The General Faculty passed a unanimous resolution on Friday, May 15th to recognize Karen Van Lengen's service to the University as Dean of the School of Architecture.

Resolution for Dean Karen Van Lengen

WHEREAS, on June 30, 2009, Karen Van Lengen completes her tenure as Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia, where she has served with dedication and distinction since her appointment in 1999;

WHEREAS, she demonstrated effective, creative, and inspiring leadership within the School of Architecture, the University, and the larger intellectual world, being a passionate advocate for ideas that are visionary, grounded, and doable, while positioning these initiatives to engage and support the larger purposes of the University, community, and the world beyond;

WHEREAS, she made the vision of the school manifest in the inventive building and landscape additions to Campbell Hall that she raised funding for, instigated the hiring of her own faculty as designers, and oversaw with a watchful eye the aesthetic realization of such an important physical embodiment of the school’s curricular intentions;

WHEREAS, she worked effectively to bring rigor and equity to the distribution of resources among the multiple disciplines within the School of Architecture, among faculty at all levels, and between the school and the University, established a Foundation Board and tripled the size of the School’s endowment, ensuring its continued excellence;

WHEREAS, she opened an important intellectual discussion in the university with her Woman’s Work Forum, providing a venue for scholarly development, cross-disciplinary conversation and mentorship to her colleagues;

WHEREAS, she brought to the school, the university, and the design disciplines an unswerving commitment to develop an intellectual foundation for ethical thought and practice, convened an international symposium to discuss and debate the profound relationships between ethics and aesthetics, demonstrated the school’s commitment with the series of publications under the title Urgent Matters, which included the results of the school wide initiatives to intervene in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as well as her support for the research, design, and production of affordable and sustainable housing in Charlottesville and New Orleans;

WHEREAS, she, her husband Jim Welty, and their daughter Kiri, opened their residence in Pavilion IX to bring together faculty from all disciplines with members of the Charlottesville community and guests from afar for vibrant discussions, allowing others to see how well the aesthetic of a modern interior could engage the architecture of Thomas Jefferson;

WHEREAS, she demonstrated through persuasion and example, how the most important matters must also be understood within an aesthetic context.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the General Faculty of the University of Virginia conveys its sincere gratitude to Karen Van Lengen for her inspired leadership that has advanced the stature of architecture at the University, within the community of Charlottesville, and in the world at large.