Alumni in the News

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Recent Alumna Named to All-American and National Under-23 Rowing Teams

Kelsie Chaudoin (BSArch'08), a team captain of the UVA Rowing Team during the 2007-08 season and a member of the Varsity Eight boat that won the ACC and South/Central Regional Championship, is an All-ACC selection and was also named to the CRCA’s All-South Region first team. Today's Daily Progress announces that Chaudoin was recently selected to compete in the world championships in Brandenburg, Germany next week as a member of the U.S. National Under-23 Rowing Team. In addition, Chaudoin was named to the All-America rowing team.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Class of 2008 Profile: Working Across Disciplines, Malindi Lankatilleke is Dedicated to Neighborhood Restoration and Revitalization

[by Jane Ford, UVa News Services] May 13, 2008 — The tsunami that devastated communities along the coastlines of Indonesia, Thailand, Maldives, India and Sri Lanka in December 2004 had a lasting effect on Malindi Lankatilleke. Armed with her bachelor's of architecture degree, which she earned at the University of Virginia in 2004, Lankatilleke took a hiatus from her office job and spent three weeks working with the United Nations Human Settlement Program in Sri Lanka to help with rebuilding efforts. She quickly learned that her design background was not enough to deal with the policy issues associated with rebuilding a community. To have real impact, "you need to be able to understand all sides of the issues," she said — social, political and cultural – and allow the citizens of the community to be part of the process. Lankatilleke's firsthand experience reinforced what she had been exposed to her whole life. A native of Sri Lanka, she came to U.Va. from a high school in South Africa, one of many places around the world that her father's work with U.N. Habitat took their family. "I had seen so much of this work of community building in marginalized communities," she said. "It is so important to allow communities to make decisions and build their visions. It instills value in them and encourages people to build their own assets. The people’s process of development is a much more effective way for marginalized communities to sustain themselves and be self-reliant." Lankatilleke kept this vision with her when she applied to graduate schools, seeking dual master's degrees in architecture and planning. She said a major factor in her decision to return to U.Va. was the Architecture School's commitment to community activism and outreach. She also knew the faculty's expertise in both disciplines would be a great resource for her. "The faculty work closely with the students and are available," Lankatilleke said. "They inspire in so many different ways." [for complete article, follow link in headline to UVa News]

Monday, May 12, 2008

Malindi Lankatilleke to Receive Shannon Award from the Z Society at Graduation

The University of Virginia's anonymous Z Society has announced the winners of its 35th annual Edgar F. Shannon Awards, given to the "best" graduating students from each of the University's schools. In a notification letter to the winners — signed, "Mystically, Z" — the society wrote, "The definition of best student is intentionally left ambiguous because each of us pursues greatness in very different ways; however, the best student is an individual who has pursued academic greatness with fervent ardor and keen insight while never forgetting the importance of those priorities aside from school." The notification letters state that the winners are determined based upon the recommendations of deans and students. Notations of the awards are made on both the students' transcripts and in the Finals program. The awards are named for the University's fourth president. In its announcement, the Z Society lauds Shannon's legacy of initiating coeducation and increasing the numbers of black students and faculty, and his establishment of the Center for Advanced Studies and the Echols Scholars program. This year's Shannon Award winners are: • School of Nursing: Sarah Morris Boschung, Oakton, Va. • McIntire School of Commerce: Jennifer Renee Clifton, Danville, Va. • School of Medicine: David Benjamin Bumpass, Flowery Branch, Ga. • School of Law: Katherine Ireland Twomey, Vienna, Va. • Curry School of Education: Kevin Patrick Haddix, Haddon Heights, N.J. • College of Arts & Sciences: Christopher Ross Walters, Blacksburg, Va. • School of Architecture: Malindi Rasangi Lankatilleke, Charlottesville, Va. • School of Engineering and Applied Science: Eliah Ruth Shamir, Vienna, Va. The notification letter urges the winners to "Take the lessons you have learned here and use them to do great things for the world in the years to come, but never forget that you will forever be welcome back at our University. Congratulations, and happy graduation."

