Central Park Tour


Event Date:

Event Time:
11:30 am

Category:
Club Programs

Take a tour of the heart of New York City's Central Park—from the newly reconstructed Grand Army Plaza to the iconic Bethesda Terrace and recently restored Ramble. Join us for a curated view of one of the world’s most important public spaces and a discussion of the intricate relationship between people, nature, and urban parks.

Christopher J. Nolan, FASLA is the Chief Operating Officer of the Central Park Conservancy and the Central Park Administrator. With almost 30 years of expertise at the Conservancy, Mr. Nolan has served as the Park's chief landscape architect since 1996, and now leads all the park-based work central to the Conservancy's mission as stewards of Central Park.

Since joining the Conservancy in 1989, Mr. Nolan has overseen a program of projects valued at greater than $200 million, including flagship projects such as the reconstruction of the Great Lawn and Bethesda Terrace, large-scale programs to restore the Park's woodland areas and all five if its waterbodies, and the redesign of the Park’s 21 playgrounds. Mr. Nolan was elevated to the Council of Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 2014 for mastery of design work that has advanced the art, stewardship, and social responsibility of the profession. He is a graduate of the landscape architecture program at Cornell University and serves on the Advisory Council of the Cornell Botanic Gardens.

Dr. Christopher Dunn became The Elizabeth Newman Wilds Director of Cornell Botanic Gardens in 2014. He is also an adjunct associate professor in Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (School of Integrative Plant Science, Horticulture Section) and a faculty fellow in the David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future.

Prior to coming to Cornell, Dr. Dunn was Director of the Lyon Arboretum at the University of Hawaii.  He previously served as Executive Director for Research at the Chicago Botanic Garden, where he managed one of the largest botanic garden research programs in the country, and as Director of Research at The Morton Arboretum. Dr. Dunn completed his undergraduate training at SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse University, and his PhD at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, followed by three years of postdoctoral studies at the University of Georgia.

11:30am tour, gratis. Advance reservations required by Thursday, May 31stAttendees will meet at the Grand Army Plaza, located at Fifth Avenue and W 59th Street. Subway: N, W, R to 5 Av/59 St or F to 57th St. 

 

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