Land and property development professor earns 2015 Regan Prize

For leadership in multidisciplinary education, Geoffrey Booth, an associate professor who heads classes in the Texas A&M [Master of Land and Property Development] (http://laup.arch.tamu.edu/academics/graduate/mlpd/) program, was selected as the recipient of the 2015 J. Thomas Regan Interdisciplinary Prize.

The prize was established by the College of Architecture’s Dean’s Advisory Council to honor Regan, former dean of the college and a champion of interdisciplinary education in the built environment disciplines, who died in 2015. The prize is awarded annually to a faculty member selected by a faculty committee from a pool of nominees.

In a Regan Prize nomination letter, Mark Clayton and Wei Yan, [architecture] (http://dept.arch.tamu.edu/) professors at Texas A&M, credited Booth with leading students and faculty to higher levels of excellence by reaching across disciplinary and administrative boundaries.

Booth played a primary role in a spring 2015 project that saw design, [construction science] (http://cosc.arch.tamu.edu/) and MLPD students create design concepts, construction schedules and operating cost estimates for Rivertree Academy , a faith-based boarding school.

In fall 2015, graduate real estate students from Texas A&M’s Mays Business School joined Booth’s MLPD students in identifying numerous amenities and factors that affect the value of a northwest Houston subdivision.

Booth is also providing his expertise in course development to faculty in three college departments who are exploring the inclusion of virtual reality in architecture history courses.

“I have consistently been impressed by Booth’s emphasis on cross discipline learning and practical education that involves student participation,” said Kirk Hamilton, associate professor of architecture. “The real world, of course, requires collaboration of multiple specialties and disciplines to deliver successful projects.”

Booth avoids faculty members’ tendency to develop a “silo mentality,” said El Elmore, senior lecturer of management at the Texas A&M Mays Business School. “He encourages his students to take a multidisciplinary approach in their projects.”

Booth has also served on many [Master of Landscape Architecture] (http://laup.arch.tamu.edu/academics/graduate/mla/) final study committees, said Chang-Shan Huang, head of the MLPD program and associate professor of landscape architecture.

“With his land development perspective, he has helped landscape architecture students recognize the importance of market and financial aspects of community and urban designs,” he said.