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Two SARC Faculty Win University Teaching Awards

The 2008 University of Virginia Outstanding Teaching Awards were given last night at a celebratory dinner in the Rotonda's Dome Room. Among this year's honorees are two architecture faculty members. Associate Professor Kirk Martini received one of nine All-University Outstanding Teaching Awards, and Assistant Professor John Quale received the Alumni Board of Trustees Teaching Award. To read reflections on the teaching practices of both faculty members, follow the given link to the UVa News article.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

SARC Alumnus Lectures and Students Mount Exhibit for Historic Garden Week in Virginia

[From UVa News Services, by Rebecca Arrington] The University of Virginia will participate in the 75th Historic Garden Week in Virginia April 22. Events include a lecture by Will Rieley, U.Va. School of Architecture alumnus and former faculty member, and a student-designed exhibit on the architectural history of the U.Va. gardens. As always, the University's pavilion gardens and selected homes will be open to the public for the event. Rieley, who serves as consulting landscape architect to the Garden Club of Virginia, which sponsors historic garden week, will give a public talk titled "The Garden Club of Virginia and the U.Va. Gardens" at 2 p.m. in the auditorium of the Harrison Institute/Small Special Collections Library. Special Collections will also house a student-curated exhibit, "Designing History, Curating Nature: The Gardens Within the Academical Village" on April 21 and 22. The exhibit outlines the architectural history of the gardens and their relationship to the wider University community. Landscape architecture students Jessica Calder, Melissa Celii, Taylor Cooper, Paul De, Kurt Fulmer, Dhara Goradia, Lauren Hackney, Christa Kolb, Elise Mazareas and Chihiro Shinohara, as well as College of Arts & Sciences student Mary Brandon Ingram, created the exhibit as independent study projects over the course of the year. They explored themes such as how the gardens have changed over time, their use as social spaces and the patronage of the Garden Club, which restored the gardens in the second half of the 20th century. Landscape architecture professor Beth Meyer, who guided the students in developing the exhibit, said that the project was a chance for the whole University community to learn more about the unique spaces. "There are a lot of myths about those gardens," Meyer said. She also pointed out that while Jefferson laid out the serpentine walls, "He didn't design the gardens. He let the faculty develop them the way anybody who moved into a house would. They had to grow their own food...." [for complete article, follow link to UVa News online]

Monday, April 14, 2008

Two Alumni Awarded the Rome Prize for 2008-09

The American Academy in Rome has announced the recipients of the coveted Rome Prize for 2008-09. Among the awardees are two School of Architecture alumni, Hope Hasbrouk and Matthew Hural. Hope Hasbrouk (MArch'91) has been awarded the Garden Club of America Rome Prize in Landscape Architecture for her project,"Interpreting Cultural Territories Through Prospect and Passage". Hasbrouk holds a MLA from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and is Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin. Matt Hural (BSArch'03, MArch'07), an adjunct member of the faculty, has been awarded the Arnold W. Brunner Rome Prize in Architecture for his project, "Between Inside and Out: Aurelian Gates". Hural is a designer at Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects in Charlottesville. About the Rome Prize: "Each year, through a national competition, the Rome Prize is awarded to 15 emerging artists (working in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Design, Historic Preservation and Conservation, Literature, Musical Composition, or Visual Arts) and 15 scholars (working in Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and early Modern, or Modern Italian Studies)..... Fellowship winners come to Rome to refine and expand their own professional, artistic or scholarly aptitudes, drawing on their colleagues' erudition and experience, as well as on the inestimable resources of the Italian capital, Europe and the Mediterranean." Hasbrouk and Hural will spend 11 months in residence at the American Academy in Rome, working on their projects, interacting with artists and scholars from many disciplines, and traveling through the region.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Alumnus Finds Success Designing Golf Courses

Alumnus David Johnson's career as a golf course designer is profiled in Williamsburg, Va.'s Virginia Gazette. See the Virginia Gazette archive (not online) to read the article.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Alumna, Pres. of Preservation Action, Looks to Preserve Las Vegas

Heather MacIntosh (MAH), is the president of D.C. based Preservation Action. Recently, MacIntosh visited Las Vegas to discuss preservation of several 100-year-old structures in that city. The resulting meeting was featured in an article published by the Las Vegas Sun and available online (follow link).

