LETTER FROM THE DEAN
Leadership in the School of Architecture
I write to formally announce that, after serving 18 years as Associate Dean, Elizabeth O’Donnell is returning to her role as a member of the faculty while passing the proverbial baton at the School to her colleague, Assistant Dean Hayley Eber (AR 2001). Over the course of these 18 years Elizabeth has served the school with unparalleled dedication, and at every level of focus and detail. During the 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years, she also served as Acting Dean of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, at one of the most difficult times in Cooper Union’s institutional history.
In reflecting on their time working together during his deanship, Professor Anthony Vidler said:
“Elizabeth was appointed Associate Dean of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture in the Fall of 2001. It has to be said that without Elizabeth’s reasoned, calm, judicious, and caring guidance, the school would not have been able to face the loss of its first Dean, John Hedjuk, and certainly, I, as the second Dean, would have had no certain guide for a world that was unalterably changed by the catastrophe of 9/11 that faced us this first year, and the increasing demands of the profession and society afterwards. Her dedication to the enduring idea of The Cooper Union – its traditions, practices, and ideals – was, and has always been, constant; her commitment to necessary change, technologically and socially, has been equally unremitting.
As Associate Dean she has been the voice that balances stability and progress in the curriculum, advocacy of the original social and cultural stances bound into Peter Cooper’s charter, as well as a sense of the emerging challenges of the technological and global world order. During the first twelve years of her Deanship, she piloted the school, and myself, through the most challenging years we have experienced; her relations with generations of alumni and alumnae, her understanding of the demands of the profession, her agility in adaptation, and her firm leadership in the negotiations over accreditation requirements, are only one side of her talents. Above all, I celebrate her deep support of our students at every level, in every individual crisis and career despondency: her ability to listen, respond, and guide.
This is all in the context of an administrator who is also a great teacher of architectural design, technology, and structures. At Cooper, it goes without saying, administration means nothing if not backed by the strongest intellectual and professional abilities. Elizabeth speaks with authority because she is an architect through and through, with all the instincts that are— ethically and aesthetically—the best that the profession can offer.
I will miss her as a colleague in the trenches of administration, but welcome her as a colleague in the teaching and nurturing of architecture.”
It is a rare occasion for anyone to lead for eighteen years. In the case of Elizabeth O’Donnell, she has done so without the due credit that is bestowed on the many who have had to shoulder the kind of responsibilities she has successfully assumed for all of these years. From my brief perspective, she has not only been instrumental in my education as a dean, but indeed, she also persuaded me to consider what seemed like a folly of a decision some five years ago. Of the many challenges she has faced, perhaps the steadfast leadership Elizabeth offered during the uprising against The Cooper Union’s prior president best demonstrated her poise and balance, and kept the school moving forward with the kind of ethic for which she is so well-known.
For me, the easy part of stepping into my position was being able to inherit the kind of talent, commitment, and pedagogy whose continuity she was able to maintain through those rocky years. On a more personal level, I have had immense pleasure in sharing time with her, both on and off the record; she has been a mentor, partner, sister, and colleague in the truest sense to me, and I can think of few people with whom I can have such a depth of laughter and trust. Gladly, I will not have to say I will miss her, as I intend to keep her very close to us, focused on the pedagogical transformations on which we have been collaborating, with the hopes of her continued contributions in the coming years.
Looking ahead, Elizabeth will teach as a proportional-time faculty member, support the transition of leadership to Hayley and continue to be a force to be reckoned with at The Cooper Union. The School of Architecture thanks her for her deep commitment to leadership, education, the discipline of architecture and to The Cooper Union.
Nader Tehrani, Professor and Dean
The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture
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LIVE
Student Work Collection Database: Phase I
The Student Work Collection represents over eight decades of The Cooper Union's experimental, influential approach to architectural education. The material encompasses analog image, text, and audio records as well as born-digital media that document more than 4,500 projects by over 1,500 students from the 1930s through the present are now available via a free, public website at
archswc.cooper.edu
. Phase I includes the Collection's approximately 20,000 analog records dating from the 1930s to 2000. This work highlights the architectural pedagogy that distinguishes The Cooper Union as preeminent in the education of architects.
