Dean’s Blog All School Meeting Remarks
February 7, 2012
September 2, 2011
Welcome everyone! We’ll be covering a number of topics this afternoon including:
1. Welcome by leaders of our student organizations
2. Introduce new faculty and staff
3. I will discuss my priorities for the year
4. Presenting Richardson Memorial Hall Sustainable Strategies
5. A few closing remarks
Student Leaders
Architecture School Government
American Institute of Architecture Students
Alpha Rho Chi
Graduate Architecture Student Organization
Student Chapter USGBC
New Faculty Introductions
John Stubbs
Amber Wiley, Ph.D.
Sheena Garcia
Nate Petty
Bethany Rogers, Ph.D.
Z Smith, Ph.D., AIA
Richard Campanella
Tatiana Eck, RA, LEED AP
Kelly Longwell, Esq.
Casius Pealer, Esq.
Ommeed Sathe, Esq.
Reuben, Teague, Esq.
Wendy Redfield, RA - comments
New Associate Dean of Students - Doug Harmon and thank you to Elizabeth Gamard for her work in this role over the past three years!
Staff
Dozenia Marshall & Allison Cruz
My Priorities for the Year
1. Leadership - working with our amazing new leadership team to continue the process of improving and enriching our programs and opportunities for students and faculty.
2. Career Development issues - working with Assistant Dean Wendy Sack, and our two Associate Deans and program directors to develop a more robust series of resources and opportunities for students and recent graduates. Judith Kinnard and I have made a personal gift to the school to jump start this process with funding and to encourage others among the alumni to consider contributing for this initiative as well. I have already heard from a number of board members who may follow suit.
As we noted in the announcement that went out last week:
“While the Tulane School of Architecture has been preparing young women and men for successful careers for a very long time, and while the School has always paid attention to the importance of professional placement, there is more that can and should be done in support of Tulane students.”
The School’s efforts in the area of Career Services will involve active input and support from faculty and collaboration with students and alumni for their ideas and engagement. In addition, this process will build on work that Assistant Dean Wendy Sack has done over the past several years in support of our students and their career development issues.
3. Richardson Memorial Hall Sustainable Strategies - Pre-Design Study
A Vision for the Future of Richardson Memorial Hall
I had discussions with President Cowen dating back to the spring, 2008 when I was considering coming to Tulane. When asked, I told him that I thought Richardson Memorial Hall was one of the most wonderful buildings for a school of architecture - historic, stately, well built, central, high ceilings, clear spans, operable windows, excellent light and about the right size for the school’s ambitions of the past and present. However, I also pointed out that it was in serious need of investment to bring it up to date in its building systems, carbon footprint, and overall utility given the changing nature of the school’s mission today. It would also need to change and adapt to match the ambitions we have for the school’s future, particularly as this involves evolving ways we work to support our extensive level of community engagement.
I formulated a general game plan on how we might proceed with a comprehensive examination of our building as a laboratory for best practices in sustainable design with an historic structure - or as I took to calling it, Richardson Memorial Hall Sustainable Strategies comprising a substantial renovation of the building, possible additions, and a reconceptualization of how we work within and beyond the building itself. We secured a generous gift from alumnus and Board Member Tim Favrot to proceed with identifying and hiring the best possible team to do the so-called “Pre Design” work. You’ll see that this is not schematic design, it’s more fundamental and foundational. In a sense, this study defines the challenges and realistic opportunities ahead of us.
I am proud to be unveiling this before all of you for the first time. It will be getting a good deal more national and international exposure in the months and years to come. It is my goal to get this project done within the next five years and possibly sooner.
I am pleased to introduce Robert Paul Dean, TSA ’68 and owner of Building Systems Design, Inc. whose software has been donated to us for our use. Rob has served at my invitation as a member of the Architect Selection Committee, RMH Building Committee, on our newly formed RMH Capital Campaign Task Force, and he is a generous donor to the school as well.
I hope you will all review the presentation more fully at your own pace when you view it on the flat screen in the Favrot Lobby or when you download the presentation from our website.
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Some remarks on Sustainability
Probably one of the earliest contemporary definitions (not counting Emerson and Thoreau) is from the Brundtland Commission of the United Nations, named for a woman who served as chair, and former Prime Minister of Norway Gro Brundtland - published on March 20, 1987 TWENTY FOUR YEARS AGO:
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. I would add that any healthy sustainable process and project must demonstrate an engagement with the triad or triple bottom line of the ecology or the environment, economy, and equity or social justice.
