Special School Seminar

Monday, 7 April 2014, Hall 223, Gilman Building

Program:

12:45 Refreshments

13:00 Award for excelling student – Green Building and Urban Planning

In memory of Efrat Pompas, who studied sustainable architecture at the Porter School of Environmental Studies. After Efrat passed away, her family has decided to grant an Excellence Award in her memory to outstanding Master's students at school. The award is directed at students whose research is related to the fields of urban sustainability, urban renewal and planning, or architecture and green building. 

13:15 Hope Is an Imperative

Special guest speaker: Prof. David W. Orr, Oberlin College, Ohio

David W. Orr is the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics and Senior Adviser to the President, Oberlin College. His work has become a cornerstone in the development of environmental education and environmental movement over the last three decades through promoting of key concepts such as "ecological literacy", "place and pedagogy" and ecological design. His writings vibrantly challenge assumptions at the core of the educational, scientific and political crises of our times.

Prof. Orr's prominence is probably most recognized with heading the effort to design, fund and build the Adam Joseph Lewis Center at Oberlin College, which was named by an AIA panel in 2010 as “the most important green building of the past thirty years,” and as “one of thirty milestone buildings of the twentieth century” by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Lewis Center has grown into a model known now at "the Oberlin Project" embracing what Orr terms "wide spectrum sustainability" of the entire town and surroundings.  David Orr is the executive director of the Oberlin Project.