NEWS FROM

Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities

For Immediate Release

Contact: W. Cecil Steward, President & CEO
26 May 2015
402.472.0087

Diane Wanek, Director of Communications
402.991.8747

Katie Torpy, Program Manager
402.933.0080

Conservation and the Quest for Quality Nebraska Places

What do construction waste, global population migration, food processing and distribution, the Ogallala Aquifer, Omaha
and ONeill, climate change, and economic development have to do with one another? A new video by the Joslyn
Institute for Sustainable Communities shows how interconnected and interdependent all of these factors are, and how
addressing the nexus of global and local changes and pressures on our critical resources will ensure a strong and
healthy future for our citizens. W. Cecil Steward, founder and President of the Joslyn Institute, will show excerpts from
the video and talk about how these imperatives might be addressed at the June webcast of the Sustainability Leadership
Presesntation Series (SLPS) on June 4. Locations across the state will be showing the webcast.
Nebraska Nexus: Resources, Conservation, Development and Change explores five critical resourcesfood,
water, energy, land and materials, and how we must consider both conservation and development of those resources
to respond effectively to global pressures and to ensure they remain sustainable for future generations and the high
standard of living we now enjoy.
The culmination of four years of highly interactive workshops and conferences with civic leaders, ranchers,
farmers, elected and appointed officials, students and concerned citizens across Nebraska, the video was produced with
the support of Humanities Nebraska and the Nebraska Environmental Trust, with the administrative support of Nebraska
Academy of Sciences. During the free webcast, Steward will interact with attendees to consider the implications of a
changing planet and their significance to our unique conditions in Nebraska.

The SLPS is a series of free, public presentations given monthly on topics related to sustainability, energy, the

environment, and how they apply to individuals. The series is webcast at a number of locations across the state on the
first Thursday of each school calendar month. The Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities, in partnership with
Central Community College, Metropolitan Community College and WasteCap Nebraska, is a sponsor of the series,
which is free and open to all interested people.

Conservation and the Quest for Quality Nebraska Places will be presented live on Thursday, June 4, 3:30 5 p.m.

in UNOs Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center, Room 127 (60th & Dodge). The webcast may be viewed at the
following community college viewing locations:
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1004 Farnam Street / Suite 101 / Omaha, Nebraska 68102

t 402.933.0080 / f 402.933.0082 / e info@sustainabledesign.org / www.ecospheres.com

Conservation & the Quest for Quality Nebraska Places

Contact: W. Cecil Steward, President & CEO
Press Release - Page 2 of 3
402.472.0087
For Immediate Release
Diane Wanek, Director of Communications
26 May 2015
402.991.8747

Katie Torpy, Program Manager
402.933.0080

Omaha: Metropolitan Community College Fort Omaha Campus (30th & Fort)
Columbus: Central Community College - West Ed 205
Grand Island:Central Community College - 555
Hastings: Central Community College - Dawson 163 (Cedar)
Holdrege: Central Community College Center
Lexington: Central Community College Center
Ord: Central Community College Center
Kearney: Central Community College Center
Interested participants can Tweet questions for the live Q&A using #SLPSThursday. Individuals who are not able to get to
a webcast site will be able to view the webcast on their own computers, via a Webex link, to be provided at the following
website next week: www.cccneb.edu/sustain/SLPS. Those who wish to attend the JISC presentation at UNO, the live
webcast site, should contact Katie Torpy Carroll (ktorpy@sustainabledesign.org) to pre-register, since seating and
parking spots will be limited.

About the Speaker

W. Cecil Steward, FAIA, is a world expert on sustainable development and sustainable design. Dean emeritus and
emeritus professor of architecture and planning at the University of Nebraska College of Architecture in Lincoln, he is
president and founder of the Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities, Omaha/Lincoln. A past president of the national
American Institute of Architects (AIA), Steward has served on the boards
of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, the AIA and on
the charter board of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium.
He serves on the boards of directors of the Asia/Pacific Center for
Architecture, the national Design Futures Council, and the steering
committee of the United Nations Center for Human Settlements Best
Practices Network and its international Dubai Award for Best Practices in
Sustainable Development, among others.
In public service he is a former member of the Board of Directors of the
Downtown Lincoln Association, the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning
Commission, and the Lincoln Childrens Museum Board of Directors.
In 2005, he started the Nebraska Center for Sustainable Construction,
which operates Nebraska EcoStores, a recycled building materials store

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The Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities / 1004 Farnam Street / Suite 101 / Omaha, Nebraska 68102
t 402.933.0080 / f 402.933.0082 / e info@sustainabledesign.org / www.ecospheres.com

Conservation & the Quest for Quality Nebraska Places

Contact: W. Cecil Steward, President & CEO
Press Release - Page 3 of 3
402.472.0087
For Immediate Release
Diane Wanek, Director of Communications
26 May 2015
402.991.8747

Katie Torpy, Program Manager
402.933.0080
in Lincoln, Nebraska. He is a member of the Nebraska Capitol Environs Commission where he assisted in the writing of
the first design guidelines for urban protection of the Nebraska Capitol building. His initiatives in Nebraskas two largest
cities established the Green Omaha Coalition and Lincoln Green by Design, aimed at fostering sustainability policies and
practices in city government.
At the national level he has served on the national Peer Review Committee for design reviews of selected General
Services Administration projects, including buildings within the U.S. Capitol complex, and as a member of the
Pennsylvania Avenue Design Charette Team in Washington, D.C.
At the international level he served as a member of the National Committee on U.S./China Relations, and the UNESCOsponsored design charette team for the international Memorial to West African Slave Trade, Dakar, Senegal. Since 1984,
he has served as a consultant to the Peoples Republic of China in establishing accreditation and licensing for architects.
He is serving as advisor to the World Olympiad for Urban Design, and is involved in several more groups working to
promote sustainable development in urban areas throughout the world.

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The Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities / 1004 Farnam Street / Suite 101 / Omaha, Nebraska 68102
t 402.933.0080 / f 402.933.0082 / e info@sustainabledesign.org / www.ecospheres.com