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Anthony Vidler, Arch fac |
Panelist | Architecture Exchange with Jacques Ranciere, Virginia Tech, The Cooper Union, November 16, 2019, NYC
Lydia Kallipoliti, Arch fac
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Book Review | “Full Circle,” On
The Architecture of Closed Worlds, PIN-UP Magazine No. 27, fall/winter, 2019
Joan Ockman, AR ’80/Arch fac
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Keynote Speaker | Architecture & Collective Life, 16th Annual International Conference of the Architectural Humanities Research Association, University of Dundee, November 21-23, 2019, Dundee, Scotland |
Panelist | Architecture Exchange with Jacques Ranciere, Virginia Tech, The Cooper Union, November 16, 2019, NYC
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Michael Young, Arch fac |
Panelist | Architecture Exchange with Jacques Ranciere, Virginia Tech, The Cooper Union, November 16, 2019, NYC
Lauren Kogod, Arch fac |
Advisory Committee Member | Architecture & Collective Life, 16th Annual International Conference of the Architectural Humanities Research Association, University of Dundee, November 21-23, 2019, Dundee, Scotland
Michael Morris, AR ’89/Arch fac
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Article | “A 3D Print-Out You Could Call Home,” THE NEW YORK TIMES, November 8, 2019
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Peggy Deamer, AR ’77 |
Panelist | Peggy Deamer and Manuel Shvartzberg Carrió: Roundtable Discussion, Cornell University School of Architecture, Art, Planning, November 12, 2019, Ithaca, NY |
Panelist | Architecture Exchange with Jacques Ranciere, Virginia Tech, The Cooper Union, November 16, 2019, NYC
Diller Scofidio + Renfro (Elizabeth Diller, AR ’79, Ricardo Scofidio, AR ’55/Arch fac emeritus) |
Featured | “10 Great Grid Ceilings,” INTERIOR DESIGN, November 14, 2019
Chris Benedict, AR ’86 |
Panelist | “DISCUSSION PANEL: Dreaming About Energy,” AIA Brooklyn, Brooklyn Borough Hall, 6:30PM, November 20, Brooklyn, NY
Gina Pollara, AR ’91 |
Article | “Japanese ‘cult’ artist Tetsuya Ishida depicts Japan’s relentlessly conformism and technology’s control at Wrightwood 659,” CHICAGO TRIBUNE, November 13, 2019
Austin Sakong, AR ’04 |
Speaker | Case Studies in Preservation and Adaptive Reuse for Academic Buildings, Center for Architecture, November 18, 2019, NYC
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Joseph Bedford, AR ’07 |
Session Chair/Presenter | Architecture & Collective Life, 16th Annual International Conference of the Architectural Humanities Research Association, University of Dundee, November 21-23, 2019, Dundee, Scotland |
Panelist | Architecture Exchange with Jacques Ranciere, Virginia Tech, The Cooper Union, November 16, 2019, NYC
Dasha Khapalova, AR ’07 |
Lecture | "On the Steps Events Series: Fabrizio Barozzi and Dasha Khapalova," The Making of Practice, Cornell University School of Architecture, Art, Planning, November 14, 2019, Ithaca, NY
Lydia Xynogala, AR ’09 |
Paper Presenter | Architecture & Collective Life, 16th Annual International Conference of the Architectural Humanities Research Association, University of Dundee, November 21-23, 2019, Dundee, Scotland
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Open Calls & Opportunities
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NEW
FACULTY SEARCH
CALL FOR IDEAS
Future Architecture
explores the boundaries and potential new systems and coalitions in architecture. It is a platform that provides practitioners and conceptual thinkers with opportunities to speak up. Deadline: January 6
DEADLINES APPROACHING
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
RM 1000, Issue 8: Magic
accepts paper and design proposal submissions along a track denoting magic as that which can't be named or confined. Deadline: November 26
CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS
LAKA Awards 2019-2020
calls for architectural, urban, technological, or product designs that are capable of dynamic interaction with its social, natural, or built surroundings. Registration Deadline: December 1
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
ONGOING
CALL FOR PAPERS
FICTION COMPETITION
Fairy Tales 2020
challenges participants to create a unique architectural fairy tale, combining a text narrative with 5 images in the most spectacular way. Deadline: December 19
CALL FOR IDEAS
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DESIGN COMPETITION
CALL FOR FELLOWS
CALL FOR APPLICANTS
2020 HART HOWERTON TRAVEL FELLOWSHIP
is available to undergraduate and graduate students in planning, architecture, landscape architecture or urban design who will be entering their final year of study in September 2020. Deadline: January 25
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
CALL FOR APPLICANTS
APPLICATIONS OPEN
Bard Graduate Center Research and Visiting Fellowships
are designed to further the institution's goal of promoting research in the areas of decorative arts, design history, and material culture. For questions, please contact fellowships@bgc.bard.edu. Deadlines: November 15, 2019 and February 1
CALL FOR ENTRIES
Superscape 2020
is a biennial prize that seeks to explore new models of urban living within a 30 year timeline. Deadline: March 16
DESIGN COMPETITION
Legendary Bird Home 2020
tasks participants to present innovative designs for a bird house that can be built at home using sustainable materials and methods. Registration Deadline: April 14
DESIGN COMPETITION
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