I am also fond of several other more recent definitions:
“Sustainable design is the set of perceptual and analytic abilities, ecological wisdom, and practical wherewithal essential to making things that fit in a world of microbes, plants, animals, and entropy. In other words, (sustainable design) is the careful meshing of human purposes with the larger patterns and flows of the natural world, and careful study of those patterns and flows to inform human purposes.” David Orr, Ecological Literacy - a highly influential educator in this field and someone who has also written that what this worlds needs more of are more disobedient malcontents!
“A sustainable society is one which satisfies its needs without diminishing the prospects of future generations.” Lester R. Brown, Founder and President, Worldwatch Institute
For our purposes, Richardson Memorial Hall represents a chance of a lifetime to demonstrate sustainability as it plays out through multiple dimensions and in multiple ways.
- cultural stewardship of a great historic building and all that it has represented over the many decades of its life so far
- dramatic reductions in energy and water consumption leading toward an eventual carbon neutral world that we all must create within our lifetimes
- sustainable design leadership for others to follow based on the example of our collaborative work on this project and even more importantly that sustainable design education opportunities that are provoked by this project.
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Last year I quoted President Cowen who said at that time about the school, “OUR TIME IS NOW”.
Through an extraordinary alignment of factors - a long track record of success, new leadership, new faculty, highly motivated students, it is easy to see why he has unbridled enthusiasm for this school’s future.
My role is as a bridge between students, faculty, alumni, foundations, friends, and the broad public all of whom share our interest in the importance of the built and natural environment to society and culture. I have the enviable job of celebrating your successes, promoting the amazing work of this school, and developing new opportunities to expand horizons for students and faculty. All the while, I try to keep my eye on the big prize - advancing this school’s prominence and relevance through excellence and efficacy within the society we serve as professionals.
We have made some amazing strides in the past three years. Some of the accomplishments are individually modest and small in scale, but collectively they represent substantial progress for a school.
I am very proud of the work of students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Tulane School of Architecture. Nowhere else in the country or perhaps the world can one find a school that is so deeply committed to excellence through community engagement as integral to the process of educating future architects, urbanists, preservationists, and now sustainable real estate developers.
A few quick ANNOUNCEMENTS and closing remarks.
Friday, September 9 - first TGIF with a special recognition of an alumnus who has almost single-handedly allowed us to enjoy tremendous new resources in the Digital Output Lab. His name is Rick Powell, TSA ’77, and I hope you will all show up for the TGIF with a few remarks from me, and hopefully a roaring round of applause of appreciation from all of you.
Monday, September 12 first lecture - JULIA CZENIAK
Other lectures on the poster - please take one!
Closing remarks
Each year in the fall I try to find a “hero” of mine to quote.
Three years ago, upon my arrival, I quoted a hero from my youth, Robert F Kennedy.
Two years ago, I reflected on the passing of DK Ruth, a much-revered professor at Auburn and a colleague and friend of Sam Mockbee in founding the Rural Studio. I shared some of their quotes as an inspiration to all of us in the work we do here in New Orleans.
Last year I spoke of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I HAVE A DREAM” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, whose anniversary was two days before that all school meeting.
This year, my heroes are all of you and many others in the City of New Orleans. We have MANY heroes here at Tulane and in the City of New Orleans today. Some are inspirational and visionary like Senator Kennedy, others of you are big and loud (as Sam Mockbee was, especially after a few beers), some are powerfully poetic and charismatic (as was Dr. King). And around the School of Architecture - my heroes here are working hard to advance heartfelt commitments to making the world a better place through design.
And my tradition for these welcome addresses also includes a word that I ask you to remember. This year my word is dedication. Tulane University is remarkably well positioned to advance and build on our current level of excellence, and the City of New Orleans is unlike any other city in the country. Despite our small size, the Tulane School of Architecture is a major player in the university and community - through individual efforts and involvement of students and faculty and through institutional engagement as well. I think at the core of everything we do is a dedication to do what we do well and the dedication to make a difference.
Thank you and have a great year!
Kenneth Schwartz, FAIA
Favrot Professor and Dean
