Speakers

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 SPEAKERS 

Peter MacKeith 

Peter MacKeith is dean and professor of architecture at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas. Appointed in July 2014, he is a nationally recognized design educator and administrator, who has led the school during a period of growth and impact. MacKeith serves as chair of the advisory committee for the Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program, a regional initiative of the Walton Family Foundation. He is currently overseeing the completion of a $75 million capital campaign for the Fay Jones School and guiding the design and construction of the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation, a regional center for research and development of new wood products and new approaches in sustainable construction materials. The author and/or editor of 12 books, including the recently published Radical Practice: The Work of Marlon Blackwell Architects, he was curator for the exhibition “Light Houses” at the Nordic Pavilion at 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale; curator for “The Iconic and the Everyday: Creative Finland in America” in 2017 at the Embassy of Finland, Washington, D.C.; and curator for the exhibition “A South Forty: Contemporary Architecture and Design in the American South,” first shown at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale, and now on view in the Fay Jones School.

Danielle A. Jackson 

Danielle Amir Jackson is a Memphis-born writer and the editor-in-chief at the Oxford American. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Vulture, Bookforum, and the Criterion Collection among other outlets. She is a second year student in the Mile High MFA at Denver’s Regis University, and co-editor of an upcoming volume on the history of women in hip-hop and reggaetón. 

Jeannie Whayne, Ph.D. 

Jeannie Whayne is University Professor of history and author of Delta Empire: Lee Wilson and the Transformation of Agriculture in the New South and A New Plantation South: Land, labor, and Federal Favor. She is the editor or a coauthor of nine other books, including Shadows Over Sunnyside: An Arkansas Plantation in Transition. Whayne served as president of Agricultural History Society (2013-2014) and was awarded the Society’s Gladys Baker Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. She is a distinguished lecturer with the Organization of American Historians and the 2022 winner of the SEC Academic Achievement Award for the University of Arkansas. 

Calvin White, Ph.D. 

Calvin White, Jr. became an associate dean of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences in July 2018. He joined the university in 2007 as an assistant professor of history. He was promoted to associate professor in 2013. White’s administrative experience includes tenures as chair of the Department of History and director of the African and African American Studies Program. He served as a fellow in the SEC Academic Leadership Program and has been recognized for his commitment to his students, teaching, and diversity. 

His areas of study are the U.S. South with a concentration on the African American experience. His book The Rise to Respectability: Race Religion and the Church of God in Christ was released in October 2012. In February 2022, he and co-editor Michael Pierce published Race, Labor, and Violence In the Delta, a series of essays to mark the centennial of the Elaine Massacre. Currently, he is working to complete a biography of Oscar Stanton De Preist, the only African American to serve in Congress from 1929-1934, which is currently under contract with Palgrave Macmillan. White holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Mississippi, an M.A. in History from the University of Central Arkansas, and a B.A. in History from the University of Central Arkansas. 

Jonathan Boelkins 

Jonathan Boelkins is an architect and writer who teaches at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas and a former studio director at Marlon Blackwell Architects. 

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 SPEAKERS 

Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, 

E. Fay Jones Chair in Architecture 

Marlon Blackwell is the founding principal of Marlon Blackwell Architects and a Distinguished Professor and the E. Fay Jones Chair in Architecture at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas. Widely recognized as a leading voice in design and education, Marlon received the 2020 AIA Gold Medal and is a lifetime member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. 

Ethel Goodstein-Murphree, PhD, Assoc. AIA, Affiliate ASLA, DP ACSA 

A Professor of Architecture and Associate Dean of the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, where she has taught since 1992, Goodstein is an historian of American design and culture. Her research concerns mid-century modernism, the controversies surrounding its preservation, and the importance of placing women in its narrative. Recognition of her contributions include an AIA Education Honors Award, the Tau Sigma Delta Silver Medal, the AIA Arkansas Award of Merit, Preserve Arkansas’s Westbrook Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the ACSA Distinguished Professor Award. Goodstein received her B.Arch. from the City College of New York, her M.A. from Cornell University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. 

Jori Erdman, AIA, NOMA 

Jori Erdman is a teacher, architect, researcher and committed Southerner. As an academic, she has written and taught in and on the South throughout her career including the co-development of the award-winning Studio South initiative at the Clemson University School of Architecture. Her collaborative work also includes the award-winning interdisciplinary Coastal Sustainability Studio at Louisiana State University. She received her BS in Architecture from the University of Virginia and her Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University. Recent and current projects include co-developing a community engagement focused seminar series for the Justice Education group of US Architects Declare, as well as documentary and writing projects on the work of Duvall Decker. 

