Monica Ponce de Leon has been named the next dean of Princeton's School of Architecture, effective Jan. 1, 2016. Above, she is shown at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, where she has served as dean since 2008. Photo by Adam Smith.

Monica Ponce de Leon, a pioneering educator and award-winning architect, has been selected as the next dean of Princeton University's School of Architecture. Her appointment is effective Jan. 1, 2016.

Ponce de Leon has served as dean of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor since 2008, where she is also the Eliel Saarinen Collegiate Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning. Before her appointment at the University of Michigan, Ponce de Leon was a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she served on the faculty for 12 years.

A recipient of the prestigious National Design Award in Architecture from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian National Design Museum, Ponce de Leon co-founded Office dA, in 1991, and in 2011 started her own design practice, MPdL Studio, with offices in New York, Boston and Ann Arbor. 

"I am thrilled that Monica Ponce de Leon has agreed to become the next dean of Princeton's School of Architecture," said Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber. "As both a renowned architect and a successful dean, she brings to the school a rare combination of distinction, creativity, experience and energy. Monica clearly appreciates the special scholarly role and mission of the Princeton University School of Architecture, and I expect that she will enable the school to build upon its legacy in new and exciting ways." 

"I am deeply honored by the trust that Princeton is placing upon me and I look forward to working with students and faculty in writing the next chapter in the history of the school," said Ponce de Leon. "Given that architecture plays a unique role in the construction of culture, at the intersection of the humanities, the sciences and the arts, the opportunities are enormous. I am excited to work with the School of Architecture and the leadership at Princeton to expand and deepen architecture's role in understanding and speculating on the challenges of our time."

> via princeton.edu