麻豆传媒

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Erkin Özay has been named chair of the Department of Architecture in the 麻豆传媒o’s School of Architecture and Planning. He succeeds Korydon Smith, EdD, who has served in that role since 2018.

Özay will assume role of chair starting in July.

A UB faculty member since 2014, Özay has held various roles at the school, including associate professor, director of undergraduate studies and, for the last two years, associate dean for academic affairs.

“I am enthusiastic about Professor Özay’s stewardship of the department in the coming years,” Smith said. “His leadership as both director of undergraduate studies and associate dean for academic affairs has been exemplary, and his community-based research on institutions will be invaluable to the diverse stakeholders in the department.”

Özay is also a registered architect, award-winning educator and author of several publications, most recently “Urban Renewal and School Reform in Baltimore: Rethinking the 21^st Century Public Schools” (Routledge, 2021).

His research and teaching have been widely recognized by the professional community and architectural academy. A founding member of the Urban Design Research Group within UB’s Department of Architecture, his teaching focuses on contemporary challenges of housing and urban revitalization in weak market cities, and he seeks to expose his students to the multifaceted nature of urban practices beyond traditional and prescriptive models.

Prior to joining UB's School of Architecture and Planning, Özay taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), University of Toronto, and Northeastern University. He was the Aga Khan Fellow at the Harvard GSD from 2011-2013.

In his new role at UB, Özay looks forward to supporting the department’s faculty and students and advancing its upward trajectory. “A lot of positive changes are happening,” he said. “Our student population is growing, we have an excellent dean who wants to do exciting things, and we’re rethinking the notion of design and architecture and how they impact our world. There’s an incredible energy that comes with that.”

As a long-time member of the school’s community, Özay is deeply attuned to both the strengths and the needs of the department, and he recognizes that its supportive and caring culture is one of its greatest assets – one that he’s committed to upholding.

“We have a way of making things better and navigating challenges collectively that I’m super inspired by,” he said. “No one is on an island here, and we have dealt with many challenges in the past. I don’t think there’s a problem that we cannot solve because of our tight-knit community and culture of care.”