School of architecture

School Notes: School of Architecture
January/February 2016

Introducing the next dean

On November 30, students, faculty, and staff assembled to welcome Deborah Berke, who will become dean of the School of Architecture on July 1, 2016. Berke succeeds Robert A. M. Stern ’65MArch, who has served as dean since 1998.

An architect and founder of the New York–based design firm Deborah Berke Partners, Berke will be the first woman to head the school, which this year is celebrating the 100th anniversary of architecture being taught as a formal discipline at Yale. She is already a familiar figure at the school, having taught architectural design as an adjunct professor since 1987.

Berke’s many design projects include the dramatic renovation and expansion that created the Yale School of Art’s Holcombe T. Green Jr. Hall on Chapel Street. Her firm has also designed private residences, hotels, residential and commercial developments, and institutional art and music buildings. She plans to maintain an active role in the creative direction of her practice.

Among Berke’s distinctions are an honorary doctor of fine arts from Rhode Island School of Design and the inaugural Berkeley-Rupp Award from the University of California at Berkeley, in recognition of her “significant contribution to promoting the advancement of women in the field of architecture,” and for her “commitment to sustainability and the community.”

Symposium on architecture education

This year’s annual J. Irwin Miller Symposium will bring together scholars, educators, architects, and administrators to evaluate traditional models, current trends, and future challenges of architectural education. Acknowledging that architectural education exists at the crossroads of disciplinary, technological, and social changes, the program, convened by Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen ’94MEnvD, will address historical, theoretical, and critical questions. Learning/Doing/Thinking: Educating Architects in the Twenty-first Century takes place April 14–16 and features a keynote address by Anthony Vidler.  

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