2021-2022 | Annual Impact of Giving
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2021-2022 Highlights from the GSD
The academic year brought a return to campus for students, faculty, and staff to learn and work together once again. What follows are highlights from an unforgettable year.
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“With the GSD community together on campus again, we return to a world that needs thoughtful, caring designers more than ever,” begins Dean Whiting. She shares the many ways of responding directly to what is going on in the world through the GSD’s robust academic programs, events, and activities. -
This role was established in 2019 and made possible by a generous gift from Samuel Plimpton MBA ’77, MArch ’80, and his wife, Wendy Shattuck. -
The holiday card was designed by T.K. Justin Ng MArch ’23. The watercolor illustration celebrates the delight of the winter season and the return to Gund Hall after a year of remote learning and teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. -
Hilderbrand, Peter Louis Hornbeck Professor in Practice, has taught in the Department of Landscape Architecture since 1990, and is Founding Principal and Partner of Reed Hilderbrand. He succeeds Anita Berrizbeitia MLA ’87, Professor of Landscape Architecture. Appointed in 2015, Berrizbeitia was the 14th chair of the oldest landscape architecture department in the world, and only the second woman to hold the position. -
Alumni and Friends attended the second annual Town Hall event with Sarah M. Whiting, Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture. It featured a panel discussion and Q&A with five student leaders, giving guests an opportunity to learn and ask about their experiences at the GSD and thoughts on the future. -
The Minmin Zeng Innovative Doctoral Student Research Fund
Providing meaningful support for doctoral students, the Minmin Zeng Innovative Doctoral Student Research Fund will fund groundbreaking research by PhD and DDes students. The fund was created thanks to the generosity of Minmin Zeng MUP ’04 and will enable the GSD to attract students who will help lead the design and education fields for generations to come. -
Last June, Megan Panzano MArch ’10 was named senior director of Early Design Education to lead these programs in refreshed formats into the future. Hear about her plans for the EDE programs that include breaking down access barriers to design education, engaging diverse perspectives on what should drive design, and building a robust support system for students and those new to teaching design. -
Read news from the Alumni Council, including student Unsung Hero Award winners, Alumni Council Award winners, and Design Impact events, via the Council’s refreshed digital presence. -
Dean Whiting wrote to the GSD community to urge everyone to read the Report and Recommendations of the Presidential Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery. She wrote: “As designers, planners, historians, theorists, teachers, and citizens, it is critically important to learn about and know this part of our university’s history.” -
The GSD celebrated the Class of 2022 with Class Day and Commencement. Plus, the school hosted a Special Commencement Ceremony for the Classes of 2020 and 2021, which honored the resilient recent graduates who experienced one-of-a-kind virtual graduation ceremonies but were unable to participate in traditional, on-campus Harvard University Commencement exercises due to the COVID-19 pandemic. -
In each episode faculty, researchers, alumni, and students engage in dialogue on a single topic of global significance. Episodes on the climate crisis, social justice, public health, housing, technology, urbanization, and transportation present new research on design thinking and practice, and illuminate the many, sometimes unexpected, ways in which design is engaged in questions of global politics, culture, and society. -
Publications released by the GSD in the past year include Harvard Design Magazine, Paris, GSD A-Z, New Geographies, and more.
Momentum Building to Support the Next Generation of Design Leaders
Alumni and friends are stepping up to make design education accessible with the Future Design Leaders Match. This urgent student support initiative will significantly impact generations of future designers, the industry, and the alumni community by establishing endowed, named fellowships.
A Strong Foundation for Housing Policy
A gift from Nicolas P. Retsinas MCP ’71 and Joan B. Retsinas is paving the way to endow the position of Director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies and Senior Lecturer at the GSD, strengthening ties between the Center, the GSD, and across Harvard.
A GSD Trio Integrates their Voices into the Story of Design History
The GSD’s Frances Loeb Library is honored to be receiving the archives of not one, but three beloved and influential GSD professors: Alex Krieger MCU ’77; Jerold Kayden AB ’75, JD ’79, MCRP ’79; and Antoine Picon AM ’01.
Training Future Practitioners in the New World of Real Estate
The GSD’s new Master in Real Estate degree explores how to address the complex and urgent challenges facing the built environment.
Honoring Our Students
Thanks to generous support from our community, the GSD has been able to recognize exceptional scholarly achievement, leadership, and service by future design leaders throughout the school.
Alumni Updates and In Memoriam
We say often that the GSD is a collective that is anything but compact. Here are stories of the impact of our alumni around the world over the last academic year, along with reflections on alumni, faculty, and friends of the school who are no longer with us.
Take a quick look at the Graduate School of Design in 2021-2022 from a bird’s eye view.
