Jessika Gill

Lecturer

Jessika’s professional interests center on visual communication + representation, participatory design, and facilitation. She aims to continually grow in how these strategies can help people understand, imagine, and shape place – together. Outside of teaching in Landscape Architecture, she serves as Designer and Community Engagement Manager with the Evans Policy Innovation Collaborative at the University of Washington. Through applied research projects with community and government partners, she develops and facilitates collaborative processes that bring community knowledge and lived experience into public-sector work.

In her teaching, Jessika encourages students to use drawing not only to communicate ideas, but to think through design challenges and explore possibilities. She values hands-on learning and a balance between design thinking and design doing. Her approach draws from experience in both facilitation and landscape construction.

Jessika holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Washington and a BS in Landscape Design and Contracting/Horticulture from Colorado State University. Her work experience also includes design-build practice, practicing and training others in the Art of Hosting & Harvesting Conversations that Matter methodology, and community-engaged work in Kathmandu, Nepal.