Pub. 1 2013 Directory

14 THE MONTANA ARCHITECT | 2013 | www.aia-mt.org mei Li teaches architectural structures. Xuemei previously taught at Ryerson University and Seneca College in Toronto. Elisa Renouard has returned to MSU from the University of Washington—having taught at MSU in fall 2012—to teach architectural history and design. Finally, Thom Allen has traveled from New York, where he taught at Columbia University, to teach a series of design studios in our pro- gram. During the coming year, the School is conducting a search for tenure-track faculty to teach environmental controls, structures, and history courses beginning fall 2014. In the meantime, we are pleased to have Gretchen, Xuemei, Elisa and Thom join our faculty for the 2013-14 academic year. During this coming year, the School will be undergoing its regular accreditation review by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). The School submitted its Architecture Program Report—a 248 page self-assessment document—that will serve as the blueprint for the on-site visit by representatives of AIA, NCARB, AIAS and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA). This site visit will take place April 5-9, 2014 at which time the corridors and review spaces of Cheever Hall will be filled with the work of our students and faculty from the last 6 years. A public reception for alumni and professionals to visit with the NAAB team will be held on Monday April 7th at 5:30 pm in Cheever Hall and we invite the professional community to attend this event. Connections between the School and the professional community have continued to grow over the past few years. Our American Insti- tute of Architects Student (AIAS) Chapter has grown in numbers and influence. Membership has risen dramatically and their involvement with the community and profession has shown a similar increase. As you will see in the article written by current AIAS President Jamie Smith, the MSU AIAS chapter has made a strong presence at the AIAS West Quad Conferences in Portland and Denver as well as at the AIA Montana State Conference held in Bozeman this past fall. Similarly, the School continues to be involved in the AIA Northwest & Pacific Region (NWPR) Student Leadership Institute held at the regional conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. MSU architecture students traveled to the regional conference to work with students from architecture programs from throughout the NWPR and British Columbia. These teams of students developed projects centered on the theme of Architects as Makers: Makers of Change, Makers of Value, Makers of Place. In addition to the Leader- ship Institute, our students have also participated in the AIA NWPR Student Design Competition the last two years. In 2012, graduate student Michael Giuliano, under the direction of Teaching Professor Barry Newton, received one of two honor awards for design and in 2013, graduate student Scott Freimuth, under the direction of Asso- ciate Teaching Professor Chere LeClair, received a Citation Award for design. Adding to these successes, the School has been fortunate to receive generous support from the profession and our alumni. This past year, the School awarded over $69,000 in scholarships to our undergradu- ate and graduate students—an all-time record high for scholarships at the School of Architecture! AIA Montana, the Billings Architectural Association, the Great Falls Society of Architects, and the Helena So- ciety of Architects contributed almost 15% of this total. In addition, individual firms and individual members from around the state and region continue to provide significant scholarship funding, allowing us to support students at this historic level. These scholarships have made a significant difference in our students’ educational opportuni- ties—allowing them to study abroad, pursue internships, and engage in community service-learning projects. Similarly, the School of Architecture and its Advisory Council has renewed its push to fund the Visiting Professor Endowment Fund. When fully funded, this endowment will allow the School to bring world-class architects and faculty to teach in the MSU architecture program for an entire semester. While the School is committed to providing opportunities for our students to travel and see the world, the Visiting Professor program will allow us to bring the world to our students in Cheever Hall. The Visiting Professor will teach multiple classes, provide public lectures, engage with the professional commu- nity, as well as the general public, and allow the school to continue to be a center for excellence. The goal for the Visiting Professor En- dowment is one million dollars and with the recent renewed push by the SOA Advisory Council, the endowment has passed the $700,000 mark! The School is extremely grateful for the efforts and generos- ity of our alumni and our professional community—allowing us to secure the future of the school for generations to come. With all of the changes that have been happening in the School, our students recently completed a new publication of the School’s work and activities. Under the direction of Tad Bradley, v16 is the newest publication of the School. This publication can be found at http:// issuu.com/montanastateuniversity/ docs/soa_v16_sm or you can access the publication using the QR code. We invite everyone to take a look at this publication online as it rep- resents some of the very best work of our students and faculty over the last 5 years. We also invite everyone to stop by Cheever Hall the next time you are in the neighborhood and see the positive changes that new windows and ‘incredibly large’ brace frames are having on our design studio environment. It is our community of students, staff, faculty, alumni, practitioners and friends of the School that allow us to accomplish the successes you will see in the v16 publication, in the communities of our region, and in the halls of Cheever Hall—where Architecture does Matter! w