Monica Ponce de Leon

Dean, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

Panelist - 1:00 pm, Thursday, April 7th – Catalysts for the Creative Economy: Universities, Colleges and the Post-industrial City

Monica Ponce de Leon was named Dean of A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning in September 2008. She is also the Eliel Saarinen Collegiate Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning. Dean Ponce de Leon received a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1989 from the University of Miami and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1991. In 1991, she co-founded Office dA, an internationally known design practice. She joined the Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty in 1996, following appointments on the faculties of University of Miami, Northeastern University, and Georgia Institute of Technology.  She has received honors from the Architectural League of New York (Young Architects Award, 1997, and Emerging Voices, 2003) the American Academy of Arts and Letters (Award in Architecture, 2002), the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum (National Design Award in Architecture, 2007), and the United States Artists (Target Fellows in Architecture and Design). Her practice has received the AIA/LA Design Award (Helios House, 2007), the AIA/ALA Library Building Award (Fleet Library at RISD, 2007), the AIA/Committee on the Environment’s Top Ten Green Projects (Macallen Building, 2008), five I.D Magazine Annual Design Review Awards and eleven Progressive Architecture Awards.