In 1993, the Pietro Belluschi Distinguished Visiting Professorship in Architectural Design was created as a perpetual endowment fund to foster and promote education in architectural design. Pietro Belluschi (born in Ancona, Italy, 1899, died Portland, Oregon, 1994) was one of the most respected architects to have lived and worked in Oregon. His influence was felt worldwide. Combining innovative technical vision with a sensitivity for composition, the merging of crisp lines and geometry of the International style, and harmonious poetic building expression, Belluschi called for “function, technology and social service” in his buildings. Belluschi was one of several architects recognized for crafting the Northwest Regional style of architecture.

Most currently, Edward Ford, Vincent and Eleanor Shea Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, was awarded the prestigious professorship. Ford visited the University of Oregon this November (2010) to present his lecture, “Confessions of a Failed English Major: Buildings and Texts 1990-2010.”