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Board asks for verification of Matilda Otto's experience, raises advertising concerns
Summary
Board members said Matilda Otto submitted education and third-party review from an overseas university but that parts of her work history were unverified; the board directed staff to request additional documentation and invited the applicant to a future meeting, with the board planning to copy CLARB on follow-up.
The State Board of Landscape Architects Connecticut on Feb. 18 discussed the application of Matilda Otto and directed staff to request additional documentation to verify portions of her work experience before deciding on licensure or exam eligibility.
Members said Otto graduated from a non-accredited overseas program and submitted a third-party educational review, but that Clark's verification record listed significant unverified work experience. One board member said about eight years of Otto's experience appear not to have been under a licensed landscape architect and another roughly eight years were not clearly identified in Clark's record. The board agreed to ask Otto to supply documentation verifying that at least four years of her experience were performed under a licensed landscape architect or certified equivalent.
Board members also raised concerns that Otto or her online profiles had presented her as a "landscape architect" in Connecticut before licensure. Members discussed the legal limit on advertising without meeting state qualifications and agreed staff should advise the applicant about correct credential use. The board asked staff to send Otto a request for additional verification and offered the applicant the option to attend the next board meeting to answer questions. Members said they would copy CLARB (the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards) on their correspondence and asked staff to review Clark's verification procedures for clarity.
No formal vote to grant or deny licensure or to allow the applicant to sit for exams was taken at the meeting; the board recorded this as a direction to staff and a request for more information. The transcript records members commending Otto for applying and encouraging her to pursue the exams, while also emphasizing the board's obligation to verify experience and to prevent public misrepresentation of credentials.
Next steps recorded in the meeting: staff will contact the applicant requesting verification of the claimed supervised experience, invite her to the next meeting if she wishes to present, and copy CLARB and Clark on the follow-up correspondence.
