According to a statement issued yesterday by the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), Assoc. Professor of Architecture Maurice Cox has been named the NEA's Director of Design. In this position, Cox will supervise the panel selection and grant making process in design, oversee the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and Your Town programs, and provide professional leadership to the field.

Cox will be splitting his time between U.Va. and the NEA this semester.

Of Cox’s appointment, NEA Chairman Dana Gioia said, “We are excited that Maurice Cox will join us to direct the Arts Endowment’s design initiatives. His wide-ranging experience, from professional practice to academic instruction to civic leadership, fits well with the NEA’s mission of promoting broad public access to artistic excellence. We know he will provide invaluable guidance for our programs.”

Cox noted, “With the NEA’s commitment to the arts as a way to enrich the lives of ordinary citizens and my own experience of design as a fundamentally democratic and public art, I am confident that together we can make design socially and culturally relevant to the everyday lives of Americans, in whichever community they live. Well-designed environments are not a luxury—they are a public necessity.”

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Please see additional articles in the following publications:

AIA Architect (11/2/07)

Architect Magazine (November, 2007 issue)