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Speaker BiosSession 1: Jaap Vos, Ph.,D., (Panel Chair) Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Urban & Regional Planning at Florida Atlantic University holds a Ph.D. in Regional Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Dr. Vos’ main interests include environmental planning, environmental justice, and sustainable development. He has published articles about community participation, environmental justice and equity in planning. Currently, he is focusing his research on the relationship between Everglades restoration and urban development in southeast Florida. Lenore Alpert, Ph.D., Assistant Director of Research at the Catanese Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions at Florida Atlantic University, the Center’s Ocean and Coastal Program. Her research includes projects on the Economics of Beaches, Marine Strategic Plan for Monroe County, Statewide Boating Inventory, the Marine Association of South Florida's Master Plan Implementation, redistricting for city commissions, as well as coordinating the Florida Ocean Alliance. She directed the Regional Indicators Project for CUES over the past three years, and now coordinates ResearchSouthFlorida. Dr. Alpert has a doctorate in political science/public policy from Northwestern University and twenty years of research and university teaching experience, both in the public and private sector. She currently teaches as an adjunct professor in FAU's Department of Political Science. Barbara Powell, M.S., is the Water Supply Lead Planner for the Lower East Coast at the South Florida Water Management District. After receiving her Master's degree in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island and working for the Seminole Tribe of Florida as an Environmental Program Coordinator, she moved to the Water Management District in 2000. Her planning region is the largest of four, covering over 6,400 square miles, encompassing critically important water bodies and natural systems while providing water supply to over 5.4 million people. Under the State of Florida's new statutory provision, Ms. Powell's work is focused on strengthening the link between regional water supply plans and the potable water provisions contained within each local government's comprehensive plan. This will ensure that adequate potable water facilities are constructed concurrently with new development. David Prosperi, Ph.D., is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Prosperi has been with FAU since 1989. He holds a Ph.D. in Economic Geography from Indiana University and a master's degree from Temple University in Geography. His main interests include growth management, economic development, and computer applications. Session 2: Susan Toth, MS, (Panel Chair) has worked in the field of Environmental Education more than twenty years at Florida Atlantic University’s Pine Jog Center. For the past fifteen years, Ms. Toth has been Pine Jog’s Director of Education, whose duties include: supervising the instructional staff; providing leadership for program development; writing and monitoring grants; serving as project manager for a variety of initiatives; developing and teaching courses for the FAU masters degree program in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in EE; and developing and teaching professional development workshops and symposia for classroom teachers and other educators. Robert J. Kobet, AIA, is President of Sustainaissance International Inc., a multidisciplinary architectural firm specializing in sustainable design and development and environmental education. Over a period of twenty six years Bob has consulted nationally and internationally on projects in nine countries on five continents. He is the Chair of the US Green Building Council’s LEED for Schools Initiative, co-author of the LEED® for Contractors and Construction Managers Workshop and a USGBC LEED® Faculty member. In addition to his professional practice Bob has enjoyed a parallel career in teaching which culminated in his position of Adjunct Professor of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University. He holds a Masters of Science in Sustainable Systems from Slippery Rock University, a degree he was instrumental in creating. Bob has lectured widely on the topics of green design and environmental education and has contributed to scores of articles and book chapters on the subject. He is currently under contract to write Wiley Publishing’s book on High Performance Green Schools. For his life-long dedication to sustainable design and development, Bob was selected Pittsburgh’s first Green Champion in April, 1995. Jose Murguido, AIA, Vice President in charge of Architectural Services, heads Zyscovich Architects’ Education & Municipal Groups. Over the past 25 years, he has overseen the firm’s design and construction of more than 100 educational facilities—from elementary, middle and high schools through university facilities. In recent years, Mr. Murguido has taken a special interest in high performance and green building design, especially as it relates to educational facilities. He believes that high performance/green design positively impacts a facility’s operations as well as the client’s bottom line, and that schools become healthier places which maximize student and teacher achievement. The firm’s design approach intends that through the high performance/green design of educational facilities, “students’ environmental awareness will increase thereby creating environmental stewards who will work to sustain our natural resources and our environment for themselves and future generations.” Mr. Murguido is the Architect for Florida Atlantic University’s Pine Jog Environmental Education Center and the School District of Palm Beach County’s Elementary School 03-Y, two new registered LEED® facilities located in the 150-acre Pine Jog Environmental Preserve. Joseph M. Sanches, MBA, is