Transitions that began last week at the UO ripple through the School of Architecture and Allied Arts. With leadership changes at the top in the appointment of an interim president, Frances Bronet is now the Acting Senior Vice President and Provost for the university. For the school’s top post, current associate dean Brook Muller will serve as Acting Dean effective August 25.
“As one of our outstanding academic leaders in A&AA, Brook has a deep understanding of the school and is widely respected across campus for his thoughtful engagement and collaborative practices,” says Bronet.
Muller has served as associate dean for academic affairs for the school since 2012. He is a member of the Department of Architecture faculty, a core faculty member of the Environmental Studies Program, and director of the graduate certificate program in ecological design. He has been an award-winning designer for projects in The Netherlands, Germany, Massachusetts, and California and has collaborated with environmental artists, landscape architects, ecologists, and other architects on public and commercial projects. He recently published Ecology and the Architectural Imagination, a book that examines how to integrate architecture with complex ecological systems and speculates on future intersections of these domains.
Commenting on his new role, Acting Dean Muller says, “I look forward in the year ahead to building on Frances' ambitious and aspirational leadership, working with an effective and visionary administrative team, and supporting our dedicated and most capable faculty and staff members. I also cannot wait to get to know better the larger A&AA community—our alumni and many supporters—and, of course, to continue to gain the insights of our incredible students.”
The newly appointed UO Interim President, Scott Coltrane, asked A&AA Dean Frances Bronet to fill the vacant position he just left and to step into a critical leadership position at UO. “I am incredibly honored to work with Scott and to continue our important work to propel academic quality in new and exciting ways,” Bronet says. “The school is my home and its continued success remains my foremost priority. I am confident that the school will thrive under Brook Muller’s leadership. My temporary assignment cannot
inhibit the upward trajectory of the school.” Bronet has served as dean since 2005.
The School of Architecture and Allied Arts enrolls over 1,550 students studying in Eugene and Portland and offers comprehensive programs in architecture, art including digital arts, landscape architecture, interior architecture, history of art and architecture, and product design, along with community and regional planning, public administration, nonprofit management, arts and administration, and historic preservation.