SPEAKER BIOS

in cooperation with the
National Geographic  Society

US participation in the global heritage community"

May 28 - 31, 2008 in Washington, DC

Theme & Issue Areas for Panel Discussions
 

French High School Notre Dame de Sion (Istanbul, 1959-67); B.Arch. (Ankara, 1967-71); M.Arch. (Ankara Middle East Technical University, Department of Restoration/1972-74); Ph.D.(Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Architecture, 1980); full-time professor until September 2007 at Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Restoration and presently full-time professor at Istanbul Kultur University, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture.  Her fields of expertise include conservation of historic towns and villages; restoration of historic buildings; traditional Anatolian cities and houses; 19th.century Istanbul; Ottoman period houses in the Balkans.  She is author  of several national and international articles (in French and in English) related to the restoration of historic buildings and urban conservation, as well as the author of two books (in Turkish):  Galata and Péra at the second half of the 19th century, Istanbul, Literatur Press, 1998 (1st ed.); 2002 (2nd ed).; Ottoman Period Houses in the Balkans, Istanbul, Litreratur Press, 2001, and Co-editor of a book (in English) 7 Centuries of Ottoman Architecture "A Supra-National Heritage, Istanbul, YEM Press, 1999.  She currently is a President of ICOMOS Turkey (2005-2008) and a Bureau member of the ICOMOS Historic Towns and Villages International Scientific Committee (CIVVIH).

Burbuqe Bakija-Deva is Head of the Cultural Heritage Department within the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of the Republic of Kosova.  Burbuqe is an Architect-Conservator. Her professional career began in 1990 in Gjakova as one of the founders of the Regional Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments.  She has specialized in the “Cultural Heritage Maintenance Program” organized by the NGO “CHWB” – SIDA, Sweden.  In 2007 Burbuqe participated in a cultural heritage program organized by the US State Department where she had the opportunity to visit five states in the US and gained much experience in the field of cultural heritage.  Currently, she is attending a Master’s Course on Management of Cultural Tourism at the University for Business and Technology in Prishtina, under the auspices of UFI in Vienna- Austria. At present, she holds the following positions: (i) Kosovo Coordinator for the “Regional Program for Cultural and Natural Heritage in South-East Europe” of Council of Europe in Strasbourg; (ii) member of the Reconstruction Implementation Commission of Serbian Orthodox Sites in Kosovo (RIK); (iii) member of the tourism coordinating board;(iiii) member of the board  for the non-governmental organization KUSA (Kosava United State Alumni) and as Treasurer of the same; president of the board of “Elena Gjika” Primary school in Prishtina (1800students);  (iv) member of the working group on security matters of cultural objects; (v) member of the working group for subsidiary acts of the Law on Cultural Heritage.  Furthermore, she has recently finished her work as member of the governmental working group on redrafting the law on the Memorial of the late President of Kosova Dr. Ibrahim Rugova.

Norma Barbacci (USA)
“Capacity Building Program for the Conservation, Management, and Sustainable Development of the Jesuit Guarani Missions of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay"

Norma Barbacci has been with the World Monuments Fund since 2001 as Director of Programs and Senior Project Manager.  She received a Bachelor of Architecture in 1983 from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Science in Historic Preservation with a concentration in Design in 1987 from Columbia University. With the WMF, Ms. Barbacci coordinates all Programs Department programs, projects, and key activities; she also manages a variety of field projects in Latin American and Spain.  Prior to the World Monuments Fund, she worked with Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners, LLC as Senior Project Manager, Associate, and Studio Director.  There, she managed a variety of architectural, preservation, adaptive re-use and conservation projects.  Ms. Barbacci, a registered architect in New York, has given numerous presentations on a variety of preservation-related topics and activities.

Terry Childs (USA)
“NPS/State Dept. Partnership for Afghan Heritage”

Terry Childs, Ph.D., is an Archeologist with the Archeology Program of the National Park Service in Washington, DC.

Kirk Cordell is Executive Director of the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Arlene K. Fleming is a cultural resource specialist with masters’ degrees in archaeology/cultural history from Bryn Mawr College, and in communications from New York University.  For the past fifteen years, her work in developing and directing projects has focused on bringing new financial resources, technologies and approaches to the field of international cultural heritage conservation and management, within the context of social and economic development. At The World Bank, Ms. Fleming participated in the creation of a lending initiative for culture and development, which included work on projects in Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco, and serving as manager of a project in Eritrea.  In addition, her responsibilities included re-formulating the policy for safeguarding physical cultural resources in all Bank-financed development projects, and developing tools for implementing the policy.  Previously, Ms. Fleming participated in cultural heritage conservation projects sponsored by the World Monuments Fund, the Getty Conservation Institute, UNESCO, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Forest Service, the National Park Service and the Agency for International Development. In addition, she worked on projects for several United Nations agencies and the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment. Early in her career, Ms. Fleming served on the exhibit planning staff of the Smithsonian Institution and the New York State Museum. During the 1970s, as a senior staff member at the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities, she created and directed the agency’s evaluation program. In 1995, USAID commissioned her to write a report on: Addressing USAID Objectives through Cultural Heritage Conservation, illustrating the relationship of cultural heritage to economic growth, civil society and environmental protection.  Ms. Fleming is a former Treasurer and Board member of US/ICOMOS.

