The SAH board of directors chooses fellows based on a lifetime of significant contributions to the field, whether that be scholarship, service to SAH, or teaching and stewardship of the built environment.
“This is the society’s—and the field’s—highest honor,” said Keith Eggener, current HAA Marion D. Ross Distinguished Professor of Architectural History as well as the editor of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. “Lee Roth is only the second person working in the Pacific Northwest (after former UO architectural historian and professor Marian Card Donnelly) to have been named an SAH fellow. This is a tribute to Lee’s accomplishments, a mark of distinction for the Department of the History of Art and Architecture and the College of Design, and acknowledgment of UO’s legacy of significant contributions to the field of architectural history.”
Roth, who has been teaching the history of architecture for more than a half century, came to the UO College of Design (then the School of Architecture & Allied Arts) in 1978 to replace the retiring Marion Dean Ross. He became a full professor in 1991 and, in 1992, was designated the Marion Dean Ross Distinguished Professor and helped create the graduate program in Historic Preservation.
His recognition grew with the publication of several books, including McKim, Mead & White, Architects, American Architecture: A History (the standard textbook for the field), and Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History and Meaning.
Roth has also published many scholarly journal articles, such as ““Three Industrial Towns by McKim, Mead & White,” which received the SAH’s 1980 Founders’ Award.
Currently, Roth is working with his daughter Amanda Roth Clark on researching and writing the Oregon building entries for SAH Archipedia.
The SAH will induct fellows Thursday, April 30, at the Society’s 73rd Annual International Conference Award Ceremony in Seattle.
To learn more about Roth and the award, visit the 2020 Society of Architectural Historians fellows site.