Chancellor Joe Steinmetz and Juhani Pallasmaa Discuss 'On Education and Collaboration' April 18

Courtesy of Juhani Pallasmaa; Russell Cothren

Juhani Pallasmaa and Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz and Juhani Pallasmaa, the E. Fay Jones Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, will conduct an informal, moderated discussion titled "On Education and Collaboration" from 4-5 p.m. Wednesday, April 18, in Ken and Linda Sue Shollmier Hall, Room 250 of Vol Walker Hall, on the University of Arkansas campus.

Peter MacKeith, dean of the Fay Jones School, will moderate their discussion. The campus community is invited to attend.

MacKeith noted that Steinmetz has emphasized the value of collaboration and interdisciplinary work in education to the deans and the university community, among the university's eight guiding priorities. Professor Pallasmaa is equally an advocate for this perspective, with particular regard for architecture, design and the arts.

"Additionally, as we know, Chancellor Steinmetz's academic accomplishments are particularly located within the field of neurosciences, a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary area," MacKeith said. "Professor Pallasmaa, in turn, is emphatic on the relationship between the neurosciences and architecture. I anticipate a freethinking, wide-ranging conversation between two thought leaders in education."

Pallasmaa, a leading voice in architecture and design education worldwide, is the author of more than 60 books in architecture and design relating to the multisensory and existential dimensions of experiencing art and architecture, including The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses and The Thinking Hand: Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture, both required reading in many schools of architecture and design. With Sarah Robinson, he co-authored Mind in Architecture: Neuroscience, Embodiment, and the Future of Design, published by the MIT Press. Pallasmaa served on the jury for the Pritzker Prize for Architecture from 2009 to 2014. He is former rector of the Institute of Design in Helsinki, Finland, former dean of the faculty of architecture at the Helsinki University of Technology, and former director of the Museum of Finnish Architecture, Helsinki. 

A nationally respected behavioral neuroscientist, Steinmetz was recognized in 1996 by the National Academy of Sciences for his contributions to the fields of experimental psychology and neuroscience. In 2012, he was named an AAAS Fellow. Steinmetz's research interests include neuroanatomical and neurophysiological substrates of learning and memory; the effects of alcohol on neural and behavioral function; neurobiological and behavioral models of fetal alcohol syndrome; and the neurobiology of simple human learning, memory, and cognitive function.

Prior to his appointment as chancellor in January 2016, Steinmetz was Ohio State's chief academic officer, serving as executive vice president and provost. He previously was dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Kansas, where he was also a university distinguished professor. Before Kansas, Steinmetz spent 19 years at Indiana University, Bloomington where he served as chair of the Department of Psychology, executive associate dean of Arts and Sciences and a Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Science.