Anya is deeply committed to mitigating landscape damage in regions affected by violence – including Ukraine – and rebuilding infrastructure sustainably and resiliently.

Anya Nona is a graduate student in landscape architecture at UM-Ann Arbor. Anya first attended U-M as an undergraduate, earning a bachelor’s degree in anthropology before pursuing her interests in various landscapes across the country. During this period, Anya learned more about the natural world — and relationships to it in different places — via outdoor training programs and outdoor youth education, and as a farmhand on a small, independent goat farm. Her experiences with vegetable farming, natural building, goat husbandry, and outdoor education for kids each taught her new skills and brought her into new ecosystems and environments that now inform her study in landscape architecture.

Anya is also an active part of the Ukrainian diaspora in Michigan, and the attack on Anya’s ancestral homeland in 2022 solidified her decision to return to school. She reflects, “It was then that I resolved to be there when Ukraine was ready to rebuild, as a trained landscape architect restoring the infrastructure, ancient cities, and beautiful, carefully-tended homes of the Ukrainian people when liberation has finally come.” Throughout her future career, Anya is deeply committed to mitigating landscape damage in regions affected by violence – including Ukraine – and rebuilding infrastructure sustainably and resiliently.

At U-M, Anya has already been recognized with the 2024 Fred and Helen Arbuckle Award in Landscape Architecture, and her professor remarks that she has “the talent, work ethic, and motivation to contribute importantly to social and environmental well-being.” Following her graduation, Anya plans to work closely with community stakeholders to create sustainable landscape designs and advocate for policies that prioritize ecosystem health and resilience.

CEW+ applauds Anya’s vision for her career in landscape architecture and names her a Margaret Dow Towsley Scholar.