Four candidates are finalists for the dean of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Architecture. Selected by a search committee, the candidates will visit campus separately April 17 through April 29.
Each candidate will participate in a public presentation and open forum during his or her visit. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to attend the presentations, each of which will conclude with a reception.
The finalists are:
Katherine S. Ankerson, professor and head of the department of interior architecture and product design, Kansas State University;
David M. Chasco, professor of architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;
Gail P. Borden, associate professor, associate dean and head of architecture, University of Southern California;
Adam M. Drisin, associate professor (2004-2015) and senior associate dean (2012-2015) of architecture, Florida International University.
Learn more about each finalist here.
Ankerson’s visit will be April 17-19, with her public presentation and open forum from 2 to 3:30 p.m. April 19 in Colonial Room A in the Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Ankerson is a tenured full professor and is in her fifth year as head of Kansas State’s interior architecture and product design department. A strong proponent of design education, Ankerson said she believes in the potency of interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary engagement, the value of design and making, and embracing new technologies in addition to strengthening traditional design tools. She understands that design education must prepare global design citizens who take leadership to foster synergy, embrace successful collaboration and recognize interconnectedness, with an awareness of the responsibility of individual and collective actions in personal, social and environmental arenas. Ankerson is an active and award-winning author who has written multiple books. As lead of the 20th Anniversary Nuckolls Lighting Grant, she worked with nine other educators in architecture, engineering and interior design (representing four major universities) to initiate and produce the award-winning web-based resource Lighting Across the [Design] Curriculum. She has led national organizations and is the 2015-16 Interior Design Educators Council past-president. She is a CIDA site visitor and the education member of the Nuckolls Lighting Fund board of directors. Ankerson arrived at Kansas State from UNL, where she was a professor and associate dean for the College of Architecture. Ankerson also held academic positions at Radford University and Washington State University after spending many years as a practicing architect and designer. Ankerson received her Bachelor of Science in Architecture and Bachelor of Architecture from Washington State University, both cum laude. She also holds a Master of Science in Architecture from Washington State. Feedback on Ankerson can be offered here.
Chasco’s visit will be April 19-21, with his public presentation and open forum from 2 to 3:30 p.m. April 21 in Unity Room 212 in the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center, 1505 S St. Chasco is a professor and past director of the Illinois School of Architecture (2004-2014) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While director, he collaborated with faculty and championed moves toward the comprehensive reorganization of the undergraduate and graduate programs curricula. Advancements in study abroad programs, research expenditures, fundraising and faculty hiring are also among his notable accomplishments as director. Chasco was a member and associate with Gunnar Birkerts and Associates from 1983-1994, design architect with DiClemente Siegel Design/Gunnar Birkerts FAIA from 1997-2002 and then joined the College of Architecture and Design at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan, in 1994. He was interim dean of the College of Architecture at LTU from 2002-2004. He also was the department chair and was instrumental in the development of the university’s integrated design studios, incorporating allied disciplines. Chasco’s comprehensive design experiences include many building types, including an embassy, cathedral addition/renovation, performing arts center, laboratories, academic libraries and law schools, mixed-use retail/housing/offices, corporate offices and housing. He also provided architectural RFP/RFQ selection services for LTU’s $20 million College of Architecture Building and Peoria, Illinois’ $100 million Museum and Caterpillar Visitor’s Center. Chasco received the New York Architectural League’s Young Architect’s Award, a Detroit AIA Honor Award and the Michigan AIA President’s Award for Outstanding Leadership in Education and the Profession, and has contributed to numerous AIA awards, industry awards and publications with Gunnar Birkerts and Associates. He has been the chancellor’s adviser for architecture and master planning, working on the $95 million Electrical Computing Engineering Building, a proposed $110 million College of Law Building and the completion of the west military axis. In 2008, he was on the State of Illinois AIA Board of Directors. Chasco received his Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the Illinois School of Architecture in Urbana-Champaign. He was the recipient of the School’s prestigious Plym Travelling Fellowship in 1992. Feedback on Chasco can be offered here.
