New Chair Named to University of Tennessee Graduate Architecture Program

George Dodds has been appointed the chair of the graduate architecture program in the College of Architecture and Design at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Dodds, a professor of architecture, will oversee the program’s three tracks in master of architecture studies. He has served as interim chair since August and replaces Associate Professor Mark DeKay, who held the position from 2008 until this year. 

“In his role as interim chair, I have witnessed his dedication to recruiting, advising and mentoring,” Dean Scott Poole said. “Dr. Dodds has extensive experience teaching graduate students in our college, as well as at the University of Pennsylvania and Clemson University.

“By way of his own graduate studies and through his service as executive editor of the Journal of Architectural Education, he has built an impressive network of colleagues who can assist us in our efforts to establish a graduate program with national stature.” 

Since joining the college in 2000, Dodds has published two books, “Building Desire: On the Barcelona Pavilion” and “Body and Building: Essays on the Changing Relation of Body and Architecture.” In 2006, he was named the executive editor of the Journal of Architectural Education and the James R. Cox Professor, an honor given by the university to faculty who demonstrate excellence in teaching, scholarship and service.

A Distinguished Professor of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, he earned his bachelor of architecture from the University of Detroit and master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. During his doctoral studies, he was a fellow in landscape studies at Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks Library and Research Center in Washington, D.C.

The college’s graduate program in architecture is distinguished for its strengths in sustainable building, urban design, high-performance building technology and the history and theory of architecture. The program currently has nearly fifty graduate students and anticipates increasing student enrollment next year. 

To learn more about the UT graduate architecture program, please visit http://www.arch.utk.edu/Architecture/Graduate/index.shtml.