Mies van der Rohe is credited by many as one of the founders of Modern architecture and nowhere has his work been more keenly felt than at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) College of Architecture in Chicago. van der Rohe presided over the department (and at the time it’s sister school, Armour) in the 1940s, leaving a tangible legacy with a stunning new 120acre campus which was completed in the 1970s.
Since his reign over the school the IIT has become synonymous with outstanding architecture and design talent in the field of tall buildings, churning out experimental thinkers under the instruction of Robert Alan Pritzker, Fazlur Khan and John Henry Waddell as a matter of course.
In 2004 the current Dean, Donna Robertson, struck up a strong relationship with influential body the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats (CTBUH), which at this point was based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Dean Robertson was instrumental in bringing the CTBUH to its current home in Chicago and as a result can be seen as a major player in the organisation’s rapid development over the past few years.
Sadly Dean Robertson has announced that 2011 is to be her final year in this authoritative position and hence a search has commenced to find a similarly inspirational figure to take the title of Dean at the IIT in the 2012/13 academic year. The IIT is one of the leading global institutions in architecture education with 800 students from 50 countries and more than 100 full and part time faculty members, therefore an experienced architectural educator is desired to continue the school’s impressive historical contribution to the architecture industry.