Jeff Shannon Selected For DesignIntelligence's 25 'Most Admired Educators'

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Jeff Shannon, dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture, University of Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Jeff Shannon, dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture, was chosen as one of the 25 “most admired educators” of 2011 in the November/December issue of DesignIntelligence.

“Each year, DesignIntelligence selects a team of educators and education administrators who exemplify excellence in design education leadership,” the issue states. “The 2011 class of education role models was selected by DesignIntelligence staff with extensive input from hundreds of design professionals, academic department heads and students. Educators from the disciplines of architecture, interior design, industrial design and landscape architecture were eligible for inclusion.”

DesignIntelligence is a bi-monthly report of the Design Futures Council, described as “an interdisciplinary network of design, product and construction leaders exploring global trends, challenges, and opportunities to advance innovation and shape the future of the industry and the environment.”

Dan Bennett, former dean of the University of Arkansas school of architecture and current dean at Auburn University’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction, was also listed among the 25 top professors and education leaders.

Shannon has devoted most of his career to practicing and teaching architecture in his native Arkansas. He began his career working in the firm of school alumnus and professor Fay Jones, and later worked at firms in Memphis, Houston, Palm Beach and Little Rock. In 1977, he co-founded Polk Shannon Stanley in Little Rock, which has since become one of the state’s leading architecture firms: Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects. In 1979, Shannon returned to his alma mater to teach architecture.

Shannon has won numerous teaching awards, notably the Master Teaching Award (1993) and Outstanding Teacher Award (1997), both from the school of architecture, and the University of Arkansas Teaching Academy Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Category of Creativity (1992). He was inducted into the University of Arkansas Teaching Academy in 1993.

As dean of the architecture school since 2000, he has developed new programs to foster leadership and life skills among students and to enhance diversity within the school. He continues to teach popular courses on the history of urban form and design thinking. He is also the executive editor and founder of the publishing collaboration between the school and the University of Arkansas Press, which began in 2009.

Shannon has published numerous articles in scholarly publications and serves on the boards of the Arkansas State Board of Architects, the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute.

He graduated cum laude with a bachelor of architecture from the University of Arkansas and holds a master of architecture in urban design from Rice University.