Dear USC Architecture Community,
Dean Milton Curry has shared with me his decision to step down as dean of the USC School of Architecture and holder of the Della and Harry MacDonald Dean’s Chair in Architecture, effective at the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 2022.
Dean Curry guided USC Architecture to serve as a dynamic platform for educating and inspiring citizen architects to analyze problems and create design solutions. During his tenure, the BArch program achieved its most selective admission rate in the school’s recorded history and has reached transformational diversity in racial and ethnic minorities and low-income students. Its 15% yield of Black students is unprecedented among top-tier institutions in architecture.
Under Dean Curry’s leadership, new future-focused academic programs have been implemented, including the A-Lab Architecture Development Program for High School Juniors, as well as the new Master of Advanced Architectural Research Studies, including an emphasis in City Design + Housing and another in Performative Design + Technology, with a third concentration, Social Practice + Spatial Justice, planned to open next year.
The School of Architecture’s recent Paul R. Williams Archives Initiative honors one of the University’s most distinguished graduates. The school acquired Williams’ archives, jointly with the Getty Research Institute, and has raised substantial funds to support related initiatives, such as major exhibitions, symposia, and research fellowships. And the school increased its fundraising for a variety of programs, including support for student scholarships.
President Carol Folt joins me in expressing her gratitude to Dean Curry. We wish him continued success as he returns to the Architecture faculty.
We will now begin the process of assembling the search advisory committee that will identify and recruit the next dean of USC Architecture. I seek your nominations of Architecture faculty and staff who should serve on this committee. Please send your recommendations to uscprovost@usc.edu by April 1, 2022. I will keep you updated on the committee.
Sincerely,
Charles F. Zukoski
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
cc: Office of the President
Academic Deans
President’s Senior Leadership Team
Provost’s Leadership Team
Academic Senate
Staff Assembly
GSG President
USG President