Borden’s visit will be April 24-26, with his public presentation and open forum from 2 to 3:30 p.m. April 26 in the Heritage Room in the Nebraska Union. Borden is a tenured associate professor at the University of Southern California and is the associate dean and architecture discipline head. As principal of Borden Partnership since 2002, his design work has won numerous recognitions including the Architectural League Prize, AIA Young Architect Award, Building Design and Construction magazine’s “40 Under 40” award and numerous AIA, ACSA and RADA honors. Borden received artist-in-residence awards from the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas; the Atlantic Center for the Arts; the Borchard Fellowship; and the MacDowell Colony. His teaching has been recognized with an ACSA New Faculty Teaching Award as one of the top emerging architecture faculty. He was named the youngest Fellow of the AIA in the history of California and has received university awards for artistic expression and mentoring. As a designer, artist, theoretician and practitioner, Borden’s research and practice focus on the role of materiality and architecture in contemporary culture. He attended Rice University, receiving Bachelor of Arts degrees, all cum laude, in fine arts, art history and architecture. Upon graduation, he won the William Ward Watkins Traveling Fellowship, the AIA Certificate for Excellence, the Chillman Prize and the John Swift Medal in Fine Arts. After receiving a Texas Architectural Foundation Scholarship, Borden returned to Rice to pursue his Bachelor of Architecture degree, also cum laude. He went on to Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design to complete a post-professional Master of Architecture with distinction. Feedback on Borden can be offered here.
Drisin’s visit will be April 27-29, with his public presentation and open forum from 10:15 to 11:45 a.m. April 29 in Colonial Room A in the Nebraska Union. Drisin most recently was a tenured associate professor of architecture and senior associate dean of the College of Architecture + The Arts at Florida International University. Drisin was also a chair and director with FIU’s School of Architecture. Before being recruited to FIU, Drisin was on the faculties of architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, the University of Tennessee and Syracuse University. At Syracuse, he was the resident director of the School of Architecture’s study abroad program in Florence, Italy, for six years. Drisin was chosen by the celebrated National YoungArts Foundation in 2013 to be co-founding director of their new design arts discipline. He was also co-chair of the Design Award jury for the U.S. Commission on Presidential Scholars. As an administrator, Drisin is recognized as a change agent who builds organizations and academic programs in the arts and design, which rapidly gain national reputations for excellence. He is recognized for his award-winning work as an urban designer, architect and scholar on urbanism and the history of the city. His writing and his architectural and urban design work have been published in leading scholarly journals and design magazines including Abitare, Architectural Record, Progressive Architecture, 30.60.90, Domus, Parametro, Professione e Architetti, L’Espresso and the JAE: Journal of Architectural Education. He curated an extensive exhibition on the work of Ticinese architects Mario Campi and Franco Pessina and was editor of the accompanying monograph. His own architectural and urban design work were featured in the book “Pensieri and Mattoni” (Thoughts and Constructions) and was exhibited at the Venice Biennale and at museums in the United States, Europe and South America. His recent scholarly work focuses on design and arts pedagogy, as well as the history and theory of civic design. Since 2006, Drisin has been principal investigator and co-principal investigator on more than $11 million in grant funding. He is sought out as a design consultant on large-scale urban design projects and has worked with a broad range of public, governmental and private-sector projects including the master plans for Bucharest, Romania, and the historic center of Beirut. From 2004 to 2011, Drisin was on the executive boards of the Florida American Institute of Architects and the Miami chapter of the American Institute of Architects. From 2006 to 2011, Drisin was a member of the editorial and design review boards of the Journal of Architectural Education. He is a recipient of the American Institute of Architects’ Education Leadership Award and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture’s Academic Service Award. He also received FIU’s Top Scholar Award and was inducted into the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society of International Scholars. Drisin holds a bachelor degree in architecture from Cornell University and a Master of Design in Design History and Theory from Harvard University. Feedback on Drisin can be offered here.
