Newsletter | Jul/Aug 2021


Kathryn Anthony - recipient of 2021 AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion


Kathryn Anthony was one of our Symposium speakers for our 30th Anniversary. We are so happy to learn that she has received a very high honor - the 2021 AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion.

"I’ve made it my life’s work to stand up for those who had been invisible for too long, advocating on behalf of people who have been left out and left behind.”

The American Institute of Architects and the Association of the Collegiate Schools of Architecture named Kathryn Anthony as the 2021 recipient of the AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education, the highest honor given to an educator in architecture. Since 1976, AIA and ACSA have been conferring this award on individuals for their demonstrated dedication to the education of and their influence on architecture students.

Anthony earned a B.A. in psychology and a Ph.D. in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. With a career in academia spanning four decades, the ACSA Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has pioneered research on gender and race in contemporary architecture. Anthony, the longest serving female faculty member at UIUC School of Architecture, has lectured worldwide and testified before the U.S. Congress in support of H.R. 4869, the Bipartisan Restroom Gender Parity in Federal Buildings Act. By teaching courses that bridge architecture, business, and psychology, Anthony challenges her students to examine connections between design and the communities it impacts, equipping budding designers “with the tools to [become] more effective leaders in the profession and to become more influential citizens whose work can have a significant impact on society,” as she noted in a 2018 interview with ARCHITECT.

Books by Kathryn Anthony

Wendy Bertrand's 2002 review of Kathryn Anthony's "Designing for Diversity: Gender, Race and Ethnicity in the Architectural Profession" is here.


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