Lecture Series

LeFrak Lectureship

The annual LeFrak Lectureship is supported by a generous grant from the late Samuel J. LeFrak, who was a leading planner-developer headquartered in New York City. For 40 years, LeFrak headed the Lefrak Organization, which built 200,000 houses and apartments throughout New York City. His philanthropic generosity spanned health, education, the arts, youth and the poor. Each year the lectureship features a scholar who has made significant contributions to literature on city and regional planning issues. Previous lectureships:

• 2011: Jeff Faux, PhD, Distinguished Fellow, Economic Policy Institute, "Harder Times Ahead: Can Cities Protect Us?"

• 2010: Michael Katz, PhD, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History, Research Associate, Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, “From Underclass to Entrepreneur: Reclaiming Poor People in America's Cities.”

• 2009: Mark Joseph, PhD, Assistant Professor, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, "Mixed-Income Development: Building Housing or Building Community?"

• 2008: John A. Powell, Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and Executive Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, The Ohio State University, "Planning for Opportunity, Equity and Change"

• 2007: Richard Sennett, Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics, Bemis Professor of Social Sciences, MIT, Fellow, New York Institute for the Humanities, New York University, "The Architecture of Justice"

• 2006: Tim Beatley, Professor of Sustainable Communities at the University of Virginia, "Green Urbanism"

• 2005: Delores Hayden, Professor of Architecture, Urbanism and American Studies, Yale University, “The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History”

• 2004: William H. Frey, Visiting Fellow, The Brookings Institution, “How Immigration and Domestic Migration are Transforming America’s Demographic Landscape”

• 2003: Jerold S. Kayden, Associate Professor, Harvard University School of Design, “Privately Owned Public Space: Repairing the [New York City] Law’s Troubled Marriage”

• 2002: Chester Hartman, President and Executive Director, Poverty and Race Research Action Council, The Planner as Social Justice Activist”

• 2001: Robert Cervero, Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California at Berkeley, “Transportation and Urbanism: Sorting Out Ideology from Empiricism”

Carl N. Ruskin Memorial Lecture

The program sponsors an annual Carl N. Ruskin Memorial Lecture on “The Neighborhood and the City.” Local planners and other members of the public are invited and the lectures are held in Baltimore to attract professionals who work there. Previous lectures:

• 2011: May Louie, Director of Leadership and Capacity Building, Project Director, Boston Promise Initiative, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, "The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative: The Journey and the Promise

• 2010: Christopher Shea, President and Chief Executive Officer, East Baltimore Development Inc., "Getting It Right: Rebuilding Baltimore's East Side"

• 2009: Robert Embry, Jr., President, The Abell Foundation, “The Challenge of Urban Public Education”

• 2008: Matthew Crenson, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, The Johns Hopkins University, “Roots: A Genealogy of Racial Politics in Baltimore”

• 2007: Joseph T. Landers, Executive Vice President, Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors AND Michael Sarbanes, Executive Director, Citizens Planning and Housing Association, “Growth, Housing Affordability and Opportunity in Baltimore: Goals and Practical Challenges”

• 2006: Thomas Knoche, Department of Urban Studies and Community Planning, Rutgers University, “Lessons I Thought Our Profession Had Learned”

• 2005: Tyler Gearhart, Executive Director of Preservation Maryland, 2005, "Historic Preservation and the Future of Baltimore"

• 2004: Timothy D. Armbruster, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Goldseker Foundation, 2004, “Helping Neighborhoods Work: One Funder’s View”

• 2003: Odette T. Ramos, director of the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance, "Vital Signs for Baltimore Neighborhoods”

• 2002: John M. Carpenter, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “Urban Vacant Land: Crisis and Opportunity”

• 2001: Henry Sanoff, AIA, Distinguished Professor of Architecture at the School of Design, North Carolina State University, “Designing Schools with Community Participation”