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Campus Office: 134 Design
Luis F. Rico-Gutierrez became dean of the Iowa State University College of Design in July 2009. From 2010 to 2012 he helped spearhead the reorganization of the college from four academic departments to the current seven, to better capitalize on its strengths as a truly comprehensive design college and make each discipline more visible while creating opportunities for increased collaboration among students and faculty across departments.
Rico-Gutierrez previously served on the architecture faculty at Carnegie Mellon University for 13 years, and as associate dean of CMU’s College of Fine Arts for the last eight of those years. From 2001 to 2006, he chaired the steering committee for the Studio for Creative Inquiry, a multidisciplinary arts research center within that college. He was a co-founder of Carnegie Mellon’s Remaking Cities Institute and served as its first director. He remains on the institute’s international advisory board.
Rico-Gutierrez is a professionally accredited architect in Mexico and Spain. He holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from ITESM, Queretaro, Mexico; a master’s degree in building science from Carnegie Mellon, and a graduate degree in modular design and isotropic space arrangement from the Rafael Leoz Foundation, Madrid. He is an associate member of the American Institute of Architects, a member of the AIA Large Firm Roundtable and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and a senior fellow of the Design Futures Council. He was a founding member of the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities.
Rico-Gutierrez co-chaired the ISU Presidential Search and Screen Committee that successfully recommended selection of Wendy Wintersteen as the 16th president of Iowa State in 2017. He also chaired the search committee for the James L. and Katherine S. Melsa Dean of Engineering in 2019.
