The University of Virginia awards emeritus status to the School of Architecture’s Jenny Roe
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Following a decade with the University of Virginia as the inaugural Mary Irene DeShong Professor of Design and Health, Jennifer (Jenny) Roe, PhD, has been conferred emeritus status upon her retirement this August 2025, in recognition of her sustained and exemplary contributions to university.
“Jenny’s groundbreaking and prolific research in environmental psychology centers a humanistic approach to the design of our spaces, buildings, cities and landscapes,” said Dean Malo A. Hutson. “The School of Architecture and the University of Virginia have greatly benefited from her extraordinary contributions advancing our understanding of the inextricable connections between design and wellbeing. Further, her work is respected and renowned worldwide and its impact will continue to be profoundly influential in the ongoing global effort to make healthier environments.”
At UVA, Roe served as the Director of the Center for Design and Health, exploring the intersection of health and wellbeing with architecture and urban design. In collaboration with interdisciplinary teams focused on applied research, she has served as principal investigator on many research projects awarded federal funding by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service.
Additionally, through the 3 Cavaliers program, the Environmental Institute, the Translational Health Research Institute, the Cardiovascular Research Center, and the Sustainability Research Development Grant program, among others, the University of Virginia has supported her work on a rich variety of subjects including the impact of urban walking on public health and the value of the natural environment on children’s emotional wellbeing.
An environmental psychologist and former Principal of Landscape Architecture for an international architectural practice, Sprunt, Roe writes, lectures, and consults for a wide range of academic and public audiences on human-centered design for the built environment.
In addition to over sixty contributions to academic journals, government publications, and conference proceedings, Roe’s recent award-winning, peer-reviewed books, Restorative Cities: Urban Design for Mental Health and Wellbeing (Bloomsbury Press, 2021, co-authored with Layla McCay) and Instructure, Wellbeing and the Measurement of Happiness (Routledge, 2023, co-edited with Hoda Mahmoudi and Kate Seaman) have been described as “offer[ing] deep health expertise translated in practical strategies” and bringing together “powerful ideas…to support improving people’s wellbeing.” She has two current book projects underway further advancing knowledge on restorative architecture and neurodiversity and the psychology of space.
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Roe’s longstanding leadership and service at the University of Virginia include chairing the School’s Faculty Council, serving as a board member of the UVA Press, and participating in numerous committees including the Provost’s Promotion and Tenure Review Committee and the Pan-University Environmental Institute Steering Committee.
Beyond UVA, her expertise is widely recognized through advisory appointments, fellowships and honors including: Honorary Professor (Urban Institute, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure, and Society, Heriot Watt University); Visiting Professor (University of Edinburgh); Fellow (Stockholm Environment Institute); Fellow (Centre for Urban Design for Mental Health); Advisory Board Member (Max Planck Institute for Human Development); Expert Advisor (Design Council UK); and Invited Mentor (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Scholars Program).
Originally from Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, Roe holds an undergraduate degree in English and American Studies from Nottingham University, a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Greenwich University, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Psychology from Heriot-Watt University. Her multi-disciplinary education and wide-ranging professional experiences allowed her to bring a wealth of knowledge to her teaching. In addition to the undergraduate and graduate courses she taught at UVA’s Department of Urban and Environmental Planning on the psychology of spaces and environments, Roe served as a doctoral dissertation supervisor for nearly a dozen students at UVA and beyond — supporting the next generation of researchers, scholars and practitioners.
“It has been the defining privilege of my career to serve as the Inaugural Mary Irene DeShong Professor in Design and Health and to work amongst so many talented faculty, staff and students,” said Jenny Roe. “The Architecture School made a forward-thinking decision in 2015 to appoint the first environmental psychologist in a school of architecture in the United States. This typifies the School’s core values in fostering creativity, innovation and meaningful, important research. I look forward to continuing my affiliation with UVA as Emerita Professor and in support of the next iteration of the Center under new leadership.”
