Architect, educator, and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners co-founder Billie Tsien is set to receive an Honorary Doctorate and deliver the commencement speech at the Boston Architectural College’s (BAC) graduation ceremony on Friday, May 27th. 

“It is an immense privilege to have Billie Tsien deliver the BAC’s commencement address to our graduating class in-person this year,” said Boston Architectural College President Mahesh Daas. “Her commitment to designing deeper and slower existential experiences grounded in an unmistakable sense of service, materiality and profound optimism complements the BAC’s own commitment to furthering social justice, inclusion, and diversifying design education.”

This is the latest addition to Tsien’s long list of accolades, including the National Medal of the Arts from President Obama, the Thomas Jefferson Medal Award in Architecture, the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize, and the 2013 AIA Firm of the Year Award, among others. She’s been behind many high-profile projects throughout her career, notable the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago’s Jackson Park, which recently broke ground. 

 "I have long admired the process of teaching at the BAC, which pairs practical experience with studio experience,” said Tsien. “Students learn both to solve problems and to imagine new ways of solving those problems. It is an education of roots and wings."

Along with her practice, Tsien teaches at Yale University as the Charles Gwathmey Professor in Practice. She also serves as a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and has been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, National Academy of Design, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. And, in 2021 she was appointed by President Biden to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, serving as the first Asian-American and female Chair.