UA School of Architecture Celebrates Sixty

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas School of Architecture started small: 17 students taking two classes within the College of Engineering. Sixty years later, the program has grown into the only accredited architecture school in the state, boasting 2,144 graduates who have designed award-winning parks, gardens, structures and communities across the state and around the world. Over 350 alumni, faculty and friends of the school will gather on campus March 31 — April 1 to celebrate the School’s first sixty years. Among the RSVPs:

• Five architecture faculty members from this 1960 photo will attend. (Back row, left to right: Ernie Jacks, John Williams, Donald K. Strohmeyer, Fay Jones, Cy Sutherland; front row, left to right: Frank Pillert, Keith McPheeters, Herb Fowler).

  Professor Emeritus John G. Williams, who taught those first two courses, nurtured (and hired) talents such as AIA Gold Medal winner Fay Jones, and helped to build the program into a school,

• Catherina Kik Taylor (’51), the first woman graduate, who practiced with her husband Jack Taylor (’52) in Springfield, Mo.,
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• Jeffrey Scherer (’71), cofounder of Minneapolis firm Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle Ltd., which has designed libraries across the U.S., including the new Fayetteville Blair Library,

• Steve Kinzler (’73), cofounder of Wilcox Group Architects of Little Rock and recently named Arkansas Business Executive of the Year,

• Frank Little (’74) who lectures around the country on the tax advantages of environmentally beneficial, flexible building construction,

• Mark Robertson (’88), principal of MESA Landscape Architects of Little Rock who has designed zoos in Philadelphia, Chicago and Wilmington, Del.,

• Reese Rowland (’90), principal with Polk Stanley Rowland Curzon Porter Architects Ltd. of Little Rock, designed the recently dedicated Heifer International headquarters in Little Rock and has drawn up plans for the new chancellor’s residence adjacent to the UA campus, and

• Trinity Simons (’04), who is improving the livability of cities across the United States as a member of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, a national organization based in Washington, D.C.

The 60-Year All-School Celebration will begin at 4:30 p.m. Friday, March 31, with an all-school barbecue in front of Vol Walker Hall, followed by informal class gatherings throughout downtown Fayetteville. Saturday afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m., alumni will return to Vol Walker Hall for guided tours of studios and campus projects, an alumni design exhibition and talks on international study and outreach programs.

"We are very excited to have so many alumni and friends back on campus,” said Charlotte Taylor, director of development for the School of Architecture. “Saturday's birthday party will be a great time to tour campus, enjoy student and alumni work, rekindle old friendships and reconnect with the university."

The weekend will conclude with a semi-formal banquet at the UARK Bowl.

“We’ve had so much to celebrate over our 60 years and so much to offer our students right now,” said Jeff Shannon, a 1970 graduate of the program and the school’s dean since 2000. “We have assembled an outstanding cadre of faculty, built international study programs in Paris, Rome, Mexico City and southern Great Britain, and emphasized hands-on learning through design-build projects in both departments. Together with internships at Garvan Woodland Gardens, the school’s botanical garden in Hot Springs, and social outreach opportunities at UACDC, the nation’s best community design center, our school offers a very rich experience for our students.”

For more information about the reunion and to view full list of attendees, visit http://architecture.uark.edu/reunion/.