News

Main Content

Date of lecture: February 19, 2025

Abstract

MKW + Associates has been designing outdoor spaces for over 60 years.  During that time, we have focused a part of our practice on creating spaces for children to learn, play and hopefully evolve into well rounded adults. Our talk will focus on the design processes that we were a part of for two different spaces designed for children. One is a public playground located near a major urban public housing development. The other is a Children’s Garden in a large private botanical garden. Each project had its own set of challenges and constraints as well as opportunities.  We will share an overview of the design process for each project and resulting landscapes.

Bios

Allen Juba

Mr. Juba, a principal with the firm since 2001, is a landscape architect and urban designer experienced in all aspects of the profession.  He is responsible for directing the firm’s projects and is the managing Principal for the firm.  His work includes the design of municipal parks and recreation areas, cultural institutions, downtown revitalization and streetscapes, waterfront parks, sports facilities, housing site development and college and university campuses.  His responsibilities range from developing concept and schematic design direction to quality review and construction administration.  His expertise in overall design, design detailing and planting design is evident throughout much of the firm’s work.  Allen led the design and management of Hudson River Park- Segments 6 and 7 between 25^th and 59^th Streets in New York City.  

Current projects include the Allen and Pike Street Malls in Lower Manhattan, NY, Capital Park at the Statehouse in Trenton, NJ and Juvenile Justice Facilities in New Jersey.

Allen graduated from Rutgers University-Cook College in 1983 with a BS in Landscape Architecture.

Jim Welsh

Mr. Welsh is a principal with the firm and has spent the last 25 years of his practice focused on leading landscape architecture projects for public agencies and private clients in New Jersey and New York. He also managed the landscape design program for major urban development projects in China and the Middle East. Local projects ranged from master planning to design and construction phase services. Projects varied in scale from less than ¼ acre urban plazas to 200-acre waterfront parks.

Current projects include Capital Park at the Statehouse in Trenton, NJ, Ramsey High School in Ramsey, NJ and Challenge Playground in Queens, NY.

Jim graduated from Rutgers in 1991 and returned to teach Landscape Architecture Construction I from 2001 to 2002.

Main Content

Date of lecture: March 26,2025

Abstract

Sustaining biological diversity and ecosystem services in the human dominated landscape of Rwanda: Looking forward through the past

The plight of Rwanda’s exceptional wildlife and diverse landscapes – from lush volcanic slopes to rolling shrubby savannah to wetlands – has been deeply intertwined with the nation’s socio-economic and political dynamics. Rwanda’s conservation story and its social and economic transformation journey is a tale of resilience, homegrown leadership and solutions and innovation.

The country’s progressive approach has seen the transformation of its national parks from once cultivated, mining and poaching-devastated lands to thriving ecosystems, home to mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, lions, rhinos, and elephants. Today, wildlife conservation is a national pride.

My presentation will share progress, challenges and lessons learned in restoring and managing Rwanda’s national parks over the past 30 years and the role wildlife conservation has played in economic and social transformation of the country after 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.

Bio

Dr. Michel Masozera was raised in Zaire now Democratic Republic of Congo but longed to return to his home country of Rwanda. He was able to fulfil that dream by working for WCS where he assumed a number of leadership positions in Rwanda for almost two decades until 2017. For the majority of that time, he was Director of the WCS Rwanda Program, leading the team that oversaw the creation of the Nyungwe National Park in 2004, one of the largest remaining montane forests in Rwanda and the wider Albertine Rift Region. He was awarded the National Geographic/Buffett Award for Leadership in African Conservation in 2004, following the creation of Nyungwe National Park.

He also spearheaded efforts to strengthen formal transboundary collaborations between Rwanda and Burundi in the conservation of the Nyungwe-Kibira landscape, mobilizing both political and donor support for this initiative. Using the knowledge and experience he gained from his PhD in ecological economics, he helped guide the Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP) and MacArthur Foundation to develop a natural capital accounting project that played a pivotal role in helping the Government of Rwanda fulfil key conservation policy commitments.

Dr. Michel Masozera is currently the Director of Policy and Partnerships for Africa at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The goal of this position is to enhance WCS Africa’s influence and impact in international and regional policy fora, and to capitalize upon bilateral and multilateral funding opportunities such as GCF and GEF. Prior to this position, Michel worked for WWF International from 2017 to 2020 as Deputy Wildlife Practice Leader and Innovation Lead for Africa, working primarily on the strategic design, implementation and evaluation of WWF’s wildlife conservation portfolio across the African continent.

He has over 25 years of experience working at the intersection of climate change, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in Africa. He is a specialist in wildlife ecology and conservation, community-based natural resource management, program design and project management, protected area governance, and sustainable tourism development.

Dr. Masozera has a particular interest in inclusive conservation and the capacity building of civil society organizations and young African professionals. He holds an M.Sc. degree in Forest Resources and Conservation from the University of Florida, Gainesville, and a Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont.  He is a board member of several organizations including the Akagera Management Company (AMC), which is a joint venture between the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and African Parks for the management of Akagera National Park.