Heather Flood has been appointed Dean of the School of Architecture at Woodbury University. Described by the institution as an “inspiring leader and designer, as well as a passionate advocate of design education,” Flood’s appointment is effective as of December 1, 2022.

“I’m grateful to be part of a School that embraces change, difference, and choice,” Flood said regarding her appointment. “The exceptional faculty, administrators, and staff at Woodbury School of Architecture instill excellence while cultivating independence empowering students to think and make the world as it should be.”

Flood has served as the Interim Dean of Woodbury's School of Architecture since the Fall of 2021. According to the institution, Flood developed a “strong workplace culture” during her time as Interim Dean, bringing a “positive attitude, unparalleled professionalism, clear communication, collaborative skills, and commitment to facilitating new opportunities for academic growth and professional achievement.”

In addition to her academic commitments, Flood is Founder and Principal at the Los Angeles-based studio F-lab, having previously worked in the offices of Murphy, Burnham, and Buttrick Architects in New York, HOLST Architecture in Portland, and Roto Architects in Los Angeles.

Flood’s background and missions within architecture were explored in our 2022 Deans List feature interview, where we spoke with Flood in her then-capacity as Interim Dean. “I’m interested in how to laminate information so that it adds to a large body of knowledge that empowers people to have a career,” Flood told us. “Participating in the transformation of students into professionals who lead fulfilling lives is incredibly rewarding.”

Our 2022 feature also offered an insight into how Woodbury’s architecture school may continue to evolve under Flood’s leadership. When asked what the future of the school could look like, Flood expressed an ambition to “open up new combinations of expertise and in so doing, educate individuals as opposed to cohorts.”

“Our goal at Woodbury School of Architecture is to teach people how to work,” Flood told us. “We ask ourselves, 'How do we deal with DEI? How do we deal with sustainability, etc?' We deal with them squarely. We acknowledge it. We uncover and discover injustice in its many forms. We try to take responsibility for the ways in which we’re complicit and we try to equip students and faculty with the skills and ethical imperative to work on injustice in a creative way.”

Flood’s appointment is the latest in a series of high-profile announcements from U.S. architecture schools. Last month, Cornell AAP reappointed J. Meejin Yoon for a second term as dean, while Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg was announced as the next dean of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Architecture.

Meanwhile, UT Austin’s School of Architecture Dean Michelle Addington announced her departure from the position in September, followed in December by Christine Theodoropoulos, who announced her retirement as Cal Poly’s architecture and environmental design dean.