University of Virginia

 

Dean of the School of Architecture

 

Kim Tanzer, a professor of architecture whose teaching and research encompass three key areas – the relationship between the human body and the built environment; environmental design and sustainability; and African-American neighborhoods and their role in social equity – will become dean of the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture on July 1.

 

Kim is currently Professor of Architecture at the University of Florida, where she has taught since 1988. During her tenure at the university, she has served in a variety of leadership positions. Some of her recent roles have included the presidency of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture; chairperson of the university’s faculty senate and faculty member of the board of trustees; co-founder and first director of the Florida Community Design Center, Inc.; and special adviser to the university’s president on his university-wide sustainability initiatives.

 

She has received local and national awards for her community-based architecture practice and service, including for her extensive work in Fifth Avenue/Pleasant Street, a historically African-American neighborhood in Gainesville, Fla.

 

As dean, Tanzer will be responsible for, among other things, the Architecture School’s educational affairs; the development of its academic programs; effective leadership with students, faculty, staff and alumni; and fund-raising initiatives to enhance the school’s current and future aspirations.

 

In addition to many scholarly and popular articles, Tanzer recently co-edited with Rafael Longoria “The Green Braid: Towards an Architecture of Ecology, Economy, and Social Equity.”

Kim graduated magna cum laude from Duke University in 1977 with a bachelor of arts degree. In 1984, she received her master of architecture degree from North Carolina State University, with a minor in landscape architecture.