Equity in Architectural Academia: A Conversation with Cory Henry

2021-01-11T09:00:00-05:00

Last year, my family and I moved to a new home. After we were settled in, I shared with one of our neighbors that I taught and wrote about architecture. She was stunned and told me that there was another neighbor, right next door to me, who taught and practiced architecture also.

Shortly after, I met Cory Henry, and we began having regular discussions about architectural education and practice. Cory is the Principal and Founder of Atelier Cory Henry, a Los Angeles-based interdisciplinary design practice. He is currently a Kea Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland, a Visiting Critic at Syracuse University, and has served as a Visiting Critic at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Visiting Assistant Professor in Architecture at Penn State University.

Cory has also helped me with some of my writing, most recently, my essay on tokenism in architectural practice. In our discussions, we soon dove into issues of equity in architectural education and decided it would be in...

Thoughts on Black Tokenism in Architectural Practice

2020-10-22T11:48:00-04:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about the recent outcry for social and racial justice. As a Black man, I’ve lived my own experience in this country — one filled with many blessings, but also many challenges. I want to reflect on some of those challenges, and explore some of the subtleties of being Black in a predominantly white setting — architecture. I don’t have the answers, but I do believe there is a power in story and truth to be found in narrative. This is a story, a picture into a narrative common to many in the profession, followed by some reflections. But at the same time, we know, every person has their own story to tell.

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Equity in Architectural Academia: A Conversation with Cory Henry

Thoughts on Black Tokenism in Architectural Practice