Former Columbia GSAPP dean James Stewart Polshek has been posthumously honored with a new endowed scholarship in recognition of the commitment to design excellence and social causes he embodied while helming the school for fifteen years.

The Ennead founder passed away in September and was subsequently remembered with a foundational gift of $125,000 from the firm that was meant to keep alive his enduring legacy as both an architect and educator. The new $350,000 total fund will thus be given in perpetuity to an M.Arch student in their final year of study whose work demonstrates the intellectual rigor and social concern Polshek strove for beginning with his appointment in 1972.

During his tenure in Morningside, Polshek was instrumental in adding degree programs in planning and preservation to the then-named School of Architecture. He also helped to establish the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture, along with several other key scholarly institutes and programs. In a press statement, the school said they will match all donations to the new fund on a 1:1 basis. 

The first cycle for the scholarship will begin in the Fall semester of this year with a $10,000 grant that will increase in future years as support for the endowment grows. Application forms will be made available in May. Information about giving to the fund can be found here.