Professor Juan Miró was elected as a 2013 inductee into The University of Texas at Austin Academy of Distinguished Teachers. He is among only four new members selected this year. Comprising approximately 5% of the tenured faculty in the university, the Academy provides leadership in improving the quality and depth of the undergraduate experience.

Adjunct Associate Professor Barbara Hoidn, Fellow of the O’Neil Ford Centennial Chair in Architecture, was elected a member of the Scientific Committee for the 25th International Building & Life Congress, organized by the Chamber of Architects of Turkey Section of the International Union of Architects (UIA) in Turkey. 

Dr. Nancy Kwallek, director of the UTSOA Interior Design Program, and alumna Elise Wasser-King [MID, ’12] curated a poster and a slide presentation representing work from the school’s bachelor and master’s interior design programs for the Architecture Center Houston (ArCH).

Anthony Alofsin, Roland Roessner Centennial Professor of Architecture, has written a feature essay for the spring 2013 issue of ArchitectureBoston magazine. This issue’s theme is “Walter Gropius: The Cambridge Years.” Addtionally, Dr. Alofsin was invited to present a paper on “Ornament and Cultural Interpretation” at the international conference, “Dibujar las artes aplicadas: dibujo de ornamentación, arquitectura efirma y retablistica entre Portugal, España y Italia,” which will take place at the University of Cordoba on June 5 and 6. Alofsin’s most recent book, Dream Home: What You Need to Know Before You Buy, was published in April. A consumer’s guide written for a general audience, this colorfully illustrated paperback explains the housing industry, the process of buying a new home, and the architectural issues affecting the quality of life in the home. 

Architectural history professor Christopher Long recently presented two lectures, “Adolf Loos and the Strategy of Sorting” at the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna (in conjunction with the exhibition “Adolf Loos: Our Contemporary”) and “The Looshaus” at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Professor Long also contributed an essay, “Ornament is Not Exactly a Crime: On the Long and Curious Afterlife of Adolf Loos’s Famed Essay,” in Yehuda Safran, ed., Adolf Loos: Our Contemporary (New York: GSAPP, Columbia University, 2013).

Associate Professor Udovi_ki-Selb  at the Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) presented a paper titled “Elusive Faces of Modernity: The Decade-long Urban Debates about the Future of Paris on the Occasion of the 1937 Expo.” Additionally he presented a paper titled “A Transalpine Scientia at Brunelleschi’s Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore” at the “Deeper History: Contemporary Considerations of Architecture’s Long Past” symposium at MIT held in honor of David Friedman.

Assistant Professor Allan Shearer has received a Mid-Career Grant from the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation.

Assistant Professor Matt Fajkus was named a finalist in the “2013 Austin Under 40 Awards,” which recognize a combination of professional achievement and community service. Fajkus was one of five finalists in the Design, Architecture, and Engineering Category. Additionally, Fajkus was honored with Special Mention: Alternative Typology Category, in the “d3 Unbuilt Visions 2012 Competition,” for his Flat House theoretical sustainable design project. The design team included Matt Fajkus, Brandon Hubbard, and Bo Yoon.