SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE CAREER OF W. CECIL STEWARD

In Teaching, Community Development, and Academic Administration, 1973 – 2000, at the University of Nebraska, WCS has:

• Accepted appointment as the first Dean of the College of Architecture in September, 1973 (the youngest dean of architecture in the US at age 39);

• Saved Architecture Hall from planned demolition and subsequently led the expansion and remodeling of the facilities through a design competition;

• Chaired the national Design Competition for the UNL Wick Alumni Center;

• Led the conversion of the Architecture degree program into a Professional Status program of six year duration; added a public service center for community development; transferred the degree program in Interior Design into the College of Architecture, secured departmental status for the program; secured departmental status for the Community and Regional Planning program; provided leadership and support for four terms of national AIAS student presidents from UNL; provided support for the growth and development of the Architecture, Design, and Planning Library into one of the top ten university libraries in the US; created the Hyde programs for visiting scholars and visiting lectures;

• Engaged and interacted with adversaries on three separate occasions that called for the discontinuation of the College of Architecture,

• Served on the national Board of Directors of the Architecture Research Centers Consortium, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), and the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

• Elected President of the NAAB and the AIA (the first national AIA president to be elected from a career academic position);

• Assisted China in the establishment of a “US model” for accreditation of schools of architecture, for establishment of a professional exam for architects, international reciprocity, and with the professional recognition and organization of “architects” as distinct from “engineers”;

• Led the creation of the national Continuing Education standards and requirements for members of the American Institute of Architects;

• Organized and commissioned (on behalf of the AIA) the only external study of the education of architects that engaged all five of the architectural national organizations (AIA, ACSA, NAAB, NCARB, and the AIAS), the so-called “Boyer Report”;

• Led the creation of the Nebraska Gold Medal for Architecture, the “Cunningham Medal”; subsequently was presented with the gold medal by the AIA Nebraska as the first living recipient;

• Served on international design juries: Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai; Seoul International Airport; Wang Po Riverfront Development, Shanghai; Chongming Island, Shanghai with SOM (Awarded AIA Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design)

• Awarded the “Joint Award for Excellence in Architecture Education”, the Topaz Medallion, by the American Institute of Architects and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, with the title, Distinguished Professor, ACSA/AIA;

• Served as a member of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission for seven years;

• Founded the Joslyn Castle Institute for Sustainable Communities (JISC) in 1996;

• Retired from the University of Nebraska in year 2000; 27 yrs.of service in the dean’s position.

Since 2000 he has:

• Become a charter member of the steering committee for the United Nations Best Practices for Sustainable Development and Local Leadership Programme (UN HABITAT), helped set the stage for international engagement and impact; in 2009 the JISC was elected to be a member of the Standing and Steering Committees of the UN Habitat World Urban Campaign for Sustainable Cities.

• Directed a three-year study of growth management issues in the metropolitan region of Southeast Nebraska and Western Iowa (“Flatwater Report”, www.ecospheres.com); impacted 1.0 million people presently, 2.0 million by 2050;

• Expanded the intellectual property definition of “Sustainability” from the classic three domains of Environment, Economics, and Social conditions, to also include the domains of Technologies and Public Policies, changed the global definition of “sustainability”;

• Research and modeling on new tools for community leadership, created and registered the trademark for the EcoSTEP® tool for measuring sustainability;

• Established the Nebraska Center for Sustainable Construction (NCSC) in Lincoln, NE. with two divisions: a.) DeConstruction Nebraska, created to contract for the disassembly of buildings as an alternative to demolition and throw-away of useable construction materials, and b.) the EcoStores Nebraska, www.ecostoresnebraska.org, a warehouse and public sales outlet for second-use building materials; changed the local waste stream, community of 250,000;

• Public and civic leadership; appointed to serve as a public representative on the Nebraska Capitol Environs Commission (served fourth four-year term);

• Public and civic leadership; appointed to the Lincoln Mayor’s Environmental Task Force; the Citizens Solid Waste Advisory Committee; the Advisory Committee for a Sustainable Lincoln Plan; and the Lincoln Advisory Committee to rewrite the 2040 Comprehensive Plan;

• Community empowerment; conceived and assisted in the establishment of a volunteer, citizens’ sustainable actions group for both Lincoln (the Lincoln Green by Design organization [LGbD], re: www.lincolngreenbydesign.com), and Omaha (the Green Omaha Coalition [GOC], re: www.greenomahacoalition.org)

• Public education; agreed to lead a writing and editorial team to produce an article for the Lincoln Journal Star newspaper once every two weeks on green and sustainable actions, re: www.lincolngreenbydesign.com ; published 57 articles on sustainability over two years;

• Co-authored, with Dr. Sharon B. Kuska, the book, “Sustainometrics: Measuring Sustainability”, published in 2011; the book has been translated to Chinese and published in China;

• Statewide impact on community leaders; conceived and created a workshop team to deliver 22 two-day workshops to elected officials and civic leaders across the State of Nebraska on Sustainability Leadership, re: www.nslw.org ;

• Research, tools refinement for maximum use and impact; initiated a contract with the University of Nebraska Computer Science Raikes School program to develop a software package for the automation of the EcoSTEP® tool;

• Moving system of sustainability metrics to global applications; appointed to the UN Habitat steering committee for the creation of the World Urban Campaign;

• Currently Steward and Dr. Kuska are working on a new manuscript, “Making Sense of Sensible Making” that will track design theory since the Industrial Revolution and make the case for a new design theory for Sustainable Design.