Educating Architects in Sustainability
February 18, 2017
Marvin J. Malecha, FAIA, our speaker for February, joined NewSchool of Architecture & Design as the President and Chief Academic Officer on January 1, 2016. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Architecture from Harvard University. Professor Malecha was Dean of California Polytechnic University Pomona for twelve years and then spent the next 21 years as Dean of North Carolina State University, retiring as Dean Emeritus in December, 2015. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
President Malecha has forty years of experience in academia, architecture, and global design education. He was recognized as the 1980 Rotch Traveling Scholar and has continued receiving many prestigious awards and honors throughout his career. These include an honorary membership in the European Association for Architectural Education; the Distinguished Professor Award in 2002 from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA); and, the Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education in 2003, awarded jointly by the AIA and the ACSA. He was inducted into Sigma Xi, the scientific research society, in 2006; and, in 2009 served as President of the AIA. He has also authored many books and articles; the latest is Being Creative: Being a Creative (June 2015). To complement his administrative responsibilities, he teaches some courses on critical thinking and professional practice. He also maintains an architectural practice in association with others.
Malecha is known internationally for his global view in architectural and design academic programs, conducting many seminars and lectures at universities abroad. He founded a bi-annual conference between the Architecture Research Centers Consortium and the European Association of Architectural Educators. In Romania he was presented an honorary degree, the Professor Honoris Causa. He has actively promoted international study and exchange, developing programs in Great Britain, Ghana, and elsewhere.
Mr. Malecha was not a stranger to NewSchool when he arrived a year ago. He has been a member of the NewSchool Board of Directors since 2010 and is familiar with the school and its goals, and with a city in the midst of a major, vital transformation. He feels NewSchool “has a model of education that allows us to change and transform our curriculum with the agility that most big public universities can only admire from afar”. He is excited about the cultural changes taking place—the new ways of doing things and new technologies, the diversity of the students, and the different ways of practicing architecture.
The practice of architecture has changed so much over the last forty years and so has the education of architects. As an educator, Professor Malecha is excited to train students in this dynamic profession.