The list of speakers may be amended according to the evolution of topics. They include faculty and other experts from a diverse range of disciplines and with signficant international experience, similar to the guest speakers from 2018 and 2019.They are listed below in the order that they will speak with the seminar. See the syllabus for specific dates.
- Vanessa Ochs, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and a core member of the Jewish Studies Program since its inception, teaches such topics as Jewish feminism, Jewish ritual, ethnographic fieldwork in religion, Abrahamic feminisms. Her course on Spiritual Writing is cross-listed in the Program in Creative Writing and she co-teaches the two-year pilot Forum in Creative Processes and Creative Practices. She is the Chair of the Professional Consulting Committee: UVA Chaplaincy Services and Pastoral Education at the UVA Health System.
- Claire Antone Payton Ph.D., Post-Doctoral Research Associate & Lecturer, Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies. Dr. Payton's dissertation is on “The City and the State: Construction and the Politics of Dictatorship in Haiti,” Duke University. Her research, funded in part by a Fulbright-Hayes fellowship, examined the explosive urban growth fueled by rural-to-urban migration and the consolidation of state power.Drawing on extensive archival research, she examined the rise and fall of the dictatorship through its relationship to the shifting built environment of the capital. She tracks the creation, destruction, and management of material and abstract urban spaces—from airports and aquifers to the political economy of cement. Her analysis of these sites shows how the daily politics of authoritarianism were infused with the dynamics of rapid demographic and geographic change. The study brings to light the previously-unknown architects, planners, developers, investors, and local and international officials who enacted, contested, and revised the dictatorship’s ideological visions and pragmatic imperatives. In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake her scholarship is about the spiritual dimensions of survival narratives. In other research she has referred to oral histories to write about relationship stresses and sexual violence in the IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camps.
- Associate Professor of Architecture John Comazzi's teaching, research, and scholarship focus is on the following areas: mid-century Modern architecture and design; design theory and criticism; architecture photography; the design of active learning environments for PK-12 education; design for healthcare environments; and design-build practices for community development. He is the author a monograph on Balthazar Korab, one of the most prolific and celebrated architecture photographers of the Modern era (Balthazar Korab: Architect of Photography, Princeton Architectural Press, 2012), and is currently writing a monograph on the Miller House and Gardens in Columbus, IN (forthcoming from Princeton Architectural Press, 2019). Professor Comazzi joined the faculty in the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia in the Fall of 2017 as the Director of the Design Thinking Concentration. Hired as part of the University's "Cluster Hiring Initiative," Professor Comazzi has partial appointments in the School of Nursing and the Curry School of Education where he collaborates on interdisciplinary teaching, research, and curriculum development.
- Professor of Landscape Architecture Reuben Rainey, PhD, has taught in the School of Architecture for 34 years and is a former chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture. His present courses focus on the design of various types of healthcare facilities. As Co-Director of the School of Architecture's Center for Design and Health he is also engaged in a number of research projects centering on the design of patient-centered medical facilities and healthy neighborhoods and cities. A former professor of religious studies at Columbia University and Middlebury College, he entered the field of landscape architecture in mid-career. His publications cover a wide range of topics, including Italian Renaissance Gardens, 19th and 20th century urban parks, and the work of 20th-century American landscape architects. His co-authored book on the garden of the Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer received an honor award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. A documentary filmmaker as well, he co-produced the PBS seriesGardenStory, depicting the way gardens improve the lives of individuals and their communities. A recipient of five teaching awards, he is also a member of the Council of Fellows of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Having recently completed an essay on Lawrence Halprin's FDR Memorial, he is currently at work on a book on the modernist landscape architect Robert Royston and a study of the design features of an innovative cancer hospital at the University of Florida, Gainesville.
- Professor Jenny Roe, PhD is the first Mary Irene DeShong Professor of Design and Health and the Director of the Center of Design and Health with a multi-disciplinary background in design and environmental psychology. She is building new trans-disciplinary research collaborations between designers and public health professionals to address the global health challenges of the 21stcentury including obesity, cardiovascular disease and stress. She currently offers courses for the School in Healthy Cities and Environmental Psychology. Formerly, she was Senior Research Leader in Human Wellbeing and Behaviour Change for the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) where she worked with environmental scientists and health professionals to explore how best to build sustainable, resilient and healthy cities across the globe. Jenny is an Environmental Psychologist whom explores the interactions between people and their environment, from micro settings (i.e. a room or individual building scale or even submarines in the case of one recent project) through to neighbourhoods and macro settings that include cities, whole cultures and geographies.