Chief of Facilities Management for the Palm Beach County School District, the 11th largest school district in the country with a student enrollment of 168,000 students in 165 schools. As head of facilities Mr. Sanches oversees a budget of approximately $740 million and a staff of 900 employees who have the responsibility for the planning, design, construction, maintenance and inspections of the District 25 million square feet of schools, offices, warehouses, maintenance and transportation facilities. Before coming to the School District in 2002, Mr. Sanches spent 20 years in the private sector managing the construction of schools, malls, prisons, hotels and other buildings in New York, New Jersey, Atlanta and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Mr. Sanches has earned an AAS degree in Construction Technology from New York City Technical College, a BPS degree in Construction Management from Pratt Institute and a MBA in Management from Baruch College. Glenn Thomas has served as a public educator promoting educational reform in Florida at the school, community college, university, regional and state levels for 35 years. He was hired in 2002 as the Executive Director, K-12 Schools and Programs at Florida Atlantic University. In this capacity, he functions as the lead administrator for the A. D. Henderson University School, the Slattery Pre-K Preschool Center, FAU High School, the Pine Jog Environmental Education Center, and the Everglades Youth Conservation Camp. Mr. Thomas also serves as the CEO of the FAU-Treasure Coast University Schools, Inc. directing the establishment, development and operation of the FAU-Tradition University Charter School. He has provided direct leadership to the negotiations, design and development of the State of Florida’s first “Green” school (Pine Jog Elementary School), a collaborative venture of the Palm Beach County School Board, FAU and the FAU Foundation and other local entities. He wrote and directed the Florida Charter Legal Resource Center grant. Additionally, he is charged to develop local educational agency relationships supporting teacher development, including a recent $300,000/year grant for a regional collaborative supporting freshmen and sophomores to “try out” teaching with excellent teachers in a variety of schools. He is recognized nationally as an expert in innovative educational solutions and collaborative relationships. Keynote Address: Hildegard Kurt, PhD, is a cultural researcher who lives in Berlin, Germany. Her work focuses on art and sustainability, the aesthetics of sustainability, art and agriculture, interculture and the dialogue of cultures. She is cofounder of und.Institut für Kunst, Kultur und Zukunftsfähigkeit (and.Institute for Art, Culture and Sustainability), located in Berlin and Frankfurt/Main.
Session 3: Neil Santaniello, MSJ (Panel Chair) is a full-time faculty member of Florida Atlantic University’s School of Communication and Multimedia Studies, teaching a number of journalism and writing courses, including environmental journalism. He is the Director of the Scripps Howard Institute on the Environment, an educational program for working journalists launched in 2006 at FAU’s John D. MacArthur campus. Prior to his coming to FAU, Mr. Santaniello worked for 22 years as a staff reporter for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, spending the latter half of that time covering environmental and water management issues for the paper. Mr. Santaniello is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. Mr. Santaniello received his bachelor's degree in English and Philosophy from Boston College and his master's degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. Jeff Burnside, BA, NBC 6 Reporter, has been in the news business for more than 20 years working as a reporter, anchor, news manager and producer in cities such as Seattle, Boston and now Miami where he is part of the highly regarded WTVJ Special Projects Unit. Mr. Burnside reports investigative, long-format, and environmental stories. He’s won more than 20 journalism awards - for television and newspaper reporting and photography - including several regional Emmys. Mr. Burnside is a frequently invited speaker and panelist on environmental journalism and journalism ethics. In addition, he earned a fellowship at the Metcalf Institute for Environmental Reporting (University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography) and a fellowship at the Western Knight Center for Specialized Reporting in political coverage (University of Southern California Annenberg School). He is a long-time member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, and the Society of Environmental Journalists. David Fleshler, M.A., has covered the environment for the past seven years for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, writing about such issues as threats to coral reefs, Everglades restoration, endangered species, and the environmental cost of development. Before that, he covered the city of Hollywood and the Broward County Commission for the Sun-Sentinel. Mr. Fleshler received his B.A. in Philosophy from New York University and his Master’s in Journalism from Columbia University. Curtis Morgan has been a reporter for The Miami Herald for 20 years. He has been The Herald's environmental reporter since 2000 and also covered the beat in Broward County in the early 1990s. A Miami native, he holds a bachelor's degree in English and Mass Communications from the University of South Florida. Session 4: Paul D. Zwick, Ph.D., is the coauthor of the Florida in 2060 a report commissioned by 1000 Friends of Florida to depict what land use might look like in the future. Dr. Zwick directs the University of Florida GeoPlan Center, a resource in geographic information systems (GIS). His research emphasizes the design, development, and analysis of computer applications in Urban and Environmental Planning, and Engineering. |