Monday, March 24, 2008

Alumnus, a Former CIA Officer, Returns to UVa

Jim Skove (MP'78), is a retired CIA officer who returned to the University in his 80s to take additional classes in the Citizen Scholar program. Follow the link to UVa News to read the article.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Urban Studies and Service Learning in Cape Coast Ghana

[by Jane Ford, UVa News Services]A recent trip to the Ghanaian city of Cape Coast provided 16 University of Virginia students with an opportunity to work with community members on economic development projects aimed at introducing tourists -- drawn to the city by its historic slave castle and forts -- to some lesser-known attractions associated with its multifaceted history and culture. The trip was part of a January-Term course, "Community as Classroom: Urban Studies and Service Learning in Cape Coast, Ghana." The academic leaders — Maurice Cox, associate professor of architecture; Scot French, associate professor of history and director of U.Va.'s Virginia Center for Digital History; and independent scholar Gina Haney, a 1997 architectural history alumna who has worked on conservation and tourism development projects in Cape Coast for more than a decade — sought to create a program that would allow for the sharing of ideas and experiences across traditional boundaries. [for the complete article, follow link to UVa News]

Friday, February 15, 2008

Alumna Helps Create Virtual 1893 World's Columbian Exposition

"A Virtual Tour of the White City: High-tech simulation offers a fresh look at fair." [by William Mullen,Chicago Tribune, Feb. 15, 2008] excerpt: Powerful computer technology, one of the wonders of the early 21st Century, is being used to re-create one of the 19th Century's greatest events, the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The "virtual" digital version of the legendary World's Fair will allow a limited number of visitors to the Museum of Science and Industry this weekend to glide in electric boats along canals past the fair's classical pavilions or take in the monumental scale of the ornate buildings while strolling on the sidewalks. They can even soar 1,492 feet in a hot-air balloon to look down on the White City. Leading the tour will be Chicago cultural historian Tim Samuelson and Lisa Snyder, project manager for the University of California at Los Angeles' urban simulation team, which has been using architectural drawings, photographs, maps and other historic documents to create the virtual environment...." Lisa Snyder (MAH'86), is professor of architectural history at the University of California at Los Angeles. To read the entire article, follow the link to the Chicago Tribune website.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Alumnus on Winning Team in "21st Century Project" Ideas Competition

Yang Tian (MAH'07) is a member of the winning design team from alumni-founded firm, Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company, of Norfolk, Virginia, in the Association of College & University Housing Officers–International (ACUHO-I) “21st Century Project” ideas competition for student housing in the next 25 years. The team's design, “net+work+camp+us," was awarded a $25,000 prize. For more information and an image of the design, see Architectural Record's online article, "Housing the YouTube Generation and Beyond," by John Gendall (2.14.08).

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

"A Floating Environment": Profile of a Student Leader of the Learning Barge Project

[by Charlie Feigenoff] When most people think of the environment, they imagine a pristine mountain stream or a meadow blanketed in wildflowers—anything but the heavily industrialized Elizabeth River in Southeast Virginia. Yet it is precisely because the hand of man rests so heavily on this estuary of the Chesapeake Bay that Phoebe Crisman, an associate professor of architecture, chose it as the site for the Learning Barge. This floating field station, designed and being built by architecture and engineering students in collaboration with local partners, will give schoolchildren a better understanding of natural processes and the contributions they can make to a healthy environment. Danielle Willkens, a graduate student in architecture, is one of two student leaders for the Learning Barge. “This has been a fascinating experience for me,” she says. “The project is so rich because so many different factors—economic, demographic, environmental, educational—come together at the site and influence our design.” ... [for complete article, see "Explorations"]

 

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