The School of Architecture is pleased to announce that Assistant Professor Dr. Susanne Cowan has joined the faculty at Montana State University. She received her B.A. in Landscape Architecture, and her Ph.D. in the History of Architecture and Urbanism, both from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on the relationship between urban design and the social conditions of cities, particularly regarding participatory democracy as a method for making city planning and policy decisions.

In her dissertation, “Democracy, Technocracy and Publicity: Public Consultation and British Planning, 1939-1951”, Susanne explores how architects and town planners created a forum for democratic debate about new planning policies. She recently completed an oral history documentary film, “Design as a Social Act,” which examines how architects have approached the social needs of users in the design process. In her most recent work, she has been tracing the ways that planning policies in de-industrializing cities have shaped the process of urban decay and gentrification, and what positive or negative impacts urban design interventions have had on social and economic conditions of residents.

Susanne’s interest in participatory design grows from her commitment to professional activism in the design of the built environment, demonstrated in her work as an environmental educator for Americorps, and her training as a facilitator for collaborative policy-making.

Teaching Professor John R. (Jack) Smith, ARCH.D., FAIA, NCARB, received a 2014 Citation Award from the AIA Montana Design Awards Program for his House III project in Hulen Meadows, Idaho and a 2014 AIA Idaho Honor Award.

Associate Teaching Professor Chere LeClair, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP was elected as the Northwest and Pacific AIA Regional Director.

Graduate student, Kluane Weibel, received a Merit Award for her project titled “Artic Dwelling” at the AIA Regional Student Leadership Institute Meeting.  Kluane’s advisors were Associate Professors Maire O’Neill and Chris Livingston and Professor Ralph Johnson.

Assistant Professor Bradford Watson, Associate Professor Mike Everts, and Professor John C Brittingham presented at the ACSA International Conference in Seoul Korea.  Assistant Professor Watson presented “Displaced Territories with Sean Burkholder from UBC, Associate Professor Everts presented “Creating Hybrid Programs and Predicting Their Evolution Through 4D Parametric Analysis” and Professor Brittingham presented “Unlikely Partnerships.”

Professor Fatih Rifki presented “Genesis and Epicenter of Renaissance: Florence versus Istanbul” at the 4th Annual International Conference on Architecture in Athens, Greece.