Dean announces professorship, chair, fellowship appointments

Several new and renewed appointments to endowed professorships and chairs at the Texas A&M College of Architecture were recently announced by Jorge Vanegas, dean of the college. The endowments support teaching, research and service initiatives, encourage research and creative activities, and enable holders to sponsor high impact learning activities.

New appointments

Sammy “Kent” Anderson , executive associate professor of landscape architecture, now holds the Nicole and Kevin Youngblood Professorship in Residential Land Development . Anderson’s interests include land development, site analysis and infrastructure, residential land development, and commercial development.

The Youngbloods are part of the Mitchell Family, founders of [History Maker Homes] (http://www.historymaker.com/houston?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIu8uozMDT2wIViKxpCh1pyAvNEAAYASAAEgJib_D_BwE) , who established the professorship to support teaching focused on residential development, construction and design.

Eric Bardenhagen , associate professor of landscape architecture, now holds the Harold L. Adams ’61 Endowed Interdisciplinary Professorship in Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning . Bardenhagen is interested in natural and cultural resource planning, hazards and national parks, resource valuation, campus planning, urban design, recreation system planning and design.
Adams endowed the professorship to support interdisciplinary teaching, research and professional development activities related to the built environment professions. He sponsors interdisciplinary professorships in all four College of Architecture departments.

Mark Clayton , professor of architecture, holds the William M. Peña Endowed Professorship in Information Management . An expert in building information modeling, housing design and construction, facility management, information technology, energy systems and technology management, Clayton’s areas of interest also include historic preservation and recovery in the wake of natural disasters. He is also director of the CRS Center for Leadership and Management in the Design and Construction Industry.

The professorship was established to honor [Peña] (http://www.arch.tamu.edu/community/formerstudents/outstanding-alumni/past-honorees/60/) , a pioneer in architectural programming, by CRSS, the successor firm to [Caudill Rowlett Scott] (http://crs.arch.tamu.edu/about-us/history/) , the landmark architecture, engineering and planning firm in which Peña served as a principal.

George Mann , professor of architecture, holds the Ronald L. Skaggs Professorship in Health Facilities Design . Mann has an international reputation as a leader in health facilities design, teaching more than 4,000 students and leading more than 650 architecture-for-health projects.

Skaggs, chairman emeritus of [HKS Inc.] (http://hksinc.com/) , has been actively engaged in the design of more than 650 architectural projects. He established the professorship to further scholarly activities in health facility design.

Walter Gillis Peacock , professor of urban planning and director of the [Hazard Reduction & Recovery Center] (http://hrrc.arch.tamu.edu/) , holds the Sandy and Bryan Mitchell Master Builder Endowed Chair . Peacock is interested in urban planning, sustainability and resiliency, natural hazard, hazard mitigation, long-term disaster recovery, and quantitative methods.

The Mitchell family, founders of History Maker Homes, established the chair to support teaching, research, service and professional development, and to coordinate activities of the [Mitchell Studio] (http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2012/4/27/exploring-forms-materials/) and other chairs and professorships they endowed at the college.

Wei Yan , professor of architecture, is holder of the Mattia Flabiano III AIA/Page Southerland Design Professorship . Yan, a Texas A&M Presidential Impact Fellow, has academic interest in computer-aided architectural design, visualization, parametric modeling, building information modeling and computational methods in architecture.

The professorship, established by the Page Southerland Page Foundation, supports teaching, research, service and professional development activities for faculty members with expertise in and commitment to design methodology.

Renewed appointments

K.C. Choi , associate professor of construction science, remains the Cecil Windsor Jr. ’66 Endowed Professorship in Construction Science . Interested in infrastructure construction management, Choi’s work has focused on integrated transportation informatics, modeling and optimization through deep-learning, sustainability, and information technology.

[Gamma Construction] (http://www.gammaconst.com/) established the professorship to advance new technology in construction science while honoring Windsor, 1966 Texas A&M graduate who served as vice president of the company’s Denver office.

Rodney Hill , professor of architecture, remains the Harold L. Adams ’61 Endowed Interdisciplinary Professorship in Architecture . Hill’s interests include social and behavioral factors in architecture, creativity and future studies.

Adams established interdisciplinary professorships in all four College of Architecture departments to support interdisciplinary teaching, research and professional development activities related to the built environment professions.

Carol Lafayette , professor of visualization, remains the Harold L. Adams ’61 Endowed Interdisciplinary Professorship in Visualization . Her scholarly focus lies at intersection of science, engineering, arts and design. She invents unique ways to experience flora, fauna and phenomena in her Texas ranch studio.