SELECTED DIVERSITY WORK 2016 - 2019
improving diversity in academic, com- munity, and professional contexts award winning leader for diversity, equity, and inclusionary projects dedicated to the emergence of equality and inclusion in the design eld
“Professor Cleckley is one of the strongest voices for inclusion, diversity and equity at the School of Architecture and University... [He is] the co-chair of our Inclusion + Equity committee and has taken a leadership role in cultivating a diverse community at the School of Architecture. Under his leadership, the committee has de ned a set of clear goals stating that the project of the committee and School is not simply about including people of varied backgrounds, identities and experiences, but rather of committing ourselves to the sustained, critical rethinking of our institutional Elgin Cleckley, Assoc. AIA, policies, practices, structures, and culture. As part of this process, Professor Cleckley has been leading a racial equity assessment at the NOMA School of Architecture with the Racial Equity Institute [REI], committed himself to curricular programming and research that looks at the complicated and di cult racial past of the university Assistant Professor of Architecture and and the many historical sites in its vicinity, and is in the process of Design Thinking developing pipeline programming to strengthen our racial diversity with appointment in the School of Nursing within the student body at the School. “ and Curry School of Education Dean Ila Berman University of Virginia University of Virginia, School of Architecture School of Architecture Edward E. Elson Professor ELGIN CLECKLEY RECEIVES ARMSTEAD ROBINSON BLACK STAFF AND FACULTY AWARD
UVa School of Architecture is proud to announce that Assistant Professor Elgin Cleckley was recently recognized as the recipient of the Robinson Recognition Award for Faculty.
This honor recognizes outstanding faculty who have contributed to diversity, equity and inclusion and have had a positive impact on the Black experience at the university. Elgin was jointly nominated by School of Architecture Dean Ila Berman and School of Nursing Dean In addition to the commitment and passion Dorrie Fontaine. he brings to all his work on equity across Grounds and the Charlottesville community, The Armstead Robinson Recognition Award for Faculty is given by the this award recognizes his signi cant impact Black Faculty and Sta -Employee Resource Group (BFS-ERG) which on the lives of students - especially with serves as a representative voice for black faculty and sta at the minority students. Put simply by one of his University of Virginia in matters relative to the intellectual, professional, students, "Elgin Cleckley is by far the best and emotional betterment within the UVa community and beyond. The studio instructor I have ever had. He is award's namesake, the late Armstead Robinson (photo above), a passionate, both about design and about his former history professor, oversaw the initial development of the Carter students' excelling." G. Woodson Institute for Afro-American and African Studies, which helped identify, recruit and retain key African-American faculty at the University.
- courtesy UVa School of Architecture
https://www.arch.virginia.edu/news/elgin-cleckley-receives-armstead-r obinson-faculty-award “I have known Elgin for several years ever since we hired him to be part of a cluster faculty who would teach in the Schools of Nursing, Education and Architecture...Elgin has introduced many students and teachers at UVa and in community schools to the concept of design thinking, a methodology for people-centered problem-solving, a creative process to solve problems through empathy. He has taken this approach to addressing some of our community’s thorniest challenges, including race relations on grounds and in the community.
He was quickly recognized and rewarded for his knowledge and talent across UVa. Elgin, other UVa faculty, and Charlot- tesville City Councilors received UVa’s Flash Funding for the New Vinegar Hill project. This Flash Funding speci cally looked for ideas that addressed unconscious bias and racial tension. The funders were especially interested in projects that connected the city and the university in tackling this challenge, to think about ways to “bridge the gaps between us in our culture in our time.”
Dean Dorrie Fontaine University of Virginia School of Nursing School of Architecture’s Assistant Professor Elgin Cleckley, NEW VINEGAR along with faculty collaborators from the Batten School of HILL RECEIVES Leadership and Public Policy, recently received funding for their proposal, the New Vinegar Hill project. UVa's FLASH FUNDING Flash Funding program was announced in early Septem- ber to support projects that work toward, “achieving the culture and environment we value,” with a preference for ideas that address unconscious bias and racial tension. Vinegar Hill was a once The project team, including A-School students, Tarin standing African American Jones, My-Anh Nguyen, and Henok Waltengus, will help neighborhood in Charlottes- C-ville develop a community-driven checklist for ville removed during urban approaching future redevelopment. renewal by the City of Char- lottesville African-American led Redevelopment in Charlottesville - A "New Vinegar Hill,” Batten School (Social Entrepreneurship), McIntire School of Commerce, School of Architecture, PI: Mahoney, C., Etienne, B., Cleckley, E. ($25,000) Elgin Cleckley, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Design Thinking and Lisa Reilly, Associate Professor of Architectural History, were awarded a collaborative grant for $17,837 in support their work on "Strategies of Interpretation II: Highland."
