. She decided to pursue community design and landscape architecture after working on a qualitative research project involving community engagement and workforce development in Roanoke as an undergraduate. Hayley started working at CDAC as a student designer in 2021 and joined the CDAC team full time in 2022. In her spare time, she enjoys collecting vinyl records, writing, going on Wikipedia deep dives, exploring Southwest Virginia, and volunteering time with harm reduction and substance use education organizations.
Terri holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Computer Science from the University of New Hampshire and completed the coursework for a Masters of Architecture degree at Virginia Tech. Terri has worked with local historic sites and is the author of several books about local history including the CDAC publication, Lost Communities of Virginia. Her interests are in the areas of preservation and sustainable design: “Our most livable communities and sustainable buildings are in many of our older neighborhoods that were built for ease of transportation, longevity, and response to the environment in a less mobile and disposable time.” In her spare time, Terri enjoys exploring back roads, playing the clarinet, making art, and rehabilitating a historic house in the once-booming town of Narrows where she is also a member of the citizens group helping to revitalize downtown.
Erin has been employed in various roles at Virginia Tech since 2011 after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Emory and Henry College in Southwest Virginia. Originally from Harrisonburg, VA, Erin currently resides in Blacksburg with her husband and two children. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family, attending sporting events, completing home improvement projects, and being active outdoors.
Faculty Support
Kevin Jones
Visiting Faculty; Virginia Tech School of Architecture and School of Design
Kevin Jones is a practicing architect and Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture and School of Design. He teaches 4th-year Integrative Design Studio and Professional Practice. Prior to joining the faculty at Virginia Tech, he practiced in Richmond, VA and served as Adjunct Faculty in the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. His experience in practice is diverse in type and scale and includes numerous adaptive reuse projects as well as housing, institutional, community, and cultural works. Kevin has particular expertise with the sensitive addition of modern design in historic contexts. He has been privileged to work with both urban and rural communities on a variety of community-oriented projects – first in Richmond, with Storefront for Community Design, and most recently with the Virginia Tech Community Design Assistance Center. His academic pursuits lie at the intersection of teaching, practice, and community engagement and he has a firm belief in the power of architecture to enrich the lives of people and places.
Lisa Tucker
Head of the Department of Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences; Professor
Lisa M. Tucker, PhD, is a Professor and Department Head in Apparel Housing and Resource Mgmt at Virginia Tech. She is a LEED BD + C and WELL accredited professional. Dr. Tucker is a registered architect and certified interior designer and holds degrees in Architecture and Architectural History from the University of Virginia. Dr. Tucker, honored as the 2016 IIDA Educator of the Year, has been identified by Design Intelligence as a Most Admired Design Educators in 2010, 2017, 2018, and 2019. She received the Nancy McClelland Award, the Polsky Prize (2015) and is an ASID Educator Medalist. She is a Fellow of both ASID and IDEC.
Student Designers
Amrita Adhikari, Graduate Student, Architecture
Grayson Blackburn, Undergraduate Student, Landscape Architecture
Bhairavi Nitin Kedari, Graduate Student, Architecture
Abby Kelican, Undergraduate Student, Interior Design