Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
Eleven former students from Texas A&M's College of Architecture were honored as 2009 Outstanding Alumni during a banquet Nov. 13 at the Miramont Country Club.
"It's the highest honor the college bestows on its former students," said Jorge Vanegas, dean of the college. "Through the generation of new knowledge and innovations, supported by extraordinary talent, abilities and skills, and fueled by a relentless pursuit of excellence, these honorees have advanced their disciplines and their organizations."
Recognized were Donald Austin '52, (BSLA), Norfleet Bone '23 (LAND), James Foster '66 '69 (BARCH, MARCH), Robert Hunter '67 '71 (BARCH, MARCH), Nancy McCoy '81 (BED), Jeffery Potter '78, '79, (BARCH, MARCH), Shelley Potter '78 (BLA), Anthony Schirripa '73 (BED, BDCR), James Snyder '78, '80 (BED, MARCH), Lars Stanley '74 (BED), and Keith Williams '78, '81 (BDCR, MSCM). Bone's recognition is a posthumous award.
Donald Austin, '52 (BSLA), an American Society of Landscape Architecture Fellow, has helped lead the direction of the landscape architecture profession through teaching and private practice for the last 50 years.
He began teaching at the University of California at Berkeley, proceeding to adjunct or visiting faculty positions at the University of Illinois, University of Hawaii School of Architecture, the University of Auckland Town Planning Program in New Zealand and in universities in Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Pretoria in South Africa.
Austin eventually returned to Texas A&M were he taught landscape architecture for 25 years, also serving as head of the department.
During these years his private practice flourished.
In Hawaii, Austin established the landscape architecture arm of Belt Collins and Associates, a leading Pacific Basin engineering and planning firm. With Garrett Eckbo, Francis Dean and Ed Williams, Austin began a firm now known as EDAW. The founding group was especially noted for addressing an extremely wide range of design, planning and environmental issues. Today the firm has expanded its influence throughout the globe with more than 30 offices in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
On June 23, 2009, the American Society of Landscape Architects awarded EDAW with its Landscape Architecture Firm Award, the highest honor the society can grant to a practice, recognizing its decades spent expanding the scope of land design and planning.
Norfleet Bone, ’23 (LAND) shaped many areas in Texas as a landscape architect and as a supervisor with the Texas State Parks Board. In 1927, Bone was appointed by the Army as the supervising landscape architect for Randolph Field, a pilot training facility, in San Antonio. During his tenure at Randolph, Bone also supervised the landscape design of Barksdale Field, Louisiana.
Randolph Field, now known as Randolph Air Force Base, was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior in August 2001 because of its significance in American history and its Spanish Colonial Revival Style architecture.
Returning to civilian life, Bone worked as a landscape architect for the Austin office of the National Park Service, and worked on park development with the Civilian Conservation Corps.
With the onset of World War II, military service beckoned again. He joined the Army Corps of Engineers, responsible for stabilizing soil along runways on Army airfields, especially new pilot training bases.
After the war, he returned to Austin, beginning a long career with the Texas State Parks Board. He served in the 1950s and 1960s as a division and regional supervisor in Austin, Dallas, and Gainesville before returning to Austin. Norfleet Bone '23 received the award posthumously.
James Foster, ’66, ’69 (ARCH, MARCH), FAIA, is a retired principal for AFHJ Architects who continues to consult on firm projects and administration.
Foster served for a time as Texas A&M’s assistant dean of architecture, advising undergraduates, including those in the program’s transition from a 5-year architectural degree to a 4-year undergraduate, 2-year graduate program.
In 1972, Foster joined Marmon Mok Architecture in San Antonio and was named partner in 1977. He focused on projects involving higher education, research laboratories, public airports and site planning.
As president of the Texas Society of Architects in 1985, Foster focused on establishing the TSA scholars program and the Architectural Educator of the Year Award, now named after its first recipient, former college dean Edward J. Romieniec.
In 1990, Foster was elevated to an AIA Fellow, a distinction the AIA bestows on architects who have made a significant contribution to architecture and society and who have achieved a standard of excellence in the profession.
Robert Hunter, ’67, ‘71 (BARCH, MARCH) began his collegiate studies at Abilene Christian College, but soon transferred to Texas A&M to study architecture. When he told his parents and grandparents about his plans, his grandmother said to him, “Bob, you are going from heaven to hell.”
“I selected Texas A&M for not only its national reputation as an academic institution,” Hunter said, “but also because the College of Architecture focused on the entire practice of architecture and, more importantly, upon the process of decision making.”
Now, 38 years after graduating, Hunter is well known as an advocate for sustainable growth, fiscal responsibility, and improving the quality of life for generations to come through his accomplishments in a 30-year career in the planning profession.
Nancy McCoy, ’81 (BED) FAIA, is an award-winning preservation architect with more than 20 years of national experience.
Her highly complex projects include the adaptive use of Kansas City’s Union Station as Science City at Union Station and the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City as the National Museum of the American Indian.
