The University of Arkansas has tapped John Folan to head the Department of Architecture at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design.
Folan will assume his position on July 1.
Currently the T. David Fitz-Gibbon Professor of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University, Folan is also the founder of the university’s Urban Design Build Studio and a registered architect and LEED Accredited Professional. He has taught at Carnegie Mellon since 2008.
During his career, Folan has focused on “regionally specific, appropriate replicable design solutions predicated on community vested entrepreneurial opportunities for residents…,” according to a U of A press release.
He will be joining the Fay Jones School, which has grown to 50 faculty members and approximately 550 students.
“It is a great honor and privilege to be joining the faculty and staff at the Fay Jones School as department head in architecture,” Folan said. “The architecture department possesses a uniquely strong legacy in critical regionalism that sustains great influence in shaping global thought and practice. The potency of that impact is predicated on an ever-increasing commitment by the school as a tripartite collaboration between architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design. The University of Arkansas, as a land-grant institution with a commitment to innovative problem solving that demonstrates relevance to place, industry and the public, provides the strongest of institutional contexts to perpetuate my personal commitment to the implementation of work through participatory practice.”
Folan holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture with high honors from the University of Illinois and a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
“John Folan arrives to the region, the university, the Fay Jones School and the Department of Architecture at a propitious moment,” said Peter MacKeith, dean of the school. “His skill and accomplishments in public interest design of high educational and community impact match precisely the ambitions and initiatives of the school, the land-grant mission of the university, and the needs of the region, particularly in housing design along the entire income spectrum. His nationally recognized commitment to professional education and professional practice will build upon and expand the legacy of the department, and his passion for the materiality and constructed quality of architecture will enhance our students’ advancement into their careers and further the reputation of the department and school.”
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