Aug. 28, 1998 Contact: Carol Wood (804) 924-6189 William McDonough to Step Down as Architecture Dean VISIONARY ARCHITECT AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN GURU SHIFTS HIS FOCUS TO TEACHING, PRIVATE PRACTICE, AND FAMILY William A. McDonough announced this week that he will step down next June when his five-year appointment as dean of the School of Architecture officially ends. Citing a desire to spend more time with his family -- and in the classroom -- McDonough also said he plans to continue to devote a good portion of his time to the University's Institute for Sustainable Design, which he founded a little more than a year ago and which he continues to direct. Well known on Grounds as the "Green Dean" and for his popular "Environmental Choices" course, McDonough said he grappled with the decision not to seek reappointment. "I intend to stay at the University, and I want to devote my energies to my students, the institute, my private practice, and my family. My son will be four soon -- I don't want to miss his growing up." "I have always admired Bill's broad-minded and innovative approach to environmental architecture," said President John T. Casteen III of McDonough's decision. "Getting to know Bill has been a pleasant adventure, and I look forward to his and his family's on-going association with the University community." Reflecting on his tenure as dean, McDonough's colleagues at the School of Architecture were quick to point to some of the school's significant accomplishments: * The school went from 9th to 6th in the annual U.S. News & World News rankings, making it the highest ranked public school of architecture in the country. * In continuing to raise the profile of the school, McDonough attracted world leaders in sustainable development to the University. * He helped initiate an important building addition design project -- the Elmaleh Wing -- to expand the school. McDonough will continue to lead the interdisciplinary project team of architects and landscape architects charged with its design. MORE 2 * The school raised $5.2 million toward its campaign goal of $9.6 million. * He founded the University's Institute for Sustainable Design, an interdisciplinary organization designed to involve all the schools at the University in its mission of econonical, ethical, and environmental problem solving. * This year four new endowed chairs were created through the Saunders Challenge. As a result, the school raised $250,000 to establish a $500,000 chair in Landscape Architecture. An additional $375,000 was raised -- and matched by the Saunders Challenge -- to establish three $250,000 chairs. They include: the William Stone Weedon Professorship in Asian Architecture, a professorship for the Department of Architecture, and a Professorship for Sustainable Communities in the School of Architecture. Associate Professor Elizabeth K. Meyer, a landscape architect, says that McDonough has been a force for change and growth in the Architecture School. "Bill McDonough's presence, his background in a critical design practice, his visibility in the international sustainable design movement, and his involvement in circles outside the design and planning professions altered the audience for the School's work, raised the stakes for a faculty accustomed to less visibility and quiet reflection, and, perhaps most importantly, allowed the faculty to see connections between one another's teaching and research that had not always been apparent," she said. Outside the University, McDonough has achieved recognition for his leadership in the global "sustainibility" movement. He was selected by the National Science Foundation to co-create and host the PBS special "Planet Neighborhood," a three-part series that addressed sustainable design issues at home, at work, and in the community. The show aired nationally in September of '97. In 1996, McDonough was invited to the White House to become one of the first recipients of the nation's highest environmental award: the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development. At that time, Vice President Al Gore called him "the mastermind of sustainable design." Provost Peter Low said that McDonough is to be thanked for his many accomplishments since joining the University. "I congratulate Bill on his successes as dean. Both the Architecture School and the National Academy are much better for his contributions." Low added that he will appoint a committee within six weeks to begin the search for McDonough's replacement. "It will be my goal to have someone in place by the time Bill is ready to step down next June." McDonough calls his time as dean "Exhilarating. . . This is clearly one of the world's greatest educational environments and I am honored to be among such distinguished and dedicated students, faculty and administrators," he said. "I remain delighted by and committed to working with all four departments in the School of Architecture to help us to retain and recruit faculty whose perception and creativity will continue to uplift our mission to be the best school in the nation. I MORE 3 also plan to continue with our fund-raising mission, to help see through the initiatives under way that are so important to the long-term quality of the education here." Meyer says she is very pleased that McDonough has decided to remain in Charlottesville, to maintain his faculty appointment, and to continue his work with the Institute of Sustainable Design. "Having experienced the responsibilities of academic leadership, he deserves to experience one of its true joys, sustained intellectual encounters with students in the classroom and, especially, in the design studio," she said. "In the end, I suspect his true legacy will be there, one on one, over the drawing board, as he guides the future generation of designers to accept as givens his tenets and techniques that are currently perceived to be 'revolutionary.'" ### Television reporters should contact the TV News Office at (804) 924-7550.