Celebrated national leader in urban and environmental planning Carissa Schively Slotterback, Ph.D., will give the next Hyde Lecture, titled “Learning from Public Engagement in Urban Planning to Advance Higher Education’s Public Purpose.” The lecture will take place at 4 p.m. Nov. 5 in Architecture Hall West in the Griff and Nancy Davenport Auditorium, Room 127.
Discover how the power of public engagement—a cornerstone of urban planning—can transform how universities connect, collaborate and create impact. In this Hyde Lecture, Slotterback reveals how planners’ evolving approaches—from simple consultation to true collaboration and co-design—offer a bold model for higher education’s next chapter.
Attendees will be inspired to see how universities can embrace participatory practices that strengthen their public mission, amplify diverse voices and build lasting partnerships with the communities they serve.
Drawing on her distinguished career as a scholar and leader, Slotterback will illuminate the vital links between civic engagement, design thinking and education—inviting audiences to reimagine how institutions of learning can not only inform the world but help shape a more inclusive, resilient and connected future.
Slotterback is dean and professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, where she leads strategic planning, curriculum innovation and efforts to enhance student experience and connection to practice. She also co-chairs Pitt’s Year of Discourse and Dialogue initiative, advancing university-wide capacity for civic discourse.
Previously, Slotterback served as associate dean and faculty member in the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, where she directed the urban planning program and co-founded the Resilient Communities Project. Her research focuses on public engagement and decision-making in environmental and land use policy and planning.
She was inducted as a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP) in 2018 and as a member of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) in 2024.
The Hyde Lecture Series is an endowed public program hosted by the College of Architecture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Each year, the series invites leading experts from architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and planning to present on topics that inspire thought-provoking discussion.
