Gunnar G. Birkerts, the Thomas S. Monaghan Architect-in-Residence Professor and professor of architecture, will retire from active faculty status on May 31, 1990.

Born in Latvia, Gunnar Birkerts studied architecture at the Technische Hochschule in Stuttgart, Germany, receiving the Diplom-Ingeneur Architekt in 1949. He came to the United States immediately, working one year for Perkins and Will in Chicago, five years for Eero Saarinen & Associates in Bloomfield Hills, and three years for Minoru Yamasaki & Associates in Birmingham. He formed his first office in 1959 and, since 1960, he has taught architectural design at the University of Michigan. Professor Birkerts is one of the world's foremost architects. Since 1954, his buildings have earned him over 25 major design awards and dozens of others. His work has been cited in numerous professional journals around the world and exhibited by a dozen prestigious institutions, including the Bienniale, Sao Paulo, Brazil; the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the New York Architectural League; and the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He was selected to serve as juror for the R.S. Reynolds Metal Award, one of the most eminent international awards given to architects. The great variety of his work was celebrated in a splendid monograph published in 1982 by GA Architect.

Many honors have been bestowed upon Professor Birkerts in recognition of his genius. In 1971, he received the Gold Medal of Tau Sigma Delta, national honor society in architecture and allied arts. The Detroit Chapter of the American Institute of Architects presented him with its Gold Medal in 1975, and he was awarded the Michigan Society of Architects' Gold Medal in 1980. The Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture, one of the highest honors in art, was accorded Professor Birkerts in 1981 by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He was a recipient of the Michigan Arts Foundation Award for Architects in 1988 and, most recently, was given a Distinguished Professor Award by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. Professor Birkerts is internationally known as an accomplished teacher, and master's degree students from across the globe have been attracted to the University of Michigan to study with him. He has been invited to lecture at nearly every one of the 91 American schools of architecture. Professor Birkerts' renown attests to his distinguished achievements and his reputation as a brilliant architect/teacher/scholar.

The University has been fortunate to have had him as a faculty member. The Regents now salute Gunnar G. Birkerts by naming him the Thomas S. Monaghan Architect-in-Residence Professor Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Architecture.