JEFFERSON TRUST Elgin and Lisa will use the Je erson Trust's support for a course, Strategies of Interpretation II: Highland and GRANT accompanying public lecture series - to create the opportunity for the University and Charlottesville community to interrogate further the issues of histori- STRATEGIES OF cal interpretation of the enslaved and its public pre- sentation. In collaboration with James Monroe’s High- INTERPRETATION II land, teams of interdisciplinary students will address the challenge of reinterpreting Highland in light of new discoveries about its history by creating an inter- JAMES MONROE’S pretive plan and models for new exhibitions. Using strategies of design thinking, they will learn how to HIGHLAND construct and present a revised narrative about Mon- roe’s plantation that addresses the needs and interests of diverse audiences.
Strategies of Interpretation II: Highland, Je erson Trust, awarded spring 2018, PI: Reilly, L., Cleckley, E, with Harper, S. (Highland) ($20,800). Mapping exhibits the documentation of the President’s Commission on Slavery, in a MAPPING collaborative, cross-disciplinary, student-led project, marking the achievements in EXHIBITION locating African American history at the University of Virginia. The exhibit features an orientation model with slate roof tiles produced by the enslaved, Project Director aided by graphic panels and laser etched tiles displaying the information provided in the UVA Walking Tour brochure on Enslaved African Americans at the University of Virginia.
C ENSLAVED AFRICAN AMERICANS ar rs Henry Martin H d 3 i a ll o at the University of Virginia R R d y b This self-guided tour introduces some of the people, places, and stories related to early g u R According to oral history, Henry Martin was born UVA Walking Tour d N e b R n om a wc L at Monticello on July 4, 1826—the day Jefferson Ne Enslaved African Americans at the University n n o s died. He was sold to the Carr family at i
r d a B U Jefferson’s estate sale in 1827 and until 1847 9 ni M 2 ve t rsit The University of Virginia utilized the labor of enslaved R y remained enslaved at a property in Albemarle A / ve nu t e S Alderman LIbrary / R County. In 1847, the Carrs hired out Mr. Martin t African Americans from the earliest days of its t 25 e 0B
u UVA Chapel to Mrs. Dabney Carr, who ran a boarding m m
construction in 1817 until the end of the American E house just north of the University. Until the Civil War. Most of the university’s first enslaved general emancipation in 1865, Martin hauled coal, delivered wood, 3 African American life at the University. Between 1817 and 1865 the University relied on and worked as a domestic laborer at her boarding house. In freedom, o laborers were rented from local slave-owners and P he took a job with the University as janitor and bell ringer, which he worked alongside whites and free blacks in all the wrote about in a letter to College Topics, a student publication that 4 Hotel A T tasks associated with constructing the Academical asked to report on his life story. Martin routinely awoke at 4 a.m. to 5
tend to his responsibilities. It was Martin who rang the bell to spread Village. When the first students arrived in March 1825, Mew Rotunda s A the alarm when the first wisps of smoke were spotted in the Rotunda lley Pavilion I 2
enslaved African Americans worked in the pavilions, r d 6 a fire of 1895. “I was as true to that bell as to my God,” Martin said in o 1 R 7
k hotels, and the Rotunda; maintained classrooms, a 1914 interview. And by his retirement in 1909, Martin had become c Pavilion III i
g Pavilion II m a UVA icon, The student newspaper commented, “He was known u r laboratories, and the library; and served the daily needs o C c personally to more alumni than any living man.” M the labor of enslaved African Americans, whose presence was undeniably central to the of the students and faculty, especially in providing Pavilion IV o Pavilion V
n cooking and cleaning services. This self-guided tour The Lawn Downtown Mall is an introduction to some of the significant people, 4 Anatomical Theater T i > Pavilion VI 9 places, and events that shaped the early history | 8 e g of African Americans at the University of Virginia. g n Following a complaint from Pavilion X resident Hotel E a R
k t and professor of medicine Robley Dunglison s For further information see slavery.virginia.edu. Pavilion VIII a E
that his front room was an “unacceptable n M
l c Guf Pavilion IX ad ey D venue” for dissecting cadavers, Jefferson i Ro rive ick building and functioning of the University of Virginia. designed a new building in 1824 (featuring orm Key cC a tiered amphitheater for observing dissections) M Pavilion X k e a v i r that stood for a period of time in front of where D l 10 l Site open to the public a t Alderman Library is today. A student dissection Hotel F i p s lab was added later. Nineteenth century medical faculty and students o H Exterior viewing only, building not open to the public a commonly stole the corpses of recently buried African Americans from Historic location only nearby cemeteries for use in their classrooms. By the late 1840s, the W University was competing for cadavers with two other medical
Historic marker schools in the state. Professional grave robbers known as “Resurrec- W
P Parking tionists” were hired in Richmond, Alexandria, and Norfolk. These men primarily
