Robbins appointed dean of Syracuse University’s School of Architecture

Robbins appointed dean of Syracuse University’sSchool of ArchitectureJanuary 20, 2004Amy Schmitzaemehrin@syr.edu

Mark Robbins has been named the new dean of Syracuse University’s School of Architecture. Robbins, currently a visiting critic at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard, will begin his deanship in the Fall 2004 semester.

“With such a rich background and incomparable expertise, Mark Robbins is the clear choice for the position of dean of the School of Architecture,” says Vice Chancellor and Provost Deborah A. Freund. “He will bring the invaluable experience of his years as an architect, an artist, an educator and a nationally recognized administrator. The School of Architecture will benefit greatly from his presence.”

According to Bruce S. Fowle ’60, “The appointment of Mark Robbins is wonderful news for the School of Architecture and for the city of Syracuse.” Fowle, a member of the search committee and chairman of the school’s advisory board, says that “Robbins is internationally renowned, and he will build on the School’s recent recognition by the Design Futures Council – ranked fourth nationally and number one on the East Coast among architecture and design schools. He is also eager to collaborate on revitalizing the city of Syracuse.”

Robbins began his architecture career in New York City at the firms of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), Polshek and Partners and Emilio Ambasz before starting his own practice in 1986. His projects have subsequently been exhibited in venues throughout the United States and abroad, including the Miami Art Project, the Adelaide Festival in Australia, the Museum of Modern Art in Saitama, Japan, the Queens Museum, the Clocktower Gallery of the ICA in New York and the Wexner Center for the Arts.

From 1990-99, Robbins taught at the Knowlton School of Architecture at the Ohio State University. He was the curator of Architecture at the Wexner Center for the Arts from 1993-99. From 1999 to 2002, he was the director of design at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), where he undertook an aggressive program to strengthen the presence of design in the public realm. At the NEA, he tripled the available funding for the various design disciplines; expanded the “Mayor’s Institute on City Design,” a program dedicated to urban revitalization; and developed the “New Public Works” initiative, which has since supported more than 30 national design competitions.

Robbins began a publication series on design while at the NEA and has edited five of the series’ books. In addition he has written numerous articles and essays on art and architecture for exhibition catalogs and books, including “Next Generation Architecture,” “Against Design” and “Archilab, Radical Experiments in Global Architecture.” He has also contributed to monographs on the work of LOT/ek, Weiss/Manfredi and the painter Guillermo Kuitca.

His work is included in “Poetics of Architecture,” “Architecture of the Everyday,” “581 Architects in the World,” “50 Contemporary Architects” and “New York: Nomadic Design.” A monograph of his work called “Angles of Incidence” was published in 1992. Robbins is the recipient of the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome and has received grants from the NEA, the Graham Foundation and the State Arts Councils of Ohio and New York.

Robbins is a 1981 alumnus of SU, holding a master’s degree from the School of Architecture. He also holds a bachelor’s in anthropology and film from Colgate University.