University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture (UTSOA) Dean Michelle Addington has announced that she will be stepping away from the position at the end of the academic year following a successful tenure at the helm of one of America’s leading public design colleges.

Addington has served in the role since 2017 and is considered an expert in the field of sustainability studies, holding previous academic appointments at Yale and the Harvard GSD before joining UTSOA. Her efforts to spearhead a range of initiatives resulted in the successful hiring/mentoring of award-winning professors, enhanced collaboration between academia and professional practice, the expansion of the school’s Race and Gender in the Built Environment Initiative, and an increased research output among faculty members. 

The school mentions that she was instrumental in leading, What Starts Here, a capital campaign that raised more than $20 million, and has been responsible for the procurement of some $17 million worth of grants since that time. Her efforts have helped solidify UTSOA as one of the top-rated architecture programs in the country. It now also routinely boasts "one of the most diverse incoming freshman classes in America" and was recently the recipient of a $1 million gift in honor of pioneering Black alumni and architect John S. Chase that helped to establish two new permanent endowments targeting the recruitment of HBCU graduates to Austin. 

Addington will remain in the city to oversee UT Austin’s Campus Sustainability Plan and strengthen ties between the university and local government. In a letter sent to the UTSOA community, she explained: "While I came to UT five years ago with expertise in energy conservation systems and behaviors, I have learned so much about the broader urban and regional domains, and the impacts and influences far afield. It is time for me to pull it all together and do what I do best." 

Educated as a mechanical/nuclear engineer who worked at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and for E.I. DuPont de Nemours prior to pursuing her studies and career in architecture, the engineer/architect/academic leader shared via LinkedIn, "I will be stepping up to devote my next chapter to the mitigation of climate change by the built environment. No more talk, no more bluster – we need to make a tangible difference now."