Monica Ponce de Leon, dean of the School of Architecture at Princeton University, has been honored as a “Great Immigrant” by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Magazine, The Immigrant Experience, Culled from Princeton University
Ponce de León has served as dean of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor since 2008, where she is also the Eliel Saarinen Collegiate Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning. Before her appointment at the University of Michigan, Ponce de León was a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she served on the faculty for 12 years.
A recipient of the prestigious National Design Award in Architecture from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian National Design Museum, Ponce de León co-founded Office dA, in 1991, and in 2011 started her own design practice, MPdL Studio, with offices in New York, Boston and Ann Arbor.
“I am thrilled that Mónica Ponce de León has agreed to become the next dean of Princeton’s School of Architecture,” said Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber. “As both a renowned architect and a successful dean, she brings to the school a rare combination of distinction, creativity, experience and energy. Mónica clearly appreciates the special scholarly role and mission of the Princeton University School of Architecture, and I expect that she will enable the school to build upon its legacy in new and exciting ways.”
“I am deeply honored by the trust that Princeton is placing upon me and I look forward to working with students and faculty in writing the next chapter in the history of the school,” said Ponce de León. “Given that architecture plays a unique role in the construction of culture, at the intersection of the humanities, the sciences and the arts, the opportunities are enormous. I am excited to work with the School of Architecture and the leadership at Princeton to expand and deepen architecture’s role in understanding and speculating on the challenges of our time.”
“Monica brings a passion for education in architecture, and the importance of building a diverse pipeline of future architects,” said Princeton Provost David S. Lee. “She is an innovator both as an architect, and in the way she has fostered collaboration and community. Monica will fit wonderfully into our highly interdisciplinary community; I’m excited and look forward to supporting her efforts as dean of the school in sustaining and extending the excellence in teaching and scholarship that occurs in the School of Architecture.”
Among her many prestigious honors, Ponce de Leon has received the Academic Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the USA Target Fellow in Architecture and Design from United States Artists; and the Young Architects and Emerging Voices awards from the Architectural League of New York. Her work has received a dozen Progressive Architecture Awards, several awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and numerous citations.