This week, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln announced its three finalist candidates for its open College of Architecture dean position. 

The University of Oregon’s director for the School of Architecture and Environment, Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg; Michigan State University’s School of Planning, Design, and Construction director Ming-Han Li; and the Lawrence Technological Institute’s College of Architecture and Design Dean Karl Daubmann are all in the running to replace Katherine Ankerson, who is stepping into her new role as the University's executive vice chancellor.

Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg is the founder of the influential Institute for Health in the Built Environment and currently directs the University of Oregon’s Biology and the Built Environment center as well as the school’s Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory. Prior to joining the faculty in Eugene, he worked as a professor at the University of Idaho Boise, where he also founded the Integrated Design Lab. A press release from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln stated that he has secured more than $40 million in research funding related to indoor environmental quality since 2004. He is also the author of three books and over 100 peer-reviewed articles, according to the university.

Karl Daubmann was a faculty member at the University of Michigan before accepting the leadership role at Lawrence Tech in 2020. He is credited with helping the school’s online M.Arch program obtain NAAB accreditation and has been equally recognized as a former partner at PLY Architecture. His academic areas of focus touch upon digital design, robotic fabrication, construction, leadership, and multidisciplinary design. Daubmann is also a fellow of the American Academy in Rome, which awarded him its Founder’s Prize in 2015.

Ming-Han Li has been nationally recognized as one of the top 25 Most Admired Educators by DesignIntelligence. He was also inducted into the Council of Fellows by the American Society of Landscape Architects in 2019. In Lansing, he oversees four of MSU's leading professional programs: construction management, interior design, landscape architecture, urban and regional planning (a doctoral program), and the National Charrette Institute. His research revolves around water management techniques, low-impact development, and landscape architecture construction with an emphasis on experiential learning.

Interviews will be held in two-day intervals between September 28th and October 11th. Public presentations begin today at 4 p.m. CT in the Sheldon Museum's Ethel S. Abbott Auditorium and will be offered in-person and virtually via Zoom. More information about the selection process can be found here.