Gertrude Lempp Kerbis Endowed Chair in Architecture
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GERTRUDE LEMPP KERBIS ENDOWED CHAIR IN ARCHITECTURE POSITION PROFILE CARLE ILLINOIS COLLEGE OF MEDICINE Founded in 1867 as a land grant institution, the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign recently celebrated 150 years of transformative experiences and heralded an ambitious vision for the future through learning, discovery and public engagement. Aptly enough, an architecture curriculum has been part of the institution since its inception. Nathan Clifford Ricker arrived at Illinois in 1870 as the first student of the program and became the first graduate of an architecture program in the United States in March of 1873. THE OPPORTUNITY Candidates may come with a variety of professional degrees and from different academic backgrounds The School of Architecture at the University of Illinois including but not limited to: at Urbana-Champaign invites applications for a full-time tenured faculty position, for the inaugural • Holding a pre-professional, professional, or Gertrude Lempp Kerbis Endowed Chair, at the post-professional degree in architecture or rank of Professor. In honor of Kerbis’ service as an engineering; innovative architectural engineer involved in some of • Professional licensure in architecture or the most ambitious modern projects of the twentieth engineering; century, we seek an eminent national or international leader to advance discovery and education at the • PhD in architecture or related field; intersection of architectural structures, materials • And/or evidence of equivalent distinguished science, and experimental engineering. professional experience. Qualified candidates not interested in a tenured Preferred experience includes demonstrated position may be considered for a visiting professorial excellence in teaching and mentoring in participatory position subject to annual renewal. learning environments. Candidates must meet The University of Illinois is an Equal Opportunity, campus and departmental standards for holding an Affirmative Action employer that recruits and hires endowed professorship at the University of Illinois at qualified candidates without regard to race, color, Urbana-Champaign. religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability or veteran status. For more RESPONSIBILITIES & OPPORTUNITIES information, visit http://go.illinois.edu/EEO. The successful candidate will play a leadership role in the Building Performance Program Area, In recognition of Kerbis’ leadership as a woman in the School of Architecture, the College of Fine and a male-dominated field, we also seek an individual Applied Arts, and the University of Illinois through with demonstrated commitments to expanding research, service, teaching, and public engagement. opportunities for women and underrepresented The School expects the candidate to fully capitalize minority groups in this important area of research on interdisciplinary opportunities with colleagues and practice. from across the university, initiate new curricular PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS efforts based on their research and/or practice, and engage both undergraduate and graduate students The successful candidate will bring an active in original research. Teaching responsibilities may research agenda, extensive practice experience, or include lectures, seminars, and studios. a combination of both. For researchers this includes evidence of excellence in scholarship, teaching, The Gertrude Lempp Kerbis Endowed Chair will be leadership experience, and a distinguished record provided the resources to support two graduate of impact. For practitioners, this includes a body of students as Kerbis Fellows and an additional research work that has been recognized through awards and stipend for the term of the named chair appointment. publication. Interdisciplinary experience working with Salary for this position will be competitive and peers, partners, or clients is a high priority. commensurate with qualifi cations and experience. The preferred start date will be August 16, 2021. COLLEGE OF FINE AND APPLIED ARTS | SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE KERBIS ENDOWED CHAIR 2 CONTEXT In accordance with the health regulations of the State of Illinois, interviews will be conducted over The Illinois School of Architecture offers an NAAB- video platforms. accredited Master of Architecture degree, in addition to its B.S. and M.S. in Architectural Studies and Ph.D. degree programs. The school also offers All requested information must be submitted for your joint graduate degree programs with Civil and application to be considered. The University of Illinois Environmental Engineering, Urban and Regional conducts criminal background checks on all job Planning, and the College of Business. In 2018, the candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer. hiring professionals surveyed by DesignIntelligence The University of Illinois System requires candidates Quarterly (DI) ranked the school’s Master of selected for hire to disclose any documented finding Architecture degree program in the top 15 nationally of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment and to for producing graduates who are prepared “for authorize inquiries to current and former employers success in the profession and designing a sustainable regarding findings of sexual misconduct or sexual future.” The QS rankings placed Illinois in the top harassment. For more information, visit Policy tier globally, ranking fifth in the nation among public on Consideration of Sexual Misconduct in Prior research universities. In addition, the school was Employment. As a qualifying federal contractor, the ranked in the top 25 of Time and Money Magazine’s University of Illinois System uses E-Verify to verify Affordability Rankings. employment eligibility. APPLICATION PROCEDURE FOR CANDIDACY To ensure full consideration for the tenured or clinical The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign invites position, applications must be received by January confidential inquiries, nominations, or applications 15, 2021. Please create your candidate profile at (cover letter and vita). A position description and http://jobs.illinois.edu and upload the following: application details will be posted at https://jobs. • A cover letter that includes description of your illinois.edu. specific interests in the research environment at the University of Illinois, your primary scholarly and/or design accomplishments, and your future teaching Please direct any inquiries to: objectives related to the position (3 pages Professor Marci S. Uihlein, Search Committee Chair maximum). School of Architecture •A complete curriculum vitae including postal University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign address, email address, and phone number. 611 Lorado Taft Drive, Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217.244.6284 (voice) / [email protected] After an initial review of applications, select candidates will be asked to provide additional materials that include research and/or practice accomplishments, relevant teaching experience, and contact information for professional references. COLLEGE OF FINE AND APPLIED ARTS | SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE KERBIS ENDOWED CHAIR 3 Image: Chris Deford Gertrude Lempp Kerbis, FAIA August 23, 1926-June 14, 2016 & Bennett. It was while working at the latter that she spotted the construction of Mies van der Rohe’s Gertrude Lempp Kerbis attended Chicago public apartment towers at 860-880 Lake Shore Drive. schools and, briefly, Wright Community College Lempp Kerbis loved the buildings and found the before enrolling at the University of Wisconsin at architecture being built in Chicago to be more Madison. Her future forever changed after reading dynamic than that on the East Coast. So despite a LIFE magazine profile of Frank Lloyd Wright and what she called a ‘’wonderful experience” in discovering that the legendary architect’s home and Boston, she left Harvard for the Illinois Institute of estate, Taliesin, was in nearby Spring Green. She Technology(IIT) and the opportunity to study with immediately hitchhiked to the estate, and finding it van der Rohe and Ludwig Hilberseimer. At IIT, Lempp unattended and with night descending, snuck into Kerbis briefly worked on van der Rohe’s Convention the main house via an unlocked bathroom window. Hall Project, but she wanted to work on her own She spent the evening marveling at Wright’s design, designs and asked van der Rohe for help on her listening to Beethoven records, and fell asleep in thesis project instead. An incensed van der Rohe the landmark building. According to Gertrude, she never spoke to her again, but she still graduated in awoke the next morning having decided to become 1954 with an M.S. in Architecture. It was while at IIT an architect. that she also met her first husband, Walter Peterhans, Wisconsin offered no architectural degree, however. a Bauhaus photographer recruited by van der Rohe So Lempp Kerbis transferred to the University to develop a visual training curriculum at the school. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to pursue her The couple had a son, Julian, in 1952. dream and graduated in 1948 with a B.S. in Lempp Kerbis started her professional career in Architectural Engineering. She then enrolled at the 1954 as one of the few women working at Skidmore, Harvard Graduate School of Design to pursue a Owings & Merrill (SOM). She was hired to work on full architectural degree where she studied under SOM’s commission, led by Walter Netsch, for the modem pioneer Welter Gropius and worked (1948- United States Air Force Academy. Assigned the 49) in the studio of modernist architect