麻豆传媒

Erkin Özay, associate professor in the Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Planning, has been named department chair, effective in July.

Özay succeeds Korydon Smith, who has served as chair since 2018.

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

“I am enthusiastic about Professor Özay’s stewardship of the department in the coming years,” Smith says. “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.”

A registered architect, Özay is an award-winning educator and author of several publications, most recently “Urban Renewal and School Reform in Baltimore: Rethinking the 21st Century Public Schools” (Routledge, 2021). A founding member of the Urban Design Research Group in the Department of Architecture, his teaching focuses on contemporary challenges of housing and urban revitalization in weak market cities; he seeks to expose his students to the multifaceted nature of urban practices beyond traditional and prescriptive models.

Prior to joining the UB faculty, 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 2011-13.

“A lot of positive changes are happening,” Özay says of the department. “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.”