What courses do I teach?
I am a studio instructor and teach a Green and Sustainable Architecture class, ARCH 558. In this class, students learn to navigate the field of sustainability in architecture, with all its tools, techniques, and visions for the future. ARCH 558 is a highly participative seminar, and students give small research presentations on selected themes. Dialogue and discussion are encouraged, and students develop sustainable design research themes and creative options.
Why should a student take my class? How does my class help students become employable?
ARCH 558 students are exceptionally employable. Those taking my class have a strong advantage over and above their peers. They are able to discuss foundational ideas in the history and theories of sustainable design and critically engage with the different tools and methods available to designers, knowing their advantages and disadvantages. The problem of sustainability is not going away anytime soon, and neither is the need for designers to be able to understand the imperative of sustainable design.
How does my prior experience contribute to the classroom discussion and the way I teach?
I came to Iowa State after spending six years working on architecture-related research projects at Loughborough University and The University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, within commercial practice and government. During this time I was awarded a prestigious three-year ESRC/EPSRC interdisciplinary fellowship to examine sustainable schools and sustainable behaviors and subsequently worked as a research fellow for a central UK government research unit, Defra's Sustainable Behaviors Unit in Westminster, London. This prior experience taught me how important and transferable the skills of the academic environment are to professional practice and to policymakers. In 2018 I gained tenure at Iowa State University, and in 2021 was elected Faculty Senate President. Leadership has been a curiosity throughout my career. As a first-generation student, it was well into my career before I recognized the benefit of mentorship and support, and I have now cultivated a network of coaches and critical friends. It’s a great team. I bring to my classroom and its rich discussions, a broad background in scholarship and research and insight gained from practice in tools and methods of participatory action research and situational leadership.
What is one thing I try to teach ALL of my students?
Sustainable design is all about making situationally specific design decisions in different social, economic, and ecological contexts. There are so many visions of a future and so many associated methods, that designers have a responsibility to be able to develop a level of technical and theoretical understanding of this field and be able to act within it.
What is my teaching style? I am a student-centric teacher. I foster curiosity.
What are my expectations for students?
I would like all of my students to have gained from my design studios and seminars a degree of self-efficacy, the importance of persistence (in studies and in career development), and a sense of belonging to a professional body of architects and designers working to develop a vision for a sustainable future.