The University of Illinois Chicago’s School of Architecture now officially has a new leader following Wednesday’s announcement that editor, writer, and academic Florencia Rodriguez has been named its next director.

Rodriguez will step into the role beginning in August. A statement from the school promised her tenure would encapsulate a desire to “promote the school’s pursuit to liberate and install new forms of collective association and material arrangement through all media of architectural design and research.”

A native Argentinian, Rodriguez comes to the position having lectured and taught theory courses at Boston Architectural College, Universidad del Litoral, and ITESM. Before moving to her post at Harvard GSD, she was a visiting professor at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella’s School of Architecture and Universidad de Palermo. She was a Loeb Fellow in 2013 and pursued her own degrees in architecture at the Universidad de Belgrano between 1993 and 2000.

Rodriguez is known for her editorial contributions to the field through her involvement with separate entities. Her direction of PLOT, which she founded in 2010, helped to turn that magazine into of Latin America’s leading design publications. She has since expanded with an imprint called Lots of Architecture, which has published several key titles since 2017, in addition to the periodical NESS, where she continues to feature the work of a diverse range of designers from every corner of the world. 

"With NESS, and previously Monte and PLOT, Florencia Rodriguez has demonstrated a significant ability and commitment to building forums focused on architecture as a cultural practice,” David Brown, UIC's associate director of graduate affairs, said of the school's new dean. “Florencia is uniquely positioned to advance the School of Architecture’s mission to prepare graduates to negotiate and collaborate across various manifestations of design, and to generate ideas and systems with contemporary cultural and disciplinary resonance.”

Rodriguez will work along with the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts (CADA) Dean Dr. Rebecca Rugg, who has served in that position since 2019. 

“I am thrilled to be joining the School of Architecture at UIC,” the incoming dean said finally. “I have long admired the School of Architecture’s commitment to a curriculum that fuses theory, technology, and rigorous research in a way that encourages students to approach architectural ideas with fresh eyes and a deep sense of purpose. I look forward to advancing this vision and adapting it to reflect the ever-shifting cultural, political, and economic realities of contemporary society.”