Columbia University professor Malo A. Hutson has been appointed as the dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia, effective July 1st. Hutson, who is currently a tenured professor and director of the Urban Planning Ph.D. Program in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University as well as the school’s Urban Community and Health Equity Lab, succeeds Ila Berman, who served as dean of the UVA School of Architecture for five years and will return to the school’s faculty.
With a nationally and internationally recognized expertise in the subjects of community development, environmental justice, and urban health, “Hutson brings with him a proven track record of academic leadership, and his collaborations across disciplines in both the academic and professional sphere place him at the nexus of environmental, architectural and urban equity studies,” as said by UVA Today.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the School of Architecture as dean,” Hutson said. “The A-School faculty and students are at the cutting edge of research, teaching and creative practice. Collectively the A-School community is working to address some of the most pressing issues facing our society, ranging from climate resilience to environmental health and racial justice.”
At Columbia, Hutson was also a faculty member of both the Earth Institute and the Columbia Population Research Center, where he co-led the urbanism group. In addition, he served as director of project development for Columbia World Projects, a university-wide initiative focused on mobilizing Columbia researchers to work on global challenges in collaboration with the government, private sector, and community organizations. As noted by UVA Today, “In this role, he helped build teams and develop a portfolio of projects in excess of $100 million with wide strategic scope and significant social impact, including several projects sited in Virginia.” Furthermore, Hutson served as a member of the Columbia’s Provost’s Advisory Council for the Enhancement of Faculty Diversity and co-led GSAPP’s Anti-Racism Task Force.
Hutson’s research focuses on community development and urban equity, including the intersection of urban planning and racial, ethnic, and health inequities, along with the interplay of the built environment and health. He is also the co-founder and a principal of a professional services consulting firm that specializes in community-centered projects with the aim of improving the economic, environmental, political, and social well-being of urban residents.
Before his post at Columbia, Hutson held a tenured appointment as Chancellor’s Professor of City and Regional Planning in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the College of Environmental Design, University of California at Berkeley. At Berkeley, he also chaired the Urban Studies program and served as the associate director of the Institute of Urban and Regional Development. Hutson is also a graduate of UC Berkeley, having received a Bachelor of Arts in sociology in 1997 and a Master of City Planning in Regional and Economic Development in 1999. In 2006, he received a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Scholar postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health.
Hutson has been the recipient of other numerous fellowships and awards throughout his career, including the Salzburg Global Fellowship and two Mellow Fellowships.
“Malo brings a depth and breadth of experience and scholarly accomplishment that stand out in his field,” UVA Provost Liz Magill said. “Just as important is his vision for the future of UVA Architecture and its ability to create solutions for real-world problems. Malo has continuously demonstrated strategic brilliance in connecting architecture and urban planning to other disciplines for the benefit of his community, his students and his profession.”
22 Comments
Is Mr. Hutson a registered architect?
Not according to his CV. But damn, did you read his CV?
What a hopelessly, and idiotic concern. He's an educator, not a practitioner.
the insecurity of those who only have credentialism to justify their value is always painfully apparent.
is he stamping drawings???
I can't recall when/if a planner served as the Dean, and can only think of two landscape architects (Elizabeth Meyer and Harry Porter). Some very interesting opportunities for different perspectives regarding longstanding initiatives and activities in the school along with campus-wide collaborations.
"Only" credentialism? Or "and"? Sounds like he's practiced plenty. Who's insecure here?
Not sure if that was pointed at my use of those two words. So in longer form- in the just over 50 years of Landscape Architecture at UVA (not familiar with the start year of the planning program), only two people that served as Deans have not been Architects. This is despite a long-standing commitment to looking beyond the building envelope to understand the built environment. This decision is good news, timely (look at the studio projects), and again -a good opportunity to expand the impact of the School.
Hey Marc—definitely not pointed at you. (Side eyes emoji @square.). I think Malo brings a ton to the table and is a fantastic choice. I am always impressed not only by your ability to contribute meaningfully to a conversation, but also that you do so earnestly and in good faith.
I think the criticism , from square, is directed at the individual asking whether or not the new dean is a practitioner, and how people only find value in those that are...
Maybe I’ll have decaf tomorrow…
yes, my comment was @ vol. i'm licensed, but wouldn't need it to justify value, especially if i were a planner and dean of a university.
b3ta, on the re-read I think you're right. My mistake for not picking up on that the first time, and apologies to square. Side eyes back on Volunteer...
It would probably be good for me to go decaf tomorrow as well, Marc.
Odd that many people here would get the vapors and retire to their couch if a non-architect so much as designed and built a potting shed for their backyard but these same people have no problem with a non-architect being the Dean of Architecture. I don't think a degree or any formal schooling at all is necessary for the position but being an accomplished architect in the larger sense is. If a school wanted to hire Tadao Ando or John Pawson as Dean of Architecture I think it would be a brilliant move.
It's really weird that you think people trained to teach, should also be inclined to be a practitioner. What is it you think a dean does?
Then why not make him Dean of the Music Department or Dean of Romance Languages?
Why don't you just stop. You're embarrassing yourself.
The former dean of the school I went to was a practitioner, his "practical" experience made for a horrible learning experience.
It's not a matter of practice vs. academia- it's the implicit suggestion that of the six degree-granting programs in the entire SCHOOL (caps to make it clear that we aren't talking about leadership for only one program), practitioners from only one of them are qualified to articulate school trajectories, represent the goals of the school, and create opportunities for collaboration across the campus (I hope you don't think they get to hide behind the president's residence and museum and do "what architects do").
Narrow framing of how a School like this - which has long worked towards a layered and shared approach to teaching the built environment (not just walls and roofs) - illustrates exclusionary attitudes that are not visionary, but stifle collaborative and creative thinking. This is the siloing that is so often decried inside and outside academia- and is increasingly financially infeasible.
WRT why not music or Romance Languages? Because Urban + Environmental Planning is one of the three key programs in the SCHOOL.
Not too many years ago, Volunteer, I would have also wanted the Dean to be a registered architect. My attitude towards registration has changed dramatically in the last decade.
From the beginiing, I've never really cared if someone wants to design their own potting shed. I'm a big "your property, your decision" proponent when it comes to aesthetics (tho not things like toxic waste).
But the architecture field is now so fuzzy and connected with other design realms and even moreso issues like the supply chain and land use and climate and consumption and labor and access....
I think architects need to be registered if they are dealing directly with the HSW of the public in built structures. And I'm damn proud of myself for being registered, and respect the accomplishment in others. But when it comes to academia, I don't really care any more. Academia is so far removed from today's practice, and this is potentially a good thing! Because it opens the field up to different ways of practice, that will hopefully be less destructuve to the planet and its inhabitants. I still believe we can design our way out of any problem, but a license isn't needed to think in creative ways.
A Dean of Architecture should have a thorough knowledge of the history and practice of architecture as well have made a contribution to the profession and be well respected within the profession. On another thread one graduate of an architecture school, who was working in an architecture office preparing architecture drawings was pilloried for referring to himself as an 'unlicensed architect'. On the face of it he is more qualified to be the Dean of Architecture at UVa than the guy they just hired.
(I say as a 54 year old woman) Is there any more appropriate response to your last sentence than "OK, Boomer"?
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