Dean Ken Lambla of the College of Arts + Architecture, with Visiting Assistant Professor Nora Wendl and Associate Professor Jose Gamez organized a three-part program with artist-in-residence Theaster Gates, Jr. in October.  The Chicago-based artist was selected for his architecturally and culturally founded arts practice who, over several years, steadily converted foreclosed homes on the South side of Chicago into cultural spaces that encourage community dialogue.  Events included a “plate convergence” (community gathering), a public lecture, and a performance at the McColl Center for Visual Art.

Professor Dale Brentrup presented daylighting and energy analysis research from the Center for Integrated Building Design Research (cIBDR) in “Integrated Project Delivery: Principles, Value, Methods” Symposium held at the School of Architecture, October 13th, sponsored by AIA Charlotte and Rodgers Builders.  Brentrup was one of five speakers from the design, construction and legal professions, including Phil Harrison, CEO of Perkins+Will and Professor Chuck Eastman of Georgia Tech.  Professor Christopher Jarrett served as moderator.
 
Two graduate students from the summer 2009 studio led by Assistant Professor Chris Beorkrem were short-listed in the Prefab 20/20 Competition: Visions for 400 sf Homes, sponsored by Architecture for Humanity of Vancouver. Chris Campbell and Michael Baujan’s entry was displayed at IDSWest2009. 
 
Assistant Professor Thomas Forget and CIOTAT Studio presented “Overground” on October 15th, a four-channel media installation that explores issues affecting the contemporary American city, in Wurster Main Courtyard at the University of California Berkeley.
 
Professor Christopher Jarrett presented “Leadership in Sustainable Design Education” at the Designers Accord Town Hall, a global coalition of designers, educators, researchers, engineers and corporate leaders.  He also delivered an invited lecture entitled “powerHouse” as part of an Interdisciplinary Lecture Series sponsored by the Environmental Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. 
 
Visiting Assistant Professor Nora Wendl was recently recognized by The Southeast College Art Conference for the 2009 Award for Outstanding Exhibition and Catalogue of Contemporary Materials for Contemporary Art at the Dodd: Paul Pfeiffer (Athens: Lamar Dodd School of Art, 2008), a catalogue co-edited with Dr. Isabelle Wallace at the University of Georgia, recording a series of events and critical essay surrounding new media artist Paul Pfeiffer.

Professor and Dean Ken Lambla secured a three-year exchange agreement with Tongji University following a five-week summer study abroad program in China led by Associate Professor Peter Wong and Assistant Professor Zhongjie Lin. Faculty and students traveled to Beijing, Xian, Yuanyang, Kunming, Lijiang, Shangri-La, Dali, Suzhou, and Hong Kong. The program included visits to Xian University, Kunming Technical Institute, and Tsinghua University, aswell as a 10-day workshop at Tongji University in Shanghai.

Professor Eric Sauda and Associate Professor Greg Snyder organized the exhibit "The Architect of an Education" at the Hodges Taylor Gallery in Uptown Charlotte, featuring the work of three thesis projects from Spring 2009.

Associate Professor Deb Ryan is leading the civic engagement campaign for the San Jose Envision 2040 Plan. Using Wikiplanning, an online, self-created tool that incorporates Web 2.0 technology, the City's goal is to engage 10,000 local residents in a community-wide conversation. Wikiplanning is also being used to solicit input into the Carolina Thread Trail, a 15-county, 500-mile greenway effort surrounding Charlotte, and as a component of a Strategic Planning effort that she is also leading in Bessemer City, NC.

Assistant Professor Jeff Balmer presented "A House Can Hurt: Cinematic Representations of Pierre Koenig's Case Study House #22" at the 2009 ACSA Southeast Conference at SCAD.

Assistant Chris Beorkrem presented "Chang[e]ing Identities" at the 2009 ACSA Southwest Conference at the University of New Mexico. Working in collaboration with School's Digital Design Center, Beorkrem received a grant from EPA's P3 (People, Prosperity, Planet) Awards program. Project WIM (Waste Information Modeling) focuses on the use of digital manufacturing and parametric modeling to create building components from local industrial waste products.

Both Balmer and Beorkrem are Co-Chairing the 26th National Conference on the Beginning Design Student, 18-21 March 2010 (www.soa.uncc.edu). MADE: Design Education & the Art of Making seeks to appraise the role of making past, present & future, both in teaching design and in the design of teaching. Keynote speakers include David Leatherbarrow (University of Pennsylvania) and Simon Unwin, author of "Analysing Architecture".

Instructor Jen Shields research on spatio-temporal thresholds of industrial artifacts was awarded a Bicentennial Swedish-American Exchange Fund grant, sponsored by the Swedish Institute and the US State Department. Instructor Michael Williams of Liquid Design won Charlotte Business Journal's 2009 Green Mixed Use Project of the Year Award for "Celadon" and a Green Land Development Project of the Year Award for "The Element."