Rashida Ng (MArch'01) Appointed Presidential Associate Professor at Weitzman

Beginning in July of 2022, Professor Ng will succeed Richard Wesley, adjunct professor of architecture, as chair of undergraduate architecture. In addition, she will hold the appointment of Presidential Associate Professor through June of 2027. Presidential Professorships are five-year chairs awarded by University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann to exceptional scholars who have the potential to advance faculty eminence through diversity across the University.

“A 2001 graduate of our MArch program, Rashida has a truly remarkable record as an educator, mentor, and academic and professional leader,” said Dean Steiner. “I am confident that she will make connections across the University and explore the impact of social and political concerns as expressed in the built environment.”

“As I return to my alma mater, I am energized by the opportunities to collaborate with colleagues in the Weitzman School and the College of Arts and Sciences,” said Professor Ng. “At this moment of increasing awareness of social inequities, I look forward to creating sustained partnerships with communities on projects that promote justice.”

Professor Ng is a nationally respected leader in reforming architectural education and served as president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, where she was on the Board of Directors from 2015 until the summer of 2021. She has been on the faculty at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University since 2005, where she is an associate professor and served as chair of the Architecture and Environmental Design Department until the summer of 2021.

Professor Ng’s work negotiates the complex interrelationships between constructed and natural systems. In her research, she has focused on performative materials, architectural pedagogy, and environmental justice and social equity. She has authored numerous papers on these topics and co-edited the book Performative Materials in Architecture and Design (Intellect/University of Chicago Press, 2013).

Ng has recently turned her attention to the intersection of racial and environmental justice in architecture. This work provides actionable approaches for climate mitigation, while considering intersections with social infrastructures and restorative justice. She has written about equity and architectural pedagogy, including a forthcoming book chapter titled “Breaking the Chains: Beyond the Beaux-Arts Tradition of Architectural Education in the United States.”  By expanding the scope of her work, she is contributing to topics underrepresented in the field of architecture, particularly when compared to landscape architecture, urban planning, environmental policy, community design and social and political sciences.