Schedule

April 8, 2025

Schedule, speakers and sessions subject to change.

Questions? uicurban@uic.edu

TIMESESSIONDESCRIPTIONSPEAKERS
11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Registration and NetworkingBox lunch will be available.
12:15-12:25 p.m.Welcome RemarksJoe Hoereth, Director, Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement, University of Illinois Chicago

Marie Lynn Miranda, Chancellor, University of Illinois Chicago
12:25-12:30 p.m.Remembering David PerryStacey Swearingen White, Dean, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
12:30-1:15 p.m.Panel DiscussionReflecting on the Commitment to Build Great Cities: Teresa Cordova, Director of the Great Cities Institute and Professor of Urban Planning and Policy, along with panelists Wim Wiewel, first director of the Great Cities Institute and former President of both Portland State University and Lewis and Clark College, and Phil Nyden, founding director of the Center for Urban Research and Learning at Loyola University Chicago, will share insights from their extensive experience to examine how community engaged research can inform urban agendas. They will use this opportunity to reflect on the history of the Great Cities program, University-Community Partnerships, and revisit strategies described in the 1991 book, Challenging Uneven Development: An Urban Agenda for the 1990s, that Nyden and Wiewel edited and in which Córdova wrote a chapterTeresa Córdova, Director, Great Cities Institute; Professor, Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois Chicago

Philip Nyden, Professor Emeritus, Sociology; Founding Director, CURL, Loyola University Chicago

Wim Wiewel, Leader in Higher Education and Urban Development
1:20-1:50 p.m.
Keynote Address Juan González, Senior Research Fellow, Great Cities Institute
1:50-2:05 p.m.Break
2:05-2:50p.m.Panel Discussion

The City is Not Our Laboratory: The Promise of Knowledge Co-production There is a long tradition of university-based researchers conducting studies on rather than studies with impacted communities. But the city is not a laboratory, and university-based researchers must continually reflect on questions concerning research on whom and research by whom. This panel will explore how scientific inquiry based in long-term university-community partnerships facilitates mutual learning and enables the investigation of ever-more complex social problems. Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and Alonzo Waheed of Equity and Transformation will join Nik Theodore of UIC’s Center for Urban Economic Development to discuss the impact community-engaged research can have and reflect on the challenges that seemingly are inherent in university-community collaboration.
Pablo Alvarado, Co-Executive Director, National Day Laborer Organizing Network

Nik Theodore, Director, Center for Urban Economic Development; Professor, Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois Chicago

Alonzo Waheed Sr., Program Director, Equity and Transformation
2:55-3:00 pmIntroductory Remarks-Lightning TalksKeith Lewis, Senior Director of Community Collaboration, University of Illinois Chicago
3:00-3:45 p.m.Lightning Talk PresentationsKate Albrecht, Assistant Professor, Public Policy, Management, and Analytics, University of Illinois Chicago

Melissa Chrusfield, Director of Communication & Engagement, PCC Community Wellness Center

Kate Eakin, Managing Director, McKinley Park Development Council

Oscar Sanchez, Co-Executive Director, Southeast Environmental Task Force

Khelan Todd, Chief Impact and Innovation Center, North Lawndale Employment Network

Tony Woods, Executive Director, Public Equity
3:45 p.m.Closing Remarks