Frank Harmon , FAIA 

Frank Harmon has designed sustainable modern buildings across the Southeast for 40 years. His buildings are materially specific to their region, using hurricane-felled cypress and rock from local quarries to connect the structure to its landscape. The airy breezeways, outdoor living spaces, deep overhangs, and wide lawns embody the romanticism of the South while maintaining a distinguished modernism. As a noted writer and illustrator, his recently published book Native Places, Drawing as a Way to See uses hand-drawn sketches and mini-essays to examine the relationship between nature and built structures.

Lori Yazwinski Santa-Rita, AIA, 

LEED AP, NCARB 

Lori became a partner at Jennings+Santa- Rita Architects in 2015. She served as the 2019 AIA Arkansas President and is currently working with the AIA National Strategic Council as the Arkansas representative. After graduating Magna Cum Laude from the University of Arkansas, Lori has been involved in various non-profits throughout the state. Her dedication to the profession of architecture and community service were recognized by the AIA Arkansas 2018 Emerging Professional Award. She has also been included in the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s 40 under 40 and was featured in the Women Make Arkansas publication by Et Alia Press in 2019. Lori enjoys being involved in various outreach initiatives using her craft to engage with others about architecture and equity. 

Brandon Pace, FAIA 

Brandon Pace is a founding partner of Sanders Pace Architecture, started in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2002 with partner John Sanders. With work that is extensively researched and thoughtfully executed, Brandon has become a critical voice for a region and context often overlooked. In an era of increasing globalization, Brandon approaches architecture with a local mindset, identifying and expanding upon those cultural, physical, and social characteristics and circumstances that define a place and make it unique. 

By identifying opportunities within these constraints Brandon has established a foundation and framework for a design process that has led his projects to more than 80 local, regional, and national AIA design awards and publication in books and magazines throughout the world. Brandon holds degrees from Yale University and the University of Tennessee where he has served as an Adjunct Lecturer and invited critic. 

Barry Alan Yoakum, FAIA, LEED AP 

Barry Alan Yoakum has fostered a collaborative spirit rooted in actionable, sustainable design for over four decades. He enrolled at the University of Tennessee in 1974, coinciding with the world’s first energy crisis. As Partner of archimania with Todd Walker, FAIA, he helped realize the world’s first two dual-certified Zero Energy and Zero Carbon buildings by ILFI and AIA COTE Top Ten Award Winners. Barry was elevated to Fellowship in 2010 for design excellence and recently received the 2022 William Strickland Lifetime Achievement Award for the Profession of Architecture, AIA Tennessee’s highest individual award. 

Ray Huff, FAIA, NOMA 

Ray Huff’s career combined the academy / practice that engaged questions of architecture and design. Before establishing the international design practice, Ray founded the Clemson Architecture Center in Charleston in 1987, where he served as director. In 2017, he was named director of the newly established Clemson Design Center in Charleston. The Center includes undergraduate architecture and landscape architecture as well as graduate programs in architecture, Architecture+Community BUILD, resilient urban design, and historic preservation. 

He mentored with noted Florida architect Donald Singer. He received the Clemson Architecture Alumni Achievement Award, elevated to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, and received the Medal of Distinction from the American Institute of Architects. He was awarded several national awards from the National Council of Architecture Accrediting Boards for his academic work. 

In addition to teaching at the CAC.C, Ray held the distinguished Bishop Chair at Yale University’s Graduate School of Architecture and has lectured at numerous educational institutions, professional societies, and elsewhere. He’s been a keynote speaker at AIA conventions in Minneapolis, San Juan, Nashville, and elsewhere. He chaired and keynoted the Brandenburg University of Technology design symposium in Cottbus, Germany. 

Publications regarding Mr. Huff’s work include Architecture Record, Architecture, Progressive Architecture, A+U, Cree, Hauser, Metropolis, New York Times, Art Forum, and numerous other periodicals and newspapers. His work is also featured in Beach Houses, ArchiSpeak, South Carolina Architecture 1970-2000, and many other books. Awards have included several American Institute of Architects design awards. In 2002, he was selected as one of six “Emerging Voices” by the New York Architectural League. He presently serves as a PEER professional with the GSA’s Design Excellence Program. 

Ray retired from active practice and the academy in 2022. 

Katherine Hogan, AIA 

Katherine Hogan is co-owner and principal of Katherine Hogan Architects, based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Throughout her career, she has worked on projects of various scales and typologies, including, institutional, commercial, and residential projects. Her firm has crafted a diverse body of work, and has received AIA awards at the local, state, and national level for innovative design solutions to complex problems and for using ordinary materials in inventive ways. The portfolio represents a fresh, distinctive approach to design, one that balances craft, making and implementation of architecture. As architect and educator, Katherine approaches each project with the belief that good design can happen at any scale and budget. 

