UTSA to host March 19 talk by World Monuments Fund executive

Lisa Ackerman

By Jesus Chavez
Public Affairs Specialist

(March 12, 2014) -- The UTSA Center for Cultural Sustainability in the College of Architecture (COA), will sponsor a lecture by heritage conservationist Lisa Ackerman at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 19 in the Durango Building Southwest Room (1.124) at the UTSA Downtown Campus. "Heritage Conservation: Inspired Action," presented as part of the COA Spring Lecture Series, is free and open to the public.

Ackerman is executive vice president and chief operating officer of the World Monuments Fund (WMF), a leading, independent nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving the world's most historic and treasured heritage sites.

Since 1965, WMF has engaged communities in 100 countries around the globe in conservation, advocacy and training to improve the state of heritage sites and bring greater awareness to the needs of historic places.

Recently, the UTSA College of Architecture Center for Cultural Sustainability worked closely with WMF to train heritage conservation professionals in Iraq. The success of those training sessions has led WMF to offer a similar training in Erbil later this year with UTSA and other organizations. Learn more about these efforts at the World Monuments Fund website.

Ackerman's lecture will touch upon the unique experiences and challenges that she and WMF have faced while engaging communities around the world and the inspired solutions that helped them ultimately assist local heritage conservation efforts.

"The exceptional work that World Monuments Fund has done for countless cultural sites over the years cannot be overstated," said John Murphy Jr., dean of the UTSA College of Architecture. "Lisa Ackerman brings with her many years of experience and a deep knowledge about the importance of heritage conservation. Her lecture should resonate with many people here in San Antonio, which is home to some truly splendid historic sites currently undergoing conservation efforts."

Ackerman is a visiting assistant professor in the Graduate Center for Planning at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. She serves on the boards of the Historic House Trust of New York City, New York Preservation Archive Project and U.S. National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). Previously, she served as executive vice president of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to European art and architecture from antiquity through the early 19th century.

She received her Master of Science degree in Historic Preservation from Pratt Institute, her Master of Business Administration in Marketing from New York University in New York, N.Y., and her Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Italian from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt.

"Lisa Ackerman and World Monuments Fund are truly passionate about the conservation cultural heritage around the world," said William Dupont, FAIA, San Antonio Conservation Society Endowed UTSA Professor of Architecture and Historic Preservation, and director of the CCS. "Their mission echoes the values that we work to instill in our historic preservation students here in the College of Architecture and promotes continuity of cultural heritage."

The UTSA Center for Cultural Sustainability provides academic research and services to benefit communities, completes large-scale research projects, provides research and educational opportunities for graduate students, and convenes leaders in the field for dialogue on global practices concerning sustainable development and construction.

The UTSA College of Architecture Spring Lecture Series brings architecture professionals from around the world to UTSA to share their expertise on a variety of topics with the local community.

Free parking is available in UTSA parking lot D-3 under Interstate 35.

For more information, contact Nicole Chavez at 210-458-3121.