UNESCO at 50: What Future for the Past?

October 27, 2022 (Thursday) / 9:00 am4:00 pm

Perry World House, 3803 Locust Walk

UNESCO at 50: What Future for the Past?

Presented by Perry World House
and Stuart Weitzman School of Design


9:00-9:45 — Breakfast and Registration
9:45-9:50 — Welcome, LaShawn R. Jefferson, Senior Executive Director, Perry World House
9:50-10:00 — Introduction, Lynn Meskell, PIK Professor, Penn Museum, SAS & Weitzman School of Design, Penn


10:00-10:30 — Opening Statements

  • Nada Al Hassan, Advisor for Culture, UNESCO Headquarters, Paris
  • Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, Perry World House and Professor of the Practice of Law and Human Rights, Penn
  • Chris Woods, Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

10:30-12:00 — Panel I: UNESCO and the Global Order

  • Paul Betts, Professor of Modern European History at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University
  • Trinidad Rico, Professor and Director of Heritage Conservation in the School of Architecture, University of Southern California
  • Jonathan Bell, Vice President of Programs, World Monuments Fund

Moderator: Richard Leventhal, Executive Director, Penn Cultural Heritage Center and Professor of Anthropology, Penn


12:00-1:15 — Lunch


1:15-2:15 — Panel II: Conservation

  • Michael Weisberg, Professor and Chair of Philosophy and Senior Faculty Fellow and Director of Post-Graduate Programs, Perry World House, Penn
  • Frank Matero, Professor of Architecture and Director of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, Weitzman School of Design, Penn
  • Randy Mason, Professor of Historic Preservation, Weitzman School of Design and Faculty Director, Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites, Penn
  • Kim Bowes, Professor of Classical Studies, Penn

Moderator: Kecia Fong, Lecturer, Historic Preservation, Weitzman School of Design, Penn


2:15-2:30 — Break


2:30-4:00 — Panel III: World Heritage in Conflict

  • Helen Frowe, Professor of Practical Philosophy and Director of Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace, Stockholm University
  • Witold Henisz, Vice Dean and Faculty Director, ESG Initiative and Professor of Management, The Wharton School, Penn Moderator:
  • Claudia Liuzza, Diplomacy Fellow at the Center for International & Global Studies, Duke University and Penn Cultural Heritage Center, Penn


View full list of speaker bios.

For information and RSVP please contact Lynn Meskell