January 2025 Chapter Leader of the Month: Vivian Arredondo Rendon
Vivian Arredondo Rendon is a recent graduate, and current AIAS UNLV Past President from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Architecture with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and will attend the University of Washington to pursue a Masters in Architecture. AlAS has played a pivotal role in her college experience. She met like-minded individuals who quickly became close friends and mentors that she looked up to. Seeing the impact that AlAS had on her community, she became more actively involved by serving as the Treasurer and later President of the AIAS UNLV Chapter, while she also served on the AIAS National JEDI committee.
Vivian’s leadership brought more professional exposure and collaboration to the UNLV Chapter this past year. She encouraged more students to attend AlA LV events and secured enough funds to partially fund 14 students’ trip to the West Quad Conference. Additionally, she and her team organized various firm crawls, portfolio reviews and site visits such as a rammed earth workshop. She also connected with local high schools where, with some of her board members and the ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) UNLV Chapter, she talked about architecture and AlAS. In their most ambitious effort, Vivian and her executive board put together the first ever AlAS UNLV Exhibition, “Bridging the Gap.” The exhibition gave students from the School of Architecture (including Landscape and Interior Design) an opportunity to display their work alongside local architecture firms and artists. Collaborating with AIA LV, the opening reception night included the AlA High School Design Awards, resulting in a successful night of community building, engagement and celebration.