John Fowler is Chair of the US/ICOMOS Board of Trustees and Executive Director of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

Soehardi Hartono (BSC Architectural Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia, MSc Urban Design, University of Technology, Delft) is an architect by training with a special interest in heritage. He has worked in this capacity on a number of large scale projects in Indonesia and Malaysia. He currently is the director of the Sumatra Heritage Trust.  His affinity with heritage conservation stems from 1996 when he was involved in a heritage project for Braga historic street in Bandung. Ever since he has been involved with UNESCO heritage projects and workshops. He has presented papers on urban heritage in Asia at a number of international conferences. During his studies he spent several years in the Netherlands in which he earned his post-graduate diploma in Inner City Renewal and Cultural Heritage Management course at IHS. In addition to his activities for the Sumatra Heritage Trust Soehardi is also taking up assignments as a free-lance architect. He currently is a member of Indonesia ICOMOS and serves on the Executive Committee of Sumatra Heritage Trust.

Christopher Koziol, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Colorado Denver.

Katri Lisitzin (Sweden)
"Sustaining a Knowledge Network for International Exchange on Cultural Landscapes"

Currently a Assistant Professor in the Department of Conservation, Gothenburg University, in Sweden, Ms. Lisitzin has extensive experience as an international cultural heritage expert on assisgnments with UNESCO World Heritage Centre, ICOMOS, and ICCROM.  For the WHC, she has conducted expert evaluation missions in Lithuania, Italy, Poland, Italy, France, and Spain.  For ICCROM, she served as a representative on working groups on Management Guidelines for World Heritage Cultural Landscapes (2001) and for World Heritage Europe Periodic Reporting and for Global Training Strategy Development (2004-2006).  She has numerous publications on international heritage issues to her credit.

Heather MacIntosh is Executive Director of Preservation Action in Washington, DC.

Stephen Morris is Chief, Office of International Affairs, National Park Service in Washington, DC.

Jonathan Poston is Professor of Historic Preservation at Clemson University/Charleston and former director of Preservation and Museum Services at the Historic Charleston Foundation.

Born in in Iran, Mr. Rashidi commenced his education in the Conservation National Heritage field at university in Tehran in 1995, completing his studies in 2000. He presented my undergraduate dissertation ‘Restoration of the Shahrestanak Palace’ in April 2001, then served as Project Manager and on a full renovation and upgrade of the 100-room Mashad Hotel, (formerly the Semiramis Hotel) which dates from the early Pahlavi era in Tehran. Also in 2001, he was appointed Assistant Project Manager by the late Dr. B. A. Shirazi for the Conservation and Restoration work on the Massoudieh Palace complex in Tehran that dates from the Qajar period, being promoted to Project Manager in 2003, continuing in that capacity until 2005. He has worked with the Iran Chapter of ICOMOS sine 2001, as Assistant Administrative Manager to the President Dr. B. A. Shirazi and more recently the Internal Manager. My employment contract with Iran ICOMOS has been renewed every year since then and my current employment contract runs through.2008. He is presently on a leave of absence from ICOMOS Iran to attend a course of postgraduate study at Bamberg University in Germany. The course subject is entitled ‘The Conservation of National Heritage’ and following the completion of my studies.

John Robbins was the inaugural Richard Morris Hunt Fellow in 1990.  He is an architect and currently serves as deputy administrator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.   

Dr. Habiba Sarabi, Governor, Bamyan Province, Afghanistan

In 2005, Dr. Habiba Sarabi was appointed as governor of Bamyan Province of Afghanistan by President Hamid Karzai — the first woman to ever be a governor of any province in the country.  She previously served in Karzai's government as Minister of Women's Affairs as well as Minister of Culture and Education.  As Governor, she has proposed a focus on tourism development as a source of income.

Elizabeth Vines, from Adelaide, Australia, is an award winning conservation architect, urban designer, author, and Adjunct Professor, Centre of Cultural Heritage in Asia & the Pacific, Deakin University, Melbourne.  She studied architecture at Melbourne University and Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.   She is a partner in the firm McDougall & Vines, an Adelaide based practice that has built up extensive experience and a record of achievement in conservation architecture and heritage town rejuvenation throughout Australia and Asia.  Elizabeth consults to a wide range of Government authorities and local councils throughout the region, and is a consultant to UNESCO and the World Bank.  She works on urban revitalisation programs for historic precincts and restoration projects on significant historic buildings.  She  is the author of Streetwise Asia - A Practical Guide for the Conservation and Revitalisation of Heritage Cities and Towns in Asia, (published by the World Bank, UNESCO and Deakin University, November 2005). She also wrote the Australian companion document Streetwise - A Practical Guide for the Revitalization of Commercial Heritage precincts and Traditional Main Streets in Australian Cities and Towns (1996).  She has undertaken many projects in Asia, including the award winning restoration of the Jewish Synagogue in Hong Kong. She has established the Streetwise Asia Fund for Heritage Conservation to provide small scale grants to worthy projects in Asia.  The first project is now underway on a Community Library in Champasak, Laos.

Ning Wang (USA/China)
"The Status Quo and Outlook of the Collaboration between the US and China in Historic Preservation"

Mr. Ning Wang is a graduate student enrolled in Historic Preservation program and Urban Design Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Ning Wang received his Master of Engineering degree in City Planning and Urban Design from Zhejiang University in China, and His BA in Architectural Design and Landscape Architecture from China Academy of Art. He was a university lecturer and taught Environmental design and History of Chinese and Western Architecture at Zhejiang Gongshang University in China. He was also involved in many design and planning projects and published many of his papers in China. He is interested in many fields, but now he devoted himself to preservation planning, and he shows his special interest in studying the relationship between economic development and historic Preservation in China and the US.