Matthew A. Barstow, 4th year student of Architecture, has recently been elected to serve as the 56th National President of The American Institute of Architecture Students, for the 2012-2013 term.  Barstow currently serves as the Director of the Western Quadrant.  Additionally, he serves on many national committees for both the AIA and AIAS;  the AIA Board Knowledge Committee, the AIAS Government Advocacy Task Force, and a three year appointment to the AIAS Accreditation Review Conference Task Force.  Barstow is working towards his congressional testimony in support of architectural student loan exemptions and AIAS’ increased financial viability.

Mark C. Childs, Professor and Director Emeritus, contributed to the The Plazas of New Mexico, published in the fall by Trinity University Press, San Antonio. The book resulted from a ten year study at the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning involving sixty UNM students, four outside scholars and six faculty members from the UNM. The book, edited by Chris Wilson and Stefanos Polyzoides, chronicles a rich history of Pueblo and Hispanic plazas and Anglo courthouse squares, and the everyday life and community celebrations that help sustain them.   It also profiles the revitalization of historic community places, and the development of new plazas over the past decade.

Christopher Mead, Regent’s Professor and Dean Emeritus of the College of Fine Arts, has several book projects underway: as a companion to Roadcut: The Architecture of Antoine Predock, published by the University of New Mexico Press in 2011, he is editing a book of Predock’s architectural sketches; in conjunction with Making Modern Paris: Victor Baltard’s Central Markets and the Urban Practice of Architecture, scheduled for publication in 2012 by Penn State Press, he is contributing to a book to be published by the Musée d’Orsay in Paris as part of its exhibition of Victor Baltard’s work.

Roger Schluntz, Professor and Dean Emeritus, for the second year, is managing the competition for the Jeff Harnar Award, underwritten by the Thornburg Charitable Foundation, for what is deemed the best completed work of contemporary architecture in New Mexico. Larry Speck, FAIA and Chair of the 2012 Harnar Jury, will be making a special presentation in the Pearl Auditorium on the UNM Campus the evening of February 2 (Thursday), beginning at 7:00 PM. The title of his illustrated talk is “Architecture Transforming Everyday Life.” Other jury members for the 2012 Jeff Harnar Award, are Marilys Nepomechie, FAIA, Miami Beach, Florida; Kihei Mayer, graduate student at the SA+P;: Prof. Mark C. Childs, AIA; and Christine Ten Eyck, FASLA, Phoenix and Austin.  Formal announcement for the prize will be the evening of February 24, also at Pearl Hall, a gala event that will feature guest speakers Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi (Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism, New York City).