KNIGHT FOUNDATION GRANT SUPPORTS NEW PROGRAM IN COMMUNITY BUILDING

Nov. 2, 2000—The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded a grant of $2.1 million to the School of Architecture for a mid-career program of professional development in community building. The program, which is being funded over a three-year period, will provide ten mid-career continuing studies fellowships for community builders and journalists, and five scholarships for graduate students to participate in the Master of Architecture in Suburb & Town Design.

The program is set to kick off in january 2001, with the announcement of the first class of fellows and scholars and the first year's program of seminars and events. The gift will support two positions, a program director and a publications manager, who will organize a series of seminars, symposia and design workshops on community building topics, and disseminate new knowledge on community building in books, periodicals and internet publications.

According to Dean Plater-Zyberk, “We look forward to providing a forum for state of the art experience for community builders. The skills required range across the disciplines. Design ability, leadership and salesmanship are all necessary to effectively shape the future physical environment.” Hodding Carter III, president and CEO of the Knight Foundation said in the grant announcement, “The Knight Foundation has long supported mid-career professional development programs in journalism, and we’re now expanding to another discipline that plays an equally important role in contemporary American society.”

This interdisciplinary program will bring together mid-career professionals — outstanding community leaders, policymakers, theorists and practitioners — with an active interest in the interdisciplinary process of community building and its relationship to the built environment of American villages, towns, cities and suburbs. The program will build on the strengths of the School of Architecture as an international leader in the planning and design of livable communities and its role as a center for learning on New Urbanism.

Fellows, who will live in their home communities and continue their careers, will travel to six intensive sessions over the course of the 12-month program. These will include four intensive 3-4 day seminars to be held in Miami, a national symposium, and a community design workshop (“charrette”) to be held in one of the 26 Knight Communities. Seminars will cover a variety of topics that cut across disciplines such as city planning, real estate development, architecture, public policy, urban studies, journalism and related fields within the arts, sciences and humanities.

The seminars, symposia and charrettes will bring fellows into direct contact with cutting edge ideas