Monday, May 5, 2008
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
New dean joins faculty
Architecture prof.
has won awards for
"green" buildings
By JILLIAN BERMAN
Daily StaffReporter
Internationally-renowned
architect Monica Ponce de Leon,
who has designed buildings in cit-
ies like New York, Paris and Tokyo,
willnextturnher attentiontoAnn
Arbor. The University announced
her appointment as the new Dean
of the Taubman College of Archi-
tecture and Urban Planning on
Tuesday, pending approval by the
University Board of Regents.
Ponce de Leon, a Harvard
Graduate School of Design pro-
fessor and principal architect at
award-winning firm Office dA,
will assume her post Sept. L
Along with winning awards for
design ingenuity, much of Ponce
de Leon's work has been praised
for its energy efficiency.
She was selected after nearly
a dozen candidates were inter-
viewed by a search committee
formed in November.
Mary Anne Drew, executive
PICKING OUT POTTERY
assistantto the TCAUP dean and a
member of the search committee,
said the committee was looking
for someone who would inspire
students to attend the college.
Drew described the ideal candi-
date as "someone who could artic-
ulate the vision of the school on a
national and international level."
Outgoing TCAUP dean Douglas
Kelbaugh said Ponce De Leon fits
that bill.
"She's an accomplished prac-
titioner with a firm that's won
many, many distinguished design
awards," he said.
Kelbaugh pointed to Ponce de
Leon's experience in other coun-
tries, which he said provides her
with an "international perspec-
tive" and the ability to appeal to
a diverse audience.
Provost Teresa Sullivan said
that she and University Presi-
dent Mary Sue Coleman were
"extremely pleased" with the
appointment because of Ponce de
Leon's ability to build upon both
the University's technological
advances in architecture and its
reputation.
"We are confident of her abil-
ity to articulate a vision for
TCAUP that will position it as a
leader in architecture and design
education and practice on such
important issues as sustainabil-
ity, digital technologies, diver-
sity and social consciousness,"
she said.
COLEMAN
From Page 2
Coleman said the University
began using Descriptor Plus, a ser-
vice provided by the College Board,
to improve minority recruiting
efforts across the state. Descriptor
Plus sorts student by home address
and school location, and then breaks
down the demographics of these
"clusters" by socioeconomic, educa-
tional and racial criteria.
"From this we're able to go
through the state and understand
areas where we should be concen-
trating our message," Coleman said.
She said University efforts to
recruit students have been particu-
larly strong in the cities of Detroit,
Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. How-
ever, The Michigan Daily reported
in December that counselors in the
majority of Detroit high schools
available to comment said they had
seen University recruiters less fre-
quently since the 2006 ban.
Coleman said the University
has taken a "one student at a time"
approach to minority recruitment
since 2006.
"We understand that we're in
this for the long run," Coleman said.
"It's why I come out to meetings like
this, and it's why I make individual
phone calls to students once they're
admitted."
Coleman said she convinced one
student from Detroit to enroll after
she discovered that the student
and his parents, who Coleman said
didn't go to college, misread the
acceptance letter that offered him a
full scholarship.
Financial aid is an important
starting point for improving minor-
ity enrollment, Coleman said. She
added that the University has col-
lected $70 million in the past 18
months to give financial aid to stu-
dents like the one she phoned.
Business School junior Britney
Little, the financial secretary for
the University's chapter of the his-
torically black sorority Alpha Kappa
Alpha, said she thought the Univer-
sity still needed to do more minor-
ity outreach and attributed most
successful recruitment efforts to
minority organizations on campus,
not the University.
"I think there is definitely room
for improvement, and that includes
going to places outside of Detroit,"
Little said. "We talk about diversity,
but having students from the same
area doesn't make a diverse campus
when they've all had the same expe-
rience."
CORRECTIONS
Please report any error in the Daily
to:
corrections@michigandoily.com
' r"-- ho I
CHANELVONHABSBURG-LOTHRINGEN/D
Ann Arbor residents Lucie Roy (left) and Adelle Roy shop at the Ann Arbor
Potters Guild's 60th Annual Spring Saleon Hill Street.
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30th AnnArbor
Antiquarian Book Fair
Sunday, May 18th
11-5
$5 Admission
* First Editions
* Americana
* Old & Rare
* Thousands of Books
"- in All Categories
and Price Ranges
Michigan Union Ballroom
(2nd floor) 530 S. State,
corner of S. State and S. University
Sponsored by the Ann Arbor
Antiquarian Book Dealers Assoc.
Benefit for the
William L Clements Library
For more information call Westside Bookshop (734)995-1891
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