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Memoir
Robert Beckley
Regents' Proceedings 321
Regents' Proceedings 321
Robert M. Beckley, professor of architecture and urban planning and former dean of the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, will retire from active faculty status on May 31, 2002.
Professor Beckley received a B.S. degree in architecture from the University of Cincinnati in 1959 and an M.A. degree in architecture from Harvard University in 1961. He joined the University of Michigan faculty as an instructor in 1963 and was promoted to assistant professor in 1965. Professor Beckley joined the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee faculty in 1968 and returned to the University of Michigan in 1987 as professor of architecture and urban planning and dean of the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. He served as dean until 1997. Under his leadership, the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning expanded its presence across the globe. International programs, research, and scholarly contributions grew in their diversity, and the student body broadened to include individuals from nearly every continent.
Professor Beckley has done research for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He also conducted research for Milwaukee's economic development department and was a consultant to other civic and corporate organizations, including Ann Arbor's State Street redevelopment project. Professor Beckley was president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, a member of the executive committee of the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) executive committee, and represented the NAAB at more than 20 architectural program reviews and conferences setting educational standards. He also served on the University of Michigan Advisory Committee on Campus Planning from 1997-99 and the White House Council on Design from 1997-2000. Professor Beckley was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 1985 and the Urban Design Institute in 1990. His architectural firm has won a number of awards and won a national competition for design of a downtown park for the City of Bellevue, Washington.
The Regents now salute this distinguished faculty member by naming Robert M. Beckley professor emeritus of architecture and urban planning and dean emeritus of the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.