Archinect - News

UPenn Weitzman School extends dean Fritz Steiner's tenure to 2027

2024-11-11T08:00:00-05:00

The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design has announced it will be extending the tenure of dean Frederick "Fritz" Steiner for two additional years through June 30th, 2027.

He joined the school early 2016 in part a protest of the controversial "campus carry" weapons policy that was enacted at the University of Texas at Austin. Since that time, Steiner has been credited with improving the school financial position and bolstered DEI efforts for both students and faculty.

Steiner, who also holds a prestigious Paley Professorship and teaches in the departments of city and regional planning and landscape architecture, said: “I couldn’t be prouder of the work that our faculty, students, and alumni are doing to build a better future. When you bring artists, designers, planners, and preservationists together, the possibilities are thrilling.”

Guns in the Studio: Texas' new campus carry law prompted Architecture Dean Fritz Steiner to resign. He joins us to discuss the law's effect on architecture education, on Archinect Sessions #55

2016-03-03T15:05:00-05:00

A new Texas state law going into effect on August 1 (exactly 50 years after the clocktower shootings at UT-Austin, by student and ex-marine Charles Whitman) will allow concealed handguns to be brought into public university campus buildings. This isn't sitting well with many members of the public university system, as educators and administrators are now tasked with regulating the presence of guns inside studios and classrooms, and fear that such a law will scare people away from the school (not to mention the obvious safety concerns).

Dean of the architecture school at UT-Austin, Frederick "Fritz" Steiner, has been critical of the law from its inception, and faced with having to enforce it as campus policy, was prompted to leave the school for the deanship at PennDesign.

While not the sole reason for his resignation, Steiner is adamant that such a law is simply not good for architecture education and studio culture, and joins us on the podcast to discuss.

Listen to episode 55 of Archi...

Dean Frederick Steiner leaves UT Austin for Penn Design due to new "campus carry" gun law

2016-02-26T13:36:00-05:00

Frederick Steiner's deanship at Penn Design will begin on July 1, succeeding Marilyn Jordan Taylor. In a piece published in The Texas Tribune, Steiner reportedly rejected offers for positions at other schools in the past, but was provoked to reconsider in light of a new law allowing concealed guns in UT Austin's campus buildings, going into effect August 1.

Previously, concealed handguns were legally allowed on campus, but not inside buildings. "I would have never applied for another job if not for campus carry," says Steiner as quoted in The Texas Tribune. "I felt that I was going to be responsible for managing a law I didn't believe in." He adds: "Penn is a great institution and I am very happy to go to Penn, but I was approached ... and, if it wouldn't have been for campus carry, I wouldn't have considered it."

Academics and other members of the UT Austin community are concerned that such campus carry laws will result in a "brain drain", scaring away potential applicants and instil...