Eric Hoffman, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP 

Eric R. Hoffman is an architect and educator with over 25 years of experience. As a founding partner of patterhn ives, llc and in collaboration with numerous firms, Eric has designed and led a diverse range of award-winning cultural, civic, public and academic projects, including the Walker Art Center with HGA & Herzog and de Meuron and the Saint Louis Art Museum expansion with HOK & David Chipperfield Architects. His commitment to design, innovation, mentorship and the environment was recognized with a National AIA Young Architects Award in 2013. As a Professor of Practice, Eric has taught at numerous schools across the Midwest including Washington University in St. Louis and is an influential voice shaping the future of architectural practice. 

With partners Anna Ives and Tony Patterson, Hoffman founded patterhn ives, a practice dedicated to Arts, Education and Community. Their work is known for being timeless, rigorously detailed, and carefully attuned to every site. Current work includes the John Goodman Amphitheater at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri, and the Market Center of the Ozarks in Springdale, Arkansas. Eric’s lasting relationships with clients, consultants, contracting teams, students and communities serve as his highest measure of professional success. 

Steve Dumez, FAIA 

Steve Dumez is Principal and Director of Design of EskewDumezRipple, with offices in New Orleans and Washington, D.C. Under his leadership, the firm has received numerous prestigious awards, including the national AIA Architecture Firm Award and over 60 national awards for design excellence. Steve has been a frequent keynote speaker at institutions across the country, and his work has been featured in numerous national and international publications. He received a B.Arch. from Louisiana State University, and a M.Arch. from Yale University. 

Roy Decker, FAIA 

Roy Decker expands the role of an architect in search of public good. Roy’s dedication to design excellence, education, and craft infuses the firm’s work with meaning. For the past three decades, Roy has led the firm to complete public projects of varying scales and types and to achieve significant design recognition. Roy is a design and critical thought leader, whether he is participating in an inner-city neighborhood meeting, serving on student reviews across the country, sharing his perspective in lectures and publications, or inspiring an individual in conversation. In all of these encounters, he exhibits an unwavering commitment to considering the consequences of architectural design work in the lives of others.

Edwin Harris 

As Co-founder of Evoke Studio, Edwin believes that remarkable architecture enhances the lives of its occupants. He has consistently generated exciting designs that are decisive, focused, and rooted in their place. Edwin’s distinctive design abilities have been recognized throughout his career via the awards and other accolades. His design expertise was critical for the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and Emancipation Park. Edwin’s mentor, the late Phil Freelon, declared Edwin a supremely talented architect on the rise in various publications. Edwin is a 2022 recipient of the National AIA Young Architects award. 

Whitney Powers 

As a graduate in architecture from Mississippi State (thesis advisors were Risher and Mockbee) and Columbia University, Whitney Powers gained work experience in Memphis and Washington, D.C., until establishing her own Charleston-based practice in the wake of Hurricane Hugo while teaching at Clemson’s architecture program in the historic city. 

The work established Powers as one of the nation’s notable architects 40 Under 40, a competition of the New York Municipal Art Society, and in Young Architects as selected by the editors of Progressive Architecture. Her work has been featured on HGTV and widely published, by the New York Times, A+U, Architecture, and others. Powers serves on numerous community boards and launched IfYouWereMayor.com in 2014. 

Roberto de Leon, FAIA, NCARB, 

LEED AP 

Roberto de Leon is a co-founder of de Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop (DPAW), a design studio focusing on public projects with a cultural, civic or not-for-profit basis. DPAW’s working methodology draws inspiration from regional traditions of craft and fabrication, placing an emphasis on the potential of conventional materials and construction methods. The firm’s work has been recognized through numerous honors and awards, including selection for the 2010 Design Vanguard by Architectural Record and the 2011 Emerging Voices by the Architectural League of New York. Roberto is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of California at Berkeley. 

Anne Marie Duvall Decker, FAIA 

Anne Marie sees architecture as instrument, engaging the material phenomena of our environment and culture to create the potential for education and growth. She leads the studio in creating elusive forms and engaging spaces, no matter the type, size, or budget of projects. She has served the profession in many capacities, as a long-term board member and past president of AIA Mississippi and as a Trustee and 2021 Chair of the AIA Trust. Anne Marie is often invited to share her experience as a lecturer, critic, visiting professor, and design juror. She was recently appointed to serve the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations as a 2021-2023 Industry Advisory Group peer.