Great at What We Do

Program

• National Ranking
  The undergraduate architecture program at Iowa State has been ranked in the top 20 nationally for seven consecutive years by DesignIntelligence, the prestigious professional publication whose annual college survey focuses exclusively on design programs. Their 2009 report also listed the ISU Department of Architecture as one of "America's World-Class Architecture Schools."
• U.S. DOE Solar Decathlon
  Architecture Assistant Professor Ulrike Passe led a multidisciplinary team of more than 200 students and faculty from across the university, many from the architecture department and College of Design, to a 12th-place finish in the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.
• Bridge Studio
  The Bridge Studio, a multidisciplinary studio course that focuses on the design of affordable, sustainable housing, won the 2009 NCARB Grand Prize for Creative Integration of Practice and Education in the Academy presented by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. It also won a 2009 U.S. Green Building Council Excellence in Green Building Education Recognition Award from the U.S. Green Building Council. The studio was developed and taught by Nadia Anderson, assistant professor of architecture.
• NCARB Grant for the Integration of Practice and Education in the Academy
  "Practicing Structure," a proposal by ISU architecture faculty members Tom Leslie and Robert Whitehead, was awarded a 2009 NCARB Grant for the Integration of Practice and Education in the Academy by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. The grant will support development of beginning and intermediate structure courses that will teach students how to better integrate basic structural principles into their design work.

Students

• Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship
  Fourth-year architecture student Clark Colby received a $4,500 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study with the College of Design's Rome Program in spring 2010.
• Hospitality Design Awards
  Michael Grundleger of Des Moines and Jennifer Lehmkuhl of Hiawatha, both graduate students in architecture, won the top award in the student category of the fourth annual HD Awards competition in 2008 for their design of an innovative hotel with an art gallery. Their work appeared on the cover of the December 2008 issue of Hospitality Design magazine.
• Research in the Capitol
  Keihly Moore, fifth-year student in architecture and environmental studies, presented her research on "2008 Iowa flooding: Disaster mitigation, an integrated systems approach" at the fourth annual Research in the Capitol event in the rotunda of the State Capitol building in Des Moines in 2009.

Faculty

• Midwest Voices and Visions Award
  Mitchell Squire, associate professor of architecture, is one of seven artists of color to receive the 2010 Midwestern Voices and Visions award from the Alliance of Artists Communities. Funded by the Joyce Foundation, the award provides each artist with a short-term residency at a Midwestern arts organization and a $4,000 stipend to support his or her creative endeavors. Squire will spend five weeks in residence at Ox-Bow School of Art in Saugatuck, Mich., beginning in September 2010.
• American Philosophical Society Sabbatical Fellowship
  Tom Leslie, associate professor of architecture, received an American Philosophical Society Sabbatical Fellowship for his research on Chicago architecture. Leslie, who is on a faculty development leave of absence from Iowa State for the Spring 2010 semester, will use the APS fellowship over the next two years to complete his manuscript on the technical history of Chicago skyscrapers.
• AIA Iowa Medal of Honor
  Calvin F. Lewis, professor and chair of the Iowa State University department of architecture, received the 2009 Medal of Honor from the Iowa Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Iowa). The award recognizes an AIA Iowa member for distinguished service to the architecture profession. Mark C. Engelbrecht, professor of architecture and dean emeritus of the ISU College of Design, received the AIA Iowa Medal of Honor in 2008.
• AIA Iowa Educator Award
  Kate Schwennsen, professor of architecture and associate dean for academic programs in the College of Design at Iowa State University, received the 2009 Educator Award from the Iowa Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Iowa). The award recognizes individuals for their contributions to architectural education in Iowa. Recipients have positively influenced a large number and wide range of students, are forward-thinking and integrate other areas of expertise into their teaching. David Block, professor of architecture, received the AIA Iowa Educator Award in 2008.
• ACSA Creative Achievement Award
  Mitchell Squire, associate professor of architecture, received a 2008-09 Creative Achievement Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) for his "positive and stimulating influence" on students at Iowa State through the semester-long course he created, Craft and Crafty Action: On the Relationship between Creativity and Mischief.
• ACSA Distinguished Professor
  Iowa State architecture professor Gregory Palermo is one of three in the nation to receive the Distinguished Professor Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture in 2008. He was recognized for sustained creative achievement in the advancement of architectural education through teaching, design, scholarship, research or service. More broadly, the award honors faculty members for inspiring and challenging students, contributing to the architecture profession's knowledge base and extending their work beyond the borders of academia into practice and the public sector.