The Convergence commenced on Friday night with a keynote program and continued on Saturday with three panels organized around the subjects of Pedagogy, Power and Activism.

Team:

Panelists: Connie Trinh, Chelsea Kilburn, Kari Roynesdal, Christin Hu with Cynthia Deng

Workshops: Cynthia Deng, Sarah Diamond, Adelle York

Pecha Kucha: coordinated by Cynthia Deng

Keynote Speaker

Jha D Williams

Born and raised in Boston, MA, Jha D Williams received her B.S. in Architecture from Northeastern University, taught for two years at the Boston Architectural College, and then pursued her M. Arch I at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation, she returned to her home city to continue curating and co-hosting her monthly open mic, 'if you can Feel it, you can Speak it' Open Mic Movement, and began working at Sasaki Associates, Inc. As a spoken word artist and event organizer, Jha D exclaims that there is pure art is speaking your own truth, and is dedicated to creating spaces for artists, particularly those that are of the LGTBQIA communities of color. As a designer, she urges that design and the built environment are vehicles for equity, justice and social change. In February of 2018, she joined the non-profit organization MASS Design Group where she currently works as a Senior Associate.  

Power

Moderator:

Stephanie Lee - Co-founder/CEO Spaceus; MArch Candidate, MIT

Panelists:

Amber N. Wiley - Assistant Professor of Art History, Rutgers University

Chandra Rouse - President of GSD African American Student Union; MUP Candidate, Harvard GSD

Meral Ekincioglu - Scholar and Fellow at MIT

Teresa Gali-Izard - Principal, Arquitecture Agronomia; Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Harvard GSD

Bryony Roberts - Architect, Founder of Bryony Roberts Studio; Visiting Professor, Columbia University GSAPP

Pedagogy

Moderator:

Abby Spinak - Lecturer, Urban Planning & Design, Harvard GSD

Panelists:

Sonja Dumpelmann - Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Harvard GSD

Hansy Better Barraza - Professor, RISD Dept. of Architecture; Co-founder BR+A+CE; Founder, Studio Luz Architect

Sai Balakrishnan - Assistant Professor of Urban Planning & Design, Harvard GSD

Andrea Merrett - PHD Candidate in Architecture, Columbia University; Co-curator, ARCHITEXX

Ang Li - Architect; Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Northeastern University

Activism

Moderator:

Jeana Dunlap - Loeb Fellow 2018-2019; Director of Louisville Metro Government Redevelopment Strategies

Panelists:

Jen Grosso - Senior Architectural Professional at SOM; Board Member of ARCHITEXX

Jess Myers - Writer, Strategist, Editorial Consultant, Creator of Here There Be Dragons Podcast

Peggy Deamer - Founder and Content Coordinator of Architecture Lobby; Architect; Professor of Architecture, Yale University

Maya Harakawa - PHD Candidate, CUNY; Delegate in CUNY Professional Staff Congress Union

Sasha Costanza-Chock - Scholar, Activist, Mediamaker; Associate Professor of Civic Media, MIT; Creator of MIT CoDesign Studio