- Professor of Practice Kirsten Gelsdorf is Director of Global Humanitarian Policy, Frank Batton School of Leadership and Public Policy. As Director of Global Humanitarian Policy, Kirsten brings 19 years of experience working in the humanitarian sector; most recently serving as the Chief of the Policy Analysis and Innovation section at the United Nations Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.Her career includes long-term field postings and operational deployments to numerous emergencies including the international responses to Hurricane Mitch in Honduras, the Ethiopian Famine, the South African Regional Food Crisis, the Liberian War, the Tsunami in Indonesia, Hurricane Katrina, the Pakistan Earthquake, the Timor-Leste Security Crisis, the Global Food Crisis and the Haiti Earthquake. She also served as a humanitarian advisor to President Clinton in his role as the UN Special Envoy for Haiti and as a policy advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the global food crisis in 2008. She has led major policy processes and authored numerous high-profile policy reports documents that have been implemented by Member States and adopted in key UN resolutions. She has been the guest editor of Journal special editions and a Senior Researcher for Tufts University. She has taught courses at UVA for the Batten School, Global Studies, and Liberal Arts Seminars. She has also taught as an Associate Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
- Professor Fern R. Hauck, MD, is currently associate professor of family medicine and public health sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. She is the director of the International Family Medicine Clinic at UVA.
Her expertise is global health and caring for refugees. She started the International Family Medicine Clinic in 2002, which serves the refugee population of Charlottesville. She also worked in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Carribian and held the position of refugee camp doctor for a year in Thailand for refugees fleeing Cambodia. Dr. Hauck's primary research focuses on sudden unexpected infant death, including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). She has studied risk factors for SIDS and other unexpected infant deaths, especially focusing on African-American and other minority communities. She has also studied bedsharing practices cross culturally and preventive strategies, such as pacifier use. An important theme of Dr. Hauck's research is eliminating disparities in health services and outcomes. She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on SIDS and is an advisor to several other organizations and federal agencies that focus on infant health and safety. Dr. Hauck was recently profile in the Daily Progress, "Dozen: Dr. Hauck created a model for serving area's refugees", article by Katherine Knott, 2.2.2020.
- Harriet Kuhr, Executive Director IRC (International Rescue Committee), Charlottesville, earned her BA in Anthropology and French from the University of Virginia. Kuhr joined the Peace Corps early in her career serving in the Congo (formerly Zaire). Prior to taking her present position in April 2010, she was the Manager of Resettlement Services with the IRC in Atlanta. Her previous professional experience includes more than 20 years working in the field of international cultural exchange.The International Rescue Committee provides opportunities for refugees, asylees, victims of human trafficking, survivors of torture, and other immigrants to thrive in America. Each year, thousands of people, forced to flee violence and persecution, are welcomed by the people of the United States into the safety and freedom of America. These individuals have survived against incredible odds. The IRC works with government bodies, civil society actors, and local volunteers to help them translate their past experiences into assets that are valuable to their new communities. In Charlottesville and other offices across the country, the IRC helps them rebuild their lives.
- Kory C. Russel is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon. Kory teaches courses on sustainable and human-centered design, courses on water, sanitation and public health, as well as a course in Environmental Studies. His primary research focuses on planning, designing, and implementing sustainable water and sanitation (WASH) services in low- and middle-income countries. He currently services as the Chair of the Container Based Santiation Alliance (CBSA). He has conducted extensive research internationally including in Haiti and Mozambique. He also spent 3 years in Mozambique serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. Russel earned a BS, 2003; MES, 2005, Taylor University; MS, 2013, Ph.D.,2019, in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University. This bio is excerpted from his UO faculty web site.
- Noah Myung is the Director of the Center for Leadership Simulation and Gaming and an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.He is an experimental and behavioral economist with research interests in game theory, organizational economics, and financial economics. His current research deals with equilibrium selection in coordination games as well as information sharing between competitors. In addition, his Department of Defense research investigates on improving efficiencies in retention, compensation, and assignments. As a market design problem for retention, he has designed various ways of combining non-monetary incentives with monetary compensation in a reverse auction format that reduces cost for the DoD while improving social welfare.