2024 recipients of the Harvard GSD Alumni Award (left to right): C. Ronald Ostberg MArch ’68; Gretchen Schneider Rabinkin MArch ’97; Harry G. Robinson, III MCPUD ’73; and Calvin Tsao MArch ’79.

The Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) is pleased to announce C. Ronald Ostberg MArch ’68, Gretchen Schneider Rabinkin MArch ’97, Harry G. Robinson, III MCPUD ’73 and Calvin Tsao MArch ’79 as the 2024 recipients of the Harvard GSD Alumni Award. The award, now in its fourth year, honors outstanding leadership by GSD alumni to underscore the essential role GSD graduates play in leading change around the world. Founded and led by the GSD Alumni Council, the award recognizes and celebrates the diversity, leadership, range, and impact of GSD alumni within their communities and across their areas of practice.

A celebration of this year’s winners and the 2023 GSD Alumni Award recipients, with a ceremony hosted by GSD Dean Sarah M. Whiting and a reception to follow, will take place on Sept. 21, 2024, during the 2024 GSD Comeback: Alumni & Friends Celebration. Alumni and friends can register for this event and others throughout the Comeback by clicking here.

After graduating from the GSD in 1968, Ron Ostberg was a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia. In 1974, he moved to Rome to work on the design of King Khalid Military City in Saudi Arabia. Returning to Cambridge in 1984, he joined The Stubbins Associates. His projects include the Indiana Historical Society, the Yokohama Landmark Tower, the psychology building at Vanderbilt, and the American Embassy in Singapore. After his retirement, Ron led an active volunteer life in the town of Harvard, Mass., on the Massachusetts Designer Selection Board and the Board of Foreign Parishes and with the GSD Alumni Council and the Harvard Alumni Association.

“I am honored to receive this award,” Ostberg said. “My work bringing GSD alumni and students together was a great privilege and adventure.”

A licensed architect, educator, and professional nonprofit leader, Gretchen Schneider Rabinkin, AIA, Affiliate ASLA has long worked at the intersection of individuals, organizations, and community groups to improve the spaces of everyday experience. Since 2017, Gretchen has served as executive director of the Boston Society of Landscape Architects (BSLA), which counts more than 500 professional and nearly 200 student members in its area of Maine and Massachusetts. Gretchen works with the board and area firm leaders to guide strategic direction and manages all BSLA operations, including growing and supporting its community of practice, initiating and organizing continuing education, and developing programming to deepen understanding and catalyze action. Gretchen is also currently a visiting faculty member at Amherst College, where she teaches the architectural studies studios, and at the University of Southern Maine, where she and the BSLA have co-founded the first introduction to landscape architecture and architecture summer program in northern New England.

“It’s hard to put into words what this award means to me,” Rabinkin said. “To say I’m humbled and honored is deeply true, and not nearly enough. I’ve got the great, unique joy of working with classmates and fellow GSD alumni/ae every day. My career is not in traditional practice, yet is absolutely devoted to our design disciplines; I work across firms and across practice types, geographies, and generations to strengthen and grow our community of practice with the goal of together creating a more resilient world. To be recognized by my peers for this work brings tears to my eyes and is such extraordinary encouragement.”

Harry G. Robinson, III, FAIA, AICP, has been a member of the District of Columbia Board of Architecture, serving three terms as chair. He served as president of NCARB and was a representative in negotiations for international reciprocity between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. In addition to his service to the regulation of architecture, he was a professor and dean emeritus at the Howard University School of Architecture and Design. He founded the Career Discovery Program in Architecture and the African American Architect Initiative. Robinson also served as chairman of the US Commission of Fine Arts. He has received numerous awards, including the Whitney M. Young award, the Richard T. Ely Distinguished International Educator Award, and the AIA DC Centennial Medal.

“This award represents my successful participation in one of the world’s leading higher educational systems,” Robinson said. “I’m honored to be among those recognized.”

Calvin Tsao is a recognized and leading voice in contemporary architecture whose work draws from a rigorous engagement with a variety of art forms. Along with his partner, Zack McKown, Tsao received the 2022 AIANY Medal of Honor and the 2009 Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Award for Interior Design. In 2012, Tsao was the recipient of the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) Legacy Award. A fellow of the American Institute of Architects, he has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Cooper Union, Syracuse University, and the Parsons School of Design at The New School, lectured at universities, and served as a guest critic internationally. Tsao serves a board chair of the American Academy in Rome and is an active member and president emeritus of the Architectural League of New York. Through the Tsao Family Foundation, Calvin endowed the formation of the Real Estate Practicum at the GSD, as well as a fellowship in intercultural philosophy and a residency for Asian artists and scholars at the American Academy in Rome.

“Receiving this award means the world to me,” Tsao said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to give back to the GSD, as the school has enormous capacity to impact the world, and I’m honored that my GSD peers have given me this prestigious recognition.”