One of the most anticipated events of winter term at al&d is when we roll out the red carpet for the new Gehry chair. For those of you not in the know, the Gehry chair is held by a visiting architect of international prominence from jan-april. Students in their third year of al&d's master of architecture program study with the chair holder before they start their design thesis.
The inaugural chair holder was world-renowned Daniel Libeskind, designer of the latest addition to the Royal Ontario Museum, who has also just recieved the commision to redevelop Toronto's Hummingbird Center for the performing arts. Preston Scott Cohen was the second holder of the Gehry chair.
Heather Reisman, founder of Indigo Books and Music, and 45 others raised $1 million, matched by U of T, to establish the chair named for the famed Torontoborn designer of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, the Experience Music Project in Seattle, and the newly opened Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (+ coming soon, the revamped Art Gallery of Ontario).
The current holder of the Gehry chair is Merrill Elam, principal, Mack Scogin Merrill Elam architects.

http://www.ald.utoronto.ca/pdf_files/alumni_friends/frank_gehry_chair.pdf

http://www.msmearch.com/msmearch.html
http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/faculty/cohen/pub.html
http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/daniel/