Announcement Regarding Amale Andraos, Dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

May 20, 2021

Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:

I write to share that Amale Andraos will be concluding her tenure as Dean of Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) on December 31, 2021. Happily, Amale will be retaining her professorship and as early as this July will also be assuming the position of Special Advisor to the President, which will involve a particular focus on the work of the Columbia Climate School. She will also continue her practice as co-founder of the New York-based architecture firm WORKac.

Amale’s leadership of GSAPP has been transformative. Among the many accomplishments that mark her tenure, these stand out: She reconceptualized the School’s disciplines around the ways in which they engage with the challenges facing the world, particularly those of climate change, social equity, and the impact of data and technology on the built environment. The School’s research capacities and scholarly output have grown tremendously, with new lines of inquiry and engagement with fields and practices and with institutions and cities beyond the University. The expansion of the School’s interdisciplinary course offerings and the establishment of new academic programs have also deepened and enriched the experiences of our students. And undergirding all of this has been Amale’s commitment to equity and inclusion, resulting in meaningful strides towards increased diversity and representation among faculty and in more than doubling financial aid to students.

Amale’s contributions to GSAPP and to Columbia are innumerable, and I am delighted that she will remain an important resource for me and for the University in the years ahead. I will soon share details regarding the appointment of an interim dean and the creation of a search committee to identify Amale’s successor. I know we all join together in thanking Amale for her remarkable seven years of invaluable service as GSAPP’s Dean.

Sincerely,

Lee C. Bollinger