Meet our Speakers
Join the lineup! Call for Speakers ends December 22, 2025.
The Call for Speakers is now open! Share your expertise and submit your proposal for an education or field session!
Call for Speakers
Take a moment to review the Call for Speakers document to learn more about the conference theme, guidelines, and how to submit your proposal.
Proposals are due by December 22nd, 2025.
The 2026 Conference theme is Living Narratives, celebrating the stories we tell through design—stories that inspire, educate, and connect. Living Narratives explores how culture and ecology shape landscapes that are meaningful, resilient, and rooted in community. “Living” signifies the past, present, and future contexts of the places we design, while “Narratives” refers to the storytelling power those places hold. We are especially interested in sessions that demonstrate how design can reveal and elevate cultural narratives, foster a sense of place, and respond to ecological and historical contexts in ways that strengthen community identity and climate resilience. We aspire to highlight work that embraces inclusivity, addresses historic inequities and systemic challenges, and honors the dignity of all living beings through thoughtful, respectful design.
Keynote Speakers:
Dr. Daniel Wildcat
Daniel Wildcat, Ph.D., is a professor at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, and an accomplished scholar who writes on Indigenous knowledge, technology, environment, and education. He is also director of the Haskell Environmental Research Studies Center, which he founded with colleagues from the Center for Hazardous Substance Research at Kansas State University. Wildcat helped design a four-part video series entitled All Things Are Connected: The Circle of Life (1997), which dealt with the land, air, water, biological, and policy issues facing Native nations. A Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma, Wildcat recently formed the American Indian and Alaska Native Climate Change Working Group, a tribal-college-centered network of individuals and organizations working on climate change issues. In 2008, he helped organize the Planning for Seven Generations climate change conference sponsored by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. He is the author, most recently, of Red Alert! Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge (2009).
Charles Birnbaum
More info to come!
Brad McCauley
More info to come!