Richard Blythe will join the Virginia Tech College of Architecture and Urban Studies (CAUS) as its new dean starting October 10. Blythe will replace A.J. (Jack) Davis, who served as the College's dean for 11 years. Davis will step down on June 30 at the end of his second term.

Prior to Virginia Tech, Richard Blythe was a professor and the dean of RMIT University School of Architecture and Design in Melbourne since 2012. Under his leadership, the RMIT School of Architecture Design acquired $6.8 million to support multi-university research alliances, particularly a grant from the Australian government to lead a 15-university Design and Architecture Practice project. 

Blythe also lectured at the University of Tasmania for 14 years, while he was deputy head of the School of Architecture as well as the vice chancellor’s representative on the Tasmanian government’s Building and Construction Industries Council. He continues to work as a founding director to the architecture practice TERROIR since its establishment in 1999. Blythe is also a visiting research professor at Queen’s University in Belfast, Ireland.

“It’s a privilege to join a college with an outstanding legacy of global service and innovation in art, architecture, construction, design, public policy, and international affairs,” Blythe said on Virginia Tech's website. “I’m excited to support Virginia Tech’s visionary leadership and the world-class people and partners of CAUS to write the next bold chapter in our history. Through our collective efforts, we’ll advance the college as a model of 21st-century scholarship, research, and outreach, and work with our partners in the pursuit of the wonderful and in the service of our communities.”