Harvard University Professor Nicolas Retsinas,
National Expert on Housing Issues,
to Speak at Pace Law School, April 25

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Harvard University Professor Nicolas P. Retsinas, author of the annual report, The State of the Nation's Housing, which is recognized as the definitive statement on that subject in the nation, will speak at Pace Law School at 4 p.m., Tuesday, April 25, on the School's White Plains campus, 78 North Broadway. This inaugural academic lecture and reception, sponsored by the School's Land Use Law Center, are free and open to the public. To register or for more information, contact Ann Marie McCoy at (914) 422-4262, or by email to amccoy@law.pace.edu

Professor Retsinas is director of Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, a collaborative venture between the Harvard Design School and the Kennedy School of Government, which conducts national research on housing markets, finance and demographics. The Joint Center is funded primarily by the nation's major development and building industry corporations. Professor Retsinas is on the executive committee of the National Housing Conference and served for five years as the assistant secretary of HUD for Housing and as the Federal Housing Commissioner.

At the Pace event, Professor Retsinas will speak on population expansion and the increased demand for housing as the principal causes of suburban sprawl and the impetus for working toward smart growth solutions to developing housing. His emphasis on the need for housing to meet the growing demand among young and elderly households ties into the current focus on encouraging local governments to provide for the development of more housing affordable to these groups.

The event will also feature announcements by the Law School's Dean, David Cohen, regarding a number of new initiatives of the Land Use Law Center. These include the development of model land use laws under a grant from the Henry Phillip Kraft Family Memorial Fund of the Westchester Community Foundation, and the creation of a Joint Center for Land Use Studies in conjunction with leading scholars at Cornell, Yale and Harvard universities.

The Pace lecture is sponsored by the School's Land Use Law Center, the Building and Realty Institute, and Collins Enterprises, L.L.C. In addition to the lecture, the program will honor the graduating fellows of the Land Use Law Center.

The Land Use Law Center at Pace is dedicated to fostering the development of sustainable communities in New York State through training and research projects in the field of land use law. This area of law, broadly defined, encompasses the full range of laws and regulations that influence or affect the development and conservation of the land. The Center conducts a variety of programs, foremost among them the Community Leadership Alliance Training Program, an in-depth, four-day course that
teaches participants how to use land use law, conflict resolution, and community decision-making techniques to resolve land use problems. The academic, training, and research activities of the Land Use Center engage over 75 Pace Law students each year.

Founded in 1976, Pace Law School is located in White Plains, N.Y., 20 miles north of New York City. The School offers the J.D. program for full-time, and part-time day and evening students. Its post-graduate program includes the LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees in environmental Law and the LL.M. in Comparative Legal Studies. Pace has one of the nation's top-rated environmental law programs and its Clinical Education Program also is nationally ranked, offering clinics in domestic violence prosecution, poverty law, environmental litigation, securities arbitration and disability law. Pace Law School is part of Pace University, a comprehensive, independent and diversified University with campuses in New York City and Westchester County.