Preservation Erie is pleased to share that this year's Greater Erie Awards will feature a keynote presentation by Maria MacDonald, a practicing interior architect and Program Director of Interior Architecture at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the Executive Director of The Center For The Living City, the only urbanist organization founded by Jane Jacobs. Maria specializes in adaptive reuse, preservation, and restoration projects, as well as creative civic engagement.
Preservation Erie's annual Greater Erie Awards acknowledge individuals, businesses, and organizations that are exceptional stewards of the physical and cultural landscape that is Greater Erie and includes a keynote by a distinguished urban planner, historic preservationist, or a similar professional. There are eight recipients of this year's Greater Erie Awards. The event will be held October 10th at 6:00 pm at the Erie Center for Arts & Technology, 650 East Avenue.
More About the Keynote Speaker: With over 25 years of experience, she partners her professional practice with her teaching. She has been a team leader for many significant community projects throughout her career. As an educator, her intense focus is on service and community outreach, providing community-based, experiential learning opportunities for her students and the people in the communities where they work.
She graduated in both Architecture and Interior Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she received the Excellence in Design award for her work on the "Reclamation of Forgotten Spaces."
Maria is a founding faculty member of Marywood University's School of Architecture and has served as the Interior Architecture Program Director for the past 15 years. She has successfully guided the program through two full NASAD accreditations.
With her integrative, holistic design approach, she works to strengthen the relationships between the allied design disciplines and the people and environments where we live, work, play, and ideally – thrive.
