Evan Douglis has just been announced the new Dean of the School of Architecture at Rennselear Polytechnic Institute. Douglis will be leaving his undergraduate chair position at Pratt. Take the jump to read the official announcement.

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Evan Douglis as Dean of the
School of Architecture. Mr. Douglis will join Rensselaer on August 1,
2009.

Mr. Douglis is currently the Chair of the Undergraduate Department in
the School of Architecture at Pratt Institute. Prior to his appointment
at Pratt, he served as Assistant Associate Professor at Columbia
University, the Director of Columbia University’s Architecture
Galleries, and as a Visiting Professor at The Cooper Union. Mr. Douglis
has also taught at various programs both nationally and internationally,
including the International University at Cataluyna, Barcelona, Spain;
Hubei Fine Arts Institute in Wuhan, China; SCI-Arc Southern California
Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles; and The Central Academy of
Fine Arts in Beijing.

As the Dean of Architecture at Rensselaer, Mr. Douglis will be
responsible for leading the School of Architecture into a higher
position of national and international prominence through the pursuit of
excellence in undergraduate and graduate educational programs and
research. Mr. Douglis is expected to continue the development of
interdisciplinary initiatives, as well as the appointment, promotion,
and development of a diverse world-class faculty and staff.

Mr. Douglis is the principal of Evan Douglis Studio, an internationally
renowned architecture and interdisciplinary design firm focused on
innovative and contemporary design. The firm is recognized for research
utilizing digital design and fabrication technology and new, diverse
building components for gallery installations and commercial
projects. Mr. Douglis’ work encompasses the role of smart building
materials in sustainable design, the function and use of modular
building components, and the relationship between functional structure
and ornament.

His work has been included in the publications Sign as Surface; INDEX
Architecture; The State of Architecture at the Beginning of the 21st
Century; the 2004 ARCHILAB Exhibition Catalog titled Naked City; and the
2005 Phaidon publication titled 10×10_2. In 2007, his work was
showcased in the competition catalogue Distinguishing Digital
Architecture: 6th Far Eastern International Digital Architectural Design
Award and Brick: the book, a publication that features the latest in
brick design. His work also has appeared in the books FURNISH: Furniture
and Interior Design for the 21st Century and Architecture Now 5. His
book Autogenic Structures was released in December 2008.

Mr. Douglis earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture in 1983 from
The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union and his
Master of Architecture Degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School
of Design.

He was awarded a Distinguished Professorship in Design from The City
College of New York in 2008, and was selected as a participant and
exhibitor in the 2004 ARCHILAB International Conference in Orleans,
France. His firm was one of ten international firms selected by
Architectural Record as part of its December 2005 Design Vanguard
Competition profile.

Mr. Douglis received a 2005 Design Merit Award in the International
FEIDAD Competition, and he was a finalist nominee for the 2006 North
American James Beard Foundation Restaurant Design Awards. In 2006 he
received the ACADIA Award for Emerging Digital Practice and was a
selected fellow in the EKWC European Ceramic Work Centre’s Brick Project
Residency Program at the European Ceramic Work Centre in Hertogenbosch,
Netherlands. His project fLORA-flex was exhibited in the recent
Rotterdam Biennale 2007, which illustrated the future of the brick as
beautiful, rounded modular tiles.

Mr. Douglis is a thoughtful, energetic, personable, and widely
experienced leader. He brings an outstanding combination of successful
teaching, scholarship, research, professional practice, academic
leadership, and creative vision to Rensselaer at a time when we are
moving boldly into new fields that will be critically important in the
21st century.

Let me also take this opportunity to express my appreciation and to
personally thank Mr. Mark Mistur for serving as the Acting Dean of the
School of Architecture. He will return to his academic position as an
Associate Professor in the School of Architecture.

Please join me in thanking Mr. Mistur and in welcoming Mr. Evan Douglis
to our community.

Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D.
President
Professor of Physics
Professor of Engineering Sciences