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Balfour to Conclude Tenure as College of Architecture Dean, Return to Architecture Faculty in 2013

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Alan Balfour, dean of Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture since 2008, has announced his intention not to seek reappointment to that position. Balfour will return to the Georgia Tech faculty as a professor in the School of Architecture upon concluding his tenure as dean, effective June 30, 2013.

“Georgia Tech has benefited greatly from Dean Balfour’s bold vision for education and research in the built environment as well as in music and the arts,” said Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs at Georgia Tech. “His leadership has propelled the College of Architecture to new levels of excellence and reconfirmed Georgia Tech as a center of cultural and creative activity in the region, the nation and the world.”

“Returning to Georgia Tech has been such a pleasure, enhanced greatly by new and renewed friendships with so many students, faculty and alumni,” Balfour said. “But I look forward to a return to teaching and to devoting more time to writing.”

Terry Blum, professor in Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business and director of the Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship, will chair the search committee for a new dean. Georgia Tech will engage a higher education search firm to provide support in conducting an international search.

During his tenure, Balfour reorganized the College into five schools: Music, Industrial Design, City and Regional Planning, Building Construction and Architecture, greatly enhancing the visibility and distinct character of each. He also elevated the College of Architecture’s focus on research and spearheaded three new PhD programs in Music Technology, Building Construction, and City and Regional Planning.

Balfour led the $9.5 million renovation of the Hinman Research Building, which received dozens of prestigious awards including the ARCHITECT Magazine’s P/A (Progressive Architecture) Award, Interior Design Magazine’s Best of the Year Award and the University System of Georgia Sustainability Award.

In addition to teaching, Balfour will continue his scholarly endeavors. His forthcoming book, Solomon’s Temple: Myth, Conflict and Faith (Wiley, October 2012), is a highly original architectural history of Solomon’s Temple and Islam’s Dome of the Rock that is both a social and cultural history of the region. His current project is a collection of writings and essays exploring perception, experience and the human imagination. Read his full biography here.

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  • Workflow Status:Published
  • Created By:Amelia Pavlik
  • Created:08/09/2012
  • Modified By:Fletcher Moore
  • Modified:10/07/2016