Ila Berman, new dean the University of Virginia School of Architecture

The University of Virginia announced that Ila Berman has been appointed the dean of the School of Architecture. Currently a tenured full professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, as well as a principal of SCALESHIFT design in Toronto, she will assume the role Aug. 15.

In the last 11 years Berman has led three architecture schools in different capacities: as the associate dean of Tulane University School of Architecture, as the director of architecture at California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and most recently as the O’Donovan Director of the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo. Berman provided academic and administrative leadership and vision for the direction and growth of all three institutions.

Berman succeeds Dean Elizabeth K. Meyer, who will return to the faculty at the end of a two-year term.

University President Teresa A. Sullivan thanked the search committee members for their work and added, “Beth Meyer has been a truly remarkable leader of the School of Architecture, and we are grateful for her work in advancing one of the nation’s best programs. Ila Berman’s wealth of experience and vision will strengthen the school in ways that will distinguish the University as it enters its third century.”

UVA Executive Vice President and Provost Thomas C. Katsouleas said, “The search committee and I were universally wowed by Ila’s powerful and compelling vision for the future of architecture education. Coupled with her legacy of innovations in design education, this vision will help her make connections with other schools across Grounds and with leading partners across the nation and globe. I am confident that Ila will attract great students and connect them to new and exciting design opportunities, and I am delighted to welcome her as the newest addition to a great team of deans.”

“I am truly excited to join the UVA School of Architecture, whose programs in architecture, urbanism, landscape and history have been consistently ranked among the top in North America,” Berman said. “It’s certainly an honor to be able to be a part of the school’s rich history and to work with its very talented faculty, staff and students.

“I believe that new collaborative models of interdisciplinary research, teaching and practice are necessary to respond to the many forces – be they social, technological, environmental, urban or economic – that are dramatically changing the contexts within which we are operating, and that design, in its capacity to literally ‘remake the world,’ is a critical part of this endeavor. I am very much looking forward to building upon the strong foundation of the school and the tremendous opportunity, as we approach its centennial, to lead it into its second century of design education.”

To read more, please visit the University of Virginia's announcement.

Top Image: courtesy University of Virginia

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