She’s also been instrumental in the preservation of Fair Park in Dallas, leading 30 conservation projects over a 12-year period, including the expansion of the Cotton Bowl, the Martin Luther King and Grand Avenue Entrance gates, the restoration of the Parry Avenue entrance gate and the Esplanade Fountain, the very intricate conservation of historic murals, planning efforts and the restoration of several buildings.
Her work at Dallas’ Fair Park has been recognized with 14 preservation design project awards, including the 2004 National Trust Honor Award.
Jeff Potter, '78, '79 (BARCH, MARCH) is vice-president of POTTER, a design firm with offices in Dallas and Longview, Texas. The firm was established in 1983 and while its portfolio is broad, POTTER specifically seeks to advance schoolhouse design in the region.
Jeff has won numerous regional AIA and trade awards for his planning and design efforts and as a result, juried design awards programs across the United States.
Throughout his career, Jeff has sought to elevate peer-to-peer communications in the profession and demonstrate to the public that design matters. He has had instrumental roles in shaping the content and publishing of regional and national communications of practice and reconciling tectonics of traditional architectural journalism and the socially-driven knowledge sharing prevalent today.
Shelley Eubanks Potter, ’78 (BLA) is president of POTTER, a design firm specializing in primary and secondary educational facilities, landscape architecture and planning.
She’s the chairwoman of the Board of Directors for the Texas A&M Association of Former Students, the second woman and first graduate from the College of Architecture to hold the position; prior to her appointment, as a member of the board, she chaired the association’s Building Enhancement Task Committee for the $17 million renovation to the Clayton W. Williams Jr. Alumni Center.
She has a long list of community service activities, including membership on the boards of the Longview, Texas Planning and Zoning Commission and Smart Growth Task Force. From 1981-1983, she was the park planner for the city of Longview.
Potter served as president of the Junior League of Longview and the Longview 2020 forum, and is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and former park planner for the city of Longview.
Anthony Schirripa, ’73 (BED, BDCR) has been a driving force in transforming Mancini•Duffy, an architecture firm based in New York, from a mid-sized local practice to a large, multi-office operation with a diversified client base and an international reputation.
His emphasis on strategic planning, investments in technology, training and continuing education and his businesslike approach to project and practice management are the foundation for the firm’s growth.
With more than 30 years’ experience on architectural and interiors projects, Schirripa has worked extensively on build-outs for leading institutions and is particularly adept at managing large and technologically sophisticated projects for a varied client base.
His projects have been honored with numerous industry awards, including citations from the International Interior Design Association and the Society of American Registered Architects.
James Snyder, ’78, ’80 (BED, MARCH), chairman and chief executive officer of Charlotte, N.C.-based Odell Associates, Inc., designs innovative solutions for healthcare, transportation, corporate, commercial, sports and higher education environments.
Through his principal leadership and design efforts, Snyder contributes to the firm’s commitment to design excellence and impeccable client service.
He also donates his time to numerous organizations, serving on the boards of the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, Venture Richmond, the Richmond Police Foundation, Shockoe Partnership, the United Way of Greater Richmond, the Petersburg Smart Beginnings Leadership Council and the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects/Virginia Society of Professional Engineers’ Joint Legislative Committee.He has served in philanthropic efforts as corporate sponsorship chairman for 2009 Cure by Design, dinner chairman for the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities’ 2009 Humanitarian Awards, and for the American Cancer Society.
Lars A. Stanley, ’74 (BED) has won numerous awards and competitive commissions for his work, which focuses on integrating craft, the touch of the hand, into architecture.
His diverse portfolio reflects his interest in understanding how human energy is embodied through the process of making and how materials and elements of the built environment are sometimes able to reflect the essence of being human.
His design for Franklin High School won the Caudill Design Award for the best-designed high school in Texas, one of Stanley’s many design awards.
He’s won competitive national commissions for public art programs, recently completing sculptural projects in Colorado, Arizona, California, Texas and Maine.
His use of crafted, artistic elements in collaborations with fellow architects’ designs have also netted awards.
Keith Williams, ’78, ’81 (BDCR, MSCM), heads GAMMA Construction Company, a Houston-based firm that has been consistently recognized by the Houston Business Journal as one of the city’s top 15 general contractors.
Williams is owner and president of the company, which has built projects from coast to coast as well as in the Caribbean. GAMMA, also one of the leading builders of secondary schools in Texas, GAMMA has a satellite office in Denver.
Williams hold three degrees from Texas A&M, including a Master of Science in Construction Management. He is a second generation Aggie and third generation contractor, with two Aggie children, classes of ’08 and ’11.
He has served as chairman of the Aggie Spirit Development Council, member of the Board of Visitors to the Corps, Corps Development Council, Construction Industry Advisory Council, Presidents Advisory Board and a 12th Man ambassador. He has also served on the Houston boards of the Salvation Army and the Houston Food Bank.
- Posted: Nov. 18, 2009 -