targeted African American burial sites to meet the University’s demand Cabell Hall A Front cover: Sally Cottrell Cole was an enslaved maid and seamstress for 25 or more cadavers per session. An enslaved man named Lewis who labored for Professor Thomas Hewitt Key in Pavilion VI (site 9) was hired by the University from carpenter George Spooner specifically between 1824–1827. Professor Key arranged for her manumission to clean up after the cadaver experiments. Because of these duties, V upon his departure from the University in 1827. Cole remained in the University community referred to him as “Anatomical Lewis.” 50' 100' 500 feet Charlottesville until her death in 1873. During his time at UVA, Lewis lived in several locations including U Back Cover: Henry Martin behind Pavilion VII. It is unknown whether Lewis left by death or by sale, but by 1860, Lewis no longer appears in University records.
ENSLAVED AFRICAN AMERICANS 1 The Rotunda 5 Hotel A 7 The Mews 9 Pavilion VI and Garden at the University of Virginia and Bricks on the Lawn | | Hotels intersperse the East and West Ranges. The building now known as the Mews was Pavilion V and VI were places where William One of the most overlooked legacies of These buildings were rented to Hotelkeepers, built around 1830. It is one of the few surviving and Isabella Gibbons, who were both enslaved enslaved labor are the bricks that cover the each of whom owned many people who original outbuildings. Built as a detached at UVA, lived and labored. Owned by different r This self-guided tour introduces Academical Village. Enslaved laborers dug were expected to prepare meals and provide kitchen, it also provided accommodations for faculty, they were able to maintain family the clay, helped fire the bricks, hauled them cleaning for the students. On a daily basis, some of the professor’s enslaved laborers. connections and become literate despite the some of the people, places, and to grounds, and laid them to build this the enslaved would bring fresh water to the These kitchen quarters were modeled after constraints of slavery. Mr. Gibbons was owned
u stories related to early African university. The brick making began in the students and tend their fires. They regularly plantation kitchens, which were usually by Professor Henry Howard and later worked summer of 1817, and the enslaved laborers cleaned the rooms and public spaces of the detached and situated near the main house. for Professor William H. McGuffey in Pavilion American life at the University of working on this task were a diverse group Academical Village. In addition, in the basements and gardens, These buildings and the enslaved cooks and domestics were integral IX. Mrs. Gibbons was a domestic servant in the household of Professor of mostly men, but included at least one they prepared the meals that were served to students in the Hotels. to the formal functions of the University’s community, providing Francis Smith in Pavilions V and VI. Although their marriage had no o Virginia. Between 1817 and 1865 woman and several children. An enslaved This work required an extensive labor force. In 1830, the Conways meals and domestic service to the professors and their families. legal standing, William and Isabella Gibbons preserved their union and the University relied on the labor man named Charles was responsible for who operated Hotel A owned twelve people who may have lived in The building has since been enlarged and was renamed “The Mews” raised their children while living in slavery. Legal restrictions and the
T digging the clay and manning the kiln with the basement and in outbuildings in the gardens. At any time, the when Professor Pratt moved here in 1923. strong opposition of white society severely limited access to education Mapping was designed and fabricated at the School of Architecture by the following students of enslaved African Americans, the help of six enslaved boys rented out population of enslaved people living and working in the Academical for Virginia’s slaves. William Gibbons learned to read by carefully
whose presence was undeniably from John H. Cocke in 1823. Enslaved Village was between 90 to 150 in the decades before emancipation. observing and listening to the white students around him. His daughter central to the building and laborers named Dick, Lewis, Nelson and In the course of carrying out their responsibilities, free and enslaved East Lawn Basement Rooms Bella recalled that she could not have learned to read and write, Sandy were also assigned to the brickyard, African Americans interacted with white students in the hotel dining 8 “unless my mother taught me secretly.” g functioning of the University of and worked long hours by the kiln. Enslaved halls, student dormitory rooms, and throughout the Academical Village laborers also carved out the terrace levels on the lawn, creating the on a regular basis. On occasion, these daily interactions could and did Virginia. This walking tour is The basement rooms served many different unique landscape that you see today. Many of the enslaved laborers turn violent. Faculty records document that students resulted to physical purposes over the decades. Some were 10 The Crackerbox an initiative of the President’s violence upon the bodies of free and enslaved laborers for a variety of n were highly skilled at construction, carpentry, stone cutting, living quarters for enslaved African ‘offences,’ including insolence, impertinent language, or a perceived from the