Diversity at the School

“I was hired as a planner (by ATCS), but my position requires me to step into a variety of roles depending on FEMA’s staffing needs. Right now my role … is focused on finding funding for recovery projects and bringing decision makers to the table to move projects forward that address community needs such as housing and workforce development. My perspectives on the critical and challenging land use decisions being made in Louisiana are shaped by the planning education I had at the University of Virginia.”

JENNIFER GAYLE HARRIS, Planner, Recovery Support Branch
FEMA (Contracted with ATCS)
MUEP’04

Previous | Next

The School of Architecture has one of the nation's most successful track records in recruiting diverse faculty members in our disciplines. Currently there are four full-time African-American and several adjunct faculty members from under-represented groups. Dean Karen Van Lengen is the academic leader of our school which includes two other women as department chairs or program directors, one African-American colleague as chair of the Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and two women serving as associate deans.

Issues of race, community and diverse cultures are explored by a number of faculty in the School, and critical questions are explored through courses, design studios, and through faculty research and creative work. Faculty work can be found through each faculty member's link.

(from L to R): Prof. Timothy Beatley, Dean Karen Van Lengen, Assoc. Prof. William Sherman, and Assoc. Prof. Maurice Cox.

Diversity includes many aspects, from under-represented minority groups to international students and faculty, and women in the school's professional areas. The School of Architecture strives to be an inclusive, welcoming, and nurturing setting for students and faculty. The School has an active chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS) as well as numerous community-based initiatives.

A Few Faculty Highlights

Assoc. Professor and Chair, Department of Architecture & Landscape Architecture Craig Barton

UVa News Article

Prof. Barton investigates issues of cultural and historical preservation and their interpretation through architectural and urban design. Much of his practice focuses on assisting African-American communities to preserve and interpret their significant cultural resources and to utilize them to stimulate community development.

Asst. Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning Nisha Botchwey

Prof. Botchwey specializes in community development and neighborhood planning with emphasis on local religious and secular institutions and the promotion of public health. She has also developed a graduate seminar entitled "Planning and Public Health"; which fosters multidisciplinary research in planning, public health, architecture, landscape architecture, social work, medicine, and public policy among other disciplines.

Assoc. Professor of Architecture Maurice Cox

Prof. Cox is a 2004–2005 recipient of the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. He recently completed eight years on the Charlottesville City Council and the last two years as the city's mayor. His administration commissioned AIA and CNU Charter Award winning public works of architecture and urban design. Civic activism and community service characterize all aspects of his teaching, professional practice and academic scholarship, and he is widely known as an advocate for citizen participation in the important planning decisions that affect a community's life. Prof. Cox is currently serving a two–year appointment as the Director of Design for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Assoc. Professor of Architecture William Williams

Prof. Williams maintains a private architecture practice in Houston, Williams Pizzini Architects (WPa), which specializes in the design of affordable, single–family dwellings. He received a Graham Foundation Grant for his exhibition entitled, “The Dresser Trunk Project”, with each trunk and its contents symbolically and architecturally representing a now–forgotten venue at which Black musicians performed during Segregation. The ten trunks, each designed by an invited artist, rode in 2007 Amtrak’s “Crescent Line” train, mirroring the travel of many Black musicians, and stopped at the various cities along the way which inspired the designs.

Community Outreach Initiatives

Cape Coast Ghana J–Term Course

Directed by Assoc. Professor Maurice Cox, Scot French, associate professor of history and director of U.Va.’s Virginia Center for Digital History, and independent scholar Gina Haney (MAH’97), the January 2008 Term Course, “Community as Classroom: Urban Studies and Service Learning in Cape Coast, Ghana,” included 16 UVa students. In this historic course more than a decade in the making, students worked 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.

ecoMOD

Directed by Asst. Professor John Quale, ecoMOD is a research and design / build / evaluate project whose goal is to create an ecological, modular and affordable housing system that creatively questions conventional building practices. Through a partnership with Piedmont Housing Alliance of Charlottesville and Habitat for Humanity, several 1000-1250 sq. ft. homes will be created. The first house, OUTin (2005), is sited in Charlottesville. The second house, preHAB (2006), is sited within the area ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in Gautier, Mississippi. The third house, SEAM (2007), which is designed for universal access, is sited in Charlottesville.

Learning Barge

Directed by Asst. Professor Phoebe Crisman, Learning Barge is a collaboration between the Elizabeth River Project and the University of Virginia to research and design an innovative and self-sustaining floating environmental education field station on the most polluted estuary in the Chesapeake Bay, the Elizabeth River. Powered entirely by solar and wind energy systems, the 30'x120' barge will provide a high-profile, memorable hands-on demonstration of the river's ecosystem challenges and conservation needs for students in grades K-16 as it moves between ongoing restoration sites. School of Architecture students are involved in every step of the creation process.

Charlottesville Community Design Center

CCDC provides innovative technical assistance, design facilitation, and education programs fueled by public discussion in order to connect good design with community values, especially in underserved areas. CCDC is one of the newest of over 40 community design centers across the country. Practitioners of community design identify and solve social, economic, and political problems as they relate to the built environment. This process promotes change to the built environment from the neighborhood to regional scale, and aims to meet community needs through participatory decision-making at all levels. The school and the CCDC enjoy a close relationship that includes sharing resources, co-sponsoring events, and involving students in the design issues of the community. The school's dean, Karen Van Lengen, and William Morrish, the Elwood R. Quesada Professor, serve on the CCDC Advisory Board. Prof. Morrish also helped to found CCDC. The Founder of CCDC is alumna Katie Swenson (MArch'00) and the Executive Director is Jane Fisher.

Public Service Fellowships

The UVA School of Architecture Public Service Fellowship Program provides fellowships for students interested in working in local design and environment-related nonprofit organizations. Through public service, students apply their skills and knowledge to compelling social issues, gaining real-life experience in the process and broadening their conceptions of what professional practice can be. The program is also intended to enhance the relationship of the school to the outside world, the nonprofit organizations, and the members of the Charlottesville community.