Schools of Architecture and Engineering: Siddarth Velamakanni, My – Anh Nguyen, and blacksmithing, who were forced to work alongside free black Commission on Slavery and the Americans owned by professors. Pavilion i and white laborers, contributed to some of the more intricate lack of attention to duties. For example, Mr. Rose complained to the occupants occasionally annexed these One of the few surviving outbuildings within the University, a group committed to design work seen in the details of the architecture on grounds. faculty when a student kicked one of his enslaved workers and Col. Moon rooms by breaking through common walls, Academical Village, the “Crackerbox” is a In 1823 as part of Rotunda construction, free man of color Robert objected when a student threw a knife. Even when students were acknowledging and memorializing which allowed a direct passageway from two-story cottage named for its small size and k Battles hauled over 176,000 bricks and a few tons of sand to the judged by faculty to be at fault, their actions very rarely led to suspension. the lives and legacies of enslaved the basement to the inside of the pavilion, rectangular shape. Built between 1825–1826 University during a five-month stretch. For his Herculean efforts, the structure stands today in the rear yard of
l allowed them to be used as auxiliary he was paid $170. laborers at UVA. work spaces. Hotel F. Like the Mews, the Cracker Box was 6 The University Gardens originally constructed as a detached kitchen Many of these rooms show evidence of improvement to make with a Garden 3 Rosalie Reuss, Michael Tucker, David Reis, Davis Eddy, Arthur Brown, and Hutch Landfair. To learn more visit them more habitable. They were whitewashed and some had residential space in its upper story. Hotelkeeper John N. Rose brought 2 Enslaved Labor Plaque plaster ceilings. Despite those improvements, most of the rooms his household, including 13 enslaved people and still had dirt floors, no windows and no fireplaces. slavery.virginia.edu Over the decades, dozens of buildings were three free black women, to Hotel F in 1829. The Board of Visitors approved the construction of a one-room addition to the north end of In February of 2007, the University’s Board of added to these spaces including: smokehouses, Some rooms were rented out to businessmen such as Jack kitchens, privies, wood sheds, and quarters. Kennedy, a member of the Charlottesville Free Black community, the Crackerbox, perhaps to accommodate his large enslaved labor force.
W Visitors approved the installation of a slate Others living within Rose’s household were Edmund, an enslaved man memorial in the brick pavement of the Enclosed by walls and thus largely hidden from who applied for one of the cellar rooms to be used as a barber’s owned by Rose’s son William, and James Munroe who belonged to Rose’s passage under the south terrace of the the university community, these spaces provided shop for the accommodation of the students. The faculty approved wife, Mary. Edmund and James Munroe and the other people owned Rotunda. The memorial reads: “In honor of a place to butcher hogs, to cook and do because they hoped the students would have fewer reasons to by Rose likely served one of two capacities: as hotel servants preparing, the several hundred women and men, both laundry, and to perform the many other tasks go to town. In another room (under Room 24), enslaved laborers serving, and cleaning up student meals; or as dormitory servants free and enslaved, whose labor between 1817 expected of the enslaved community. These constructed a large cistern, which was once a vital part of the providing services to students and cleaning their rooms. On occasion, and 1826 helped to realize Thomas Jefferson’s were the primary spaces where the enslaved community worked, lived, University’s water supply and fire protection system. The cistern Rose leased his slaves for short periods of time. Edmund was hired to design for the University of Virginia.” The memorial was part of an and communed while tucked away from the view of the central Lawn. was connected to wooden pipes and trenches, all of which were Professor George Blaetterman in 1832 for a period of two months. effort led by President John Casteen III to honor the university’s By the twentieth century, most of these buildings were torn down and constructed and maintained by enslaved laborers and, in later Rose and his family left the University in 1834 and opened a boarding “original labor force,” which included enslaved workers. only a few remain. In the mid-twentieth-century the Garden Club of years, Thomas Farrow and Robert Battles, free black tradesmen. Virginia redesigned the gardens to their present appearance. house for students on Main Street. It is likely that the people they owned President‘s Commission on Slavery and the University continued to serve the Roses at their boarding house establishment. Mapping, an exhibition of the UVa African American Walking Tour, Je erson Trust Grant, ($17,800), 2018. In addition to the commitment and passion he brings to all his work on equity across Grounds and the Charlottesville community, this award recognizes his signi cant impact on the lives of students - especially with minority students. Put simply by one of his students, "Elgin Cleckley is by far the best studio instructor I have ever had. He is passionate, both about design and about his students' excelling."
PROJECT PIPELINE Elgin Cleckley, Program Director (center), instructing in Project Pipeline ARCHITECTURE MENTORSHIP Seven local Charlottesville youth participated in the inaugural Architecture PROGRAM Mentorship Program [AMP] designed for high school students who are curious about design. The two-week program introduces students to the world of the WITH THE NATIONAL architecture profession - the people, ideas, and methods of design. ORGANIZATION OF MINORITY Students were given small design assignments centered around the vision of Ms. ARCHITECTS Audrey Oliver, a local leader from Public Housing Area Residents, for an AND THE NATIONAL ecological-education and gathering space adjacent to the South First Street ENDOWMENT OF Recreation Center and Pollocks Branch stream. THE ARTS The project team is now working with the Public Housing Area Residents, the City Program Director of Charlottesville Redevelopment Manager, the Pollocks Branch Walkable Watersheds Initiative, Gaston & Wyatt, and MIR Collective Architects to further Project Team develop, fabricate, and install the pipeline’s design vision in the spring of 2020. Jeana Ripple Barbara Brown Wilson Minority Youth Development Program at University of Virginia School of Architecture, Je erson Trust Alissa Diamond Grant, awarded April 2019, ($46,000). WE ARE MARTINSVILLE
Designer, Game App Development Team Leader of Design Thinking Workshops
Under the project name We Are Martinsville [WAM] the design team developed a game concept that allows local kids to learn about their city, encourages them to be outside and exercise while simultaneously helping to build new knowledge and data about Martinsville.
Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, O ce of Rural Health Policy, O ce for the Advancement of Telehealth (E-BACKPAC). Amount of Funding/Award period ($1,178,455.00/Septem- ber 1, 2016-August 31, 2020), School of Architec- ture Design Team PI: El Kha f, M., Cleckley, E. Andrade, G., Zhang, S. Continued Design Thinking Workshops, and Game App Design fall 2018 – current. https://www.martinsvillebulle- tin.com/news/a-new-game-helps-henry-county-st udents-learn-about- tness/article_f2880a86-a4ec -11e8-807e-3f5d374d322b.html Statement of Intent
My expertise as a designer and educator lies in leading students, communities, and organizations through a self- formulated, empathic design thinking method for race and cultural design practice. The method introduces, informs, and trains participants on how to create designs with empathic capacity while overcoming cultural di erences.
At the core is Design Thinking – de ned as the systematic, rigorous methodologies and modes of inquiry of designers. My expertise as a Designer shares through my initiative, pedagogy, and pro- fessional contexts under the title _mpathic design. The foundation of _mpathic design is a series of methodologies (called the mosaic), resulting in empathic capacities - “to grasp and understand the mental and emotional lives of others.” The mosaic transfers this understanding into six areas of design: spaces, systems, objects, products, graphics, and experiences.
My work targets a diverse public - ranging from architects, exhibition designers, students, commu- nity members, journalists, civic o cials, to doctors and nurses - all wanting to meet untapped design needs on topics of race and culture.
Dear Professor Cleckley:
I want to thank you again for your generosity of spirit, empathic energy, and introduction to your methodology in this afternoon's workshop. I know that I speak not only for myself, but also for other teachers, when I say how inspired and moved I was by today's conversation, invitation to movement, and collective collaboration. Thank you for modeling conscious pres- ence; I will carry your reminders of everyday engagement and connection into my classroom and beyond.
With much gratitude, Alison Ritz, New York City
Workshop participant (after experiencing the mosaic) 2019 National Endowment for the Humanities Institute, Thomas Je erson: The Public and Private Worlds of Monticello and the University of Virginia, I provided location design for the Equal Justice Initiative’s EQUAL JUSTICE Memorial and Marker in Charlottesville's Court Square, dedicated on July 12, 2019. John Henry James was lynched a INITIATIVE few miles west of Charlottesville on July 12, 1898, for an alleged assault of a white resident. Jones was shot over 75 JOHN HENRY JAMES times. LYNCHING MEMORIAL The Memorial and Marker are the rst elements to oppose the white spatial imaginary of the square. AND MARKER https://www.dailyprogress.com/news/local/historical-marker- recognizing-lynching-in-county-to-be-installed-at/article_7d 6ae7f1-7191-53cf-8518-a82acddc4e23.amp.html
_mpathic design UNIVERSITY As Co - Director of the committee, I helped set the Inclusion and Equity Plan, introduce racial equity impact training, implicit bias OF VIRGINIA training for faculty, students, and sta for the School of Architecture (Groundwater Training in February 2018 shown below). Two Inclusion and Equity lectures with Deanna Van Buren SCHOOL OF and Bryan Lee Jr. and Sue Mobley were products of this work. ARCHITECTURE I also acted as Program Director for the Project Pipeline Architecture Mentorship Program, a priority goals and actions. INCLUSION AND EQUITY COMMITTEE
Co-Director, 2018-9
IDEA Fund Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access Fund, Trustee and Board Member Elgin Cleckley, Program Director (center), instructing in Project Pipeline
Seven local Charlottesville youth participated in the inaugural Architecture Mentorship Program [AMP] designed for high school students who are curious about design. The two-week program introduces students to the world of the architecture profession - the people, ideas, and methods of design.
Students were given small design assignments centered around the vision of Ms. Audrey Oliver, a local leader from Public Housing Area Residents, for an ecological-education and gathering space adjacent to the South First Street Recreation Center and Pollocks Branch stream.
The project team is now working with the Public Housing Area Residents, the City of Charlottesville Redevelopment Manager, the Pollocks Branch Walkable Watersheds Initiative, Gaston & Wyatt, and MIR Collective Architects to further develop, fabricate, and install the pipeline’s design vision in the spring of 2020.
Minority Youth Development Program at University of Virginia School of Architecture, Je erson Trust Grant, awarded April 2019, ($46,000).
_mpathic design, DESIGN THINKING PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Elgin Cleckley, principal
Allowing small to medium sized companies to build consensus, acquire new stakeholder-based perspectives, and drive impact in areas of strategic importance. We do this by executing a design thinking process and experience in DT with partner experience analyzing organizations, identifying trends, and recommending clear strategies to reach goals.
Selected Clients: The Trace, NYC, empathic design workshops supporting the award winning Since Parkland website
YEDEA, empathic design thinking workshops for Ghanaian healthcare, Koforidua, Ghana (pictured)
Stony Point Elementary, integrating diversity in Personalized Learning
DESIGN FUTURES STUDENT a ve-day, interdisciplinary convening that trains emerging design leaders on the power of design and community engagement to further social equity LEADERSHIP FORUM in our neighborhoods, with the goal to nurture leaders in the eld of public interest design. Advisory Design Futures connects local and national student leaders with Board Member and nationally recognized practitioners in socially-engaged design through hands Faculty Advisor - on leadership development workshops, public lectures, and tours of local projects that exemplify equitable design and community development. DR. CARTER G. WOODSON BIRTH SITE CARTER G. WOODSON INSTITUTE (UVa), BUCKINGHAM COUNTY AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Two design projects focused on the life and legacy of Dr. Carter G. Woodson highlight the mosaic in action. Dr. Woodson was an educator, author, historian, and founder - known internationally as the “father of black history,” the second African American to obtain a PHD. from Harvard (behind W.E.B. DuBois). Collaborations with the Buckingham County African American Historical Society, the caretakers of Dr. Woodson’s birth site in New Canton, Virginia, resulted in two real-world Design projects:
Project 1 - spring 2018, a Design Thinking seminar (in four design teams) with 14 University students from varied academic backgrounds producing memorial design concepts for Dr. Woodson’s birth site in New Canton, Virginia (community reviews with students and stakeholders shown above.
Project 2 - In fall 2018, nine Design Thinking students (in three design teams) designed a traveling exhibition entitled “blue // black” (referring to the blue tones of the nearby James River and the Blue Ridge Mountains, and black - Dr. Woodson’s work). Project 1 Birth Site Memorial Designs
Existing Birth Site (top) Student Memorial designs (below)
Project 2 blue //black traveling exhibition for display in Buckingham County and future locations to educate the public about the life and legacy of Dr. Woodson CARTER G. WOODSON MEMORIAL New Canton, Virginia Woodson Teaching Circle above: blue // black introductory panel (with student names from with seating, lending library of Woodson’s Sharing Chalk Wall Parking Area works, and podium for oratory; for visitors to leave messages, for school bus and cars oriented to the cardinal directions feelings, and thoughts seminar and exhibition),
Forest Path Final Design, condensing birth site and exhibition projects into Welcome Area with botanical markers to indicate with signage, tables and seating native Virginia species fundraising documents for the National Park Service.
“With all of the negative media about the disconnect of young people in today’s society, and the tensions that exist, as we see our country become more and more polarized, this project was a ray of sunlight and hope, a renewed hope that all is not lost and that these young people are living proof of that hope. We can cross bridges of cultural di erences and learn from each other.”
Joe Scruggs, Vice President, Buckingham County African American
The chalkboard made of slate Seats of Power Team Humanity acts as a free speech wall where Team HDCB Team Reflection visitors can write a message to a forested path with plant markers leading Historical Society futurean visitors, essential inspiring words, welcoming space circular seating around Woodson’s increasing in height with questions and their reflection from the site. The picnic tables serve as an invitation for for everyday gatheringsfamilies, community groups, andWheel school with lines directing yo quotes on education, culminates in podium to a clearing with a hidden slate wall tours to share food together and build community. For many it may be a long drive to Buckingham County and we hope The bushes provide a low cost barrier for this allows time for rest and to connect the neighborhing houses and between the with strangers also visiting. site and the parking lot. Latino 11% Asian 4.6% Other Racial 3.2% White THE CORE demographics 1.2% The Core begins with the extension of People’s Plaza onto Degnan Boulevard. This lawn is decorated with symbols encouraging virtues. The Adrinka symbols serve as the grounding expression between History and 3ODFH7KH\DUHWKHÀUVWPDUNHUVRIWKLVVSDFHGHSLFWLQJFRQVRODWLRQFHOHEUDWLRQDQGGHYRWLRQWRWKRVHZKR came before us. Black 7KH&25(RIIHUVDFKRLFHRIWZRHQWULHVHDFKWRKHURZQGLVWLQFWYROXPHVZKRHPEUDFHHDFKRWKHU WKH 80% open gallery space on the spiraling ramp and the playground for sciences and the performing arts in the interior of our building. All are welcome on the ramp to experience the open air and art by moving through WKHVSDFHRUUHVWLQJDWDFKRVHQGHVWLQDWLRQ7KLVOLIWHGSODQHLVKRPHWRDOOIRUPVRIWDOHQWÀOOHGZLWKOLIHDQG color it is a cultural core. 50 to 64 2XUHQWUDQFHRSHQVWRDQH[KLELWLRQSODWIRUPVXUURXQGHGE\OHDUQLQJDQGRIÀFHDUHDVDYDLODEOHWRPHPEHUV 15.4% RIWKHFRPPXQLW\ZKRVHHNJURXQGVIRULQGLYLGXDOLVPRUFRPPXQLW\DFWLYLW\(YHU\ÁRRUKRXVHVWKHFDSDFLW\ 65 and up IRUSHUIRUPDQFH WKHODUJHVWSHUIRUPDQFHVSDFHEHLQJWKHWKHDWUHRQWKHORZHVWOHYHO7KLVÁRRUDOVRFRQWDLQV 17.6% OHDUQLQJDQGGLJLWDOPHGLDVWXGLRVDFFRPSDQLHGE\FRPSXWHUODEVDQGDXGLRYLVXDOWRROV2QWKHJURXQG 35 to 49 ÁRRUWKHVHWRIVWHSVWRWKHPH]]DQLQHGRXEOHDQGH[WHQGDVDVHDWLQJVSDFHIRUOLYLQJWKLQJVDQGFUHDWLYH 24.3% IRUPV7KLVUHVWLQJPRPHQWSURYLGHVRSSRUWXQLW\IRUSHRSOHWRVSHDNOLVWHQDQGVLPSOH%(7KHPDLQVWDLUFDVH OHDGVWRDPXVLFDODUWDUHQDUHSOHWHZLWKPXVLFSUDFWLFHURRPVDQGDGDQFHVWXGLR7KLVÁRRUSURYLGHVDUH Population WXUQWRWKHUDPSRIIHULQJDSOD\HUWKHKRPHFRPLQJH[SHULHQFHRIUHXQLWLQJZLWK/HLPHUW3DUN$OWHUQDWLYHO\ by Age WKH\FDQMRXUQH\WRWKHJUHHQURRIDQRDVLVWKDWLVFRQYHUVLQJZLWK/HLPHUW)RXQWDLQ
:KHQWKHVHWZRGLVWLQFWVWRULHVRIVHOIH[SUHVVLRQDQGFRPPXQLW\FRPHWRJHWKHUWKH\XQLI\VFXOSWXUDOO\UH 10 or less ÁHFWLQJDGUXPEULQJLQJSHRSOHWRJHWKHUDVGUXPFLUFOHVGR7KHPHWDSKRULFDOGUXPFLUFOHLVDIRUFHRIYLWDOL 14.6% W\WKDWVWLPXODWHVWKHVSLULWWKURXJKVRXQGVLJKWDQGWKHUHVRXQGLQJ&RUH$VDQH[WHQVLRQRI/HLPHUW3DUNWKH 19 to 34 &25(LVDKRPHWRWKHIHUWLOLW\RIVSLULW,WLVDFRQJORPHUDWHRISODWIRUPVWKDWFDOOVWRWKHSHRSOHRI/HLPHUWWR 17.2% 11 to 18 FRPHWRJHWKHUDQGKRQRUWKHLQGLYLGXDOLW\DQGFRPPXQLW\WKHWUXHVWZD\WRFHOHEUDWHWKHVSLULWRI$IULFDQ 10.8% $PHULFDQSHRSOHWKDWKDVQRWRQO\VXUYLYHGKDUGVKLSEXWKDVWKULYHGLQWKHIDFHRILW
Associate Degree Bachelor’s Degree 7.8% 14.9%
Graduate Degree 10%
Education
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NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF MINORITY ARCHITECTS
UVa School of Architecture Chapter
Faculty Advisor, 2016 - current
Top Image: 2016 Third Place Prize, Barbara G. Laurie Student Design Competition
Rendering by Charis Armstrong, 2016 President and Co - President My - Anh Nguyen and Malik Vaughan MLK BOSTON, KING BOSTON COMPETITION
Wodiczko + Bonder/Maryann Thompson Architects, with Walter Hood,
Dudley Square Interactive Educational Space Design
_mpathic design
September 2018 ARCH 3500 6D
ARCH 3500 6D is a new seminar led by Elgin Cleckley, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Design Thinking. The seminar looks at six areas of design (spaces, systems, graphics, objects, products, and experiences) through a strategic research lens, discovering intersections of race, culture, and architecture. Twenty interdisciplinary students experience Prof. Cleckley’s empathic design thinking methodology, recently utilized for the siting of the John Henry James Memorial in Charlottesville’s Court Square @mpathicdesign. Students deeply analyze seven inclusive empathic designers, emerging with an empathic design thinking mindset for implementation on two real-world projects: Monument Avenue: General Demotion/ General Devotion @monumentavenuegdgd and a future application of Paper Monuments Charlottesville @paper.monuments.
Students:
Kay Alexander Andrea Aragon Lauren Brown Maggie Campbell Brianna DeMan Theo Diamond Tess Driscoll Omer Gorashi Andre Hirschler Yasmin Horner Makaela Johansen Tarin Jones John MacLeod Jolie Magenheimer Tryston Raecke Katherine Randall Paige Simmons Rohan Singh Mary Royall Wilgis Andrea Zabkowski
_mpathic design fall 2019, new annual course “Your class has shown us the drive of motivated women in the workforce, the essentialness of critical thinking free from the con nes of preconceived limits, and the ultimate power of this initiative combined with such thought. We will continue to be the group we set out to be, one that is determined to capture your vision and take it, as you always say, many steps further.”
“Thank you again for serving as a workshop facilitator at our recent Global Leadership Forum! Our emerging leaders really enjoyed their engagement with you. For all but a few of them, this was their rst go-round with design thinking. I’m starting to get the program evaluations back and your session is getting rave reviews! ”our alumni who had previous exposure to design thinking through our Young African Leaders program said that something about the way that you presented it at GLF really made it click for her, and that she nally had that “a-ha” moment about its practical use.
“Elgin Cleckley is by far the best studio instructor I have ever had. He is passionate, both about design and about his student's excelling. Not only did he push me to create a great project, he also consistently took out time to discuss the project, as well as other topics with me. By far the best work I have done, as well as the best studio experience I have had. Elgin fostered an amazing, open, and collaborative studio culture. ” below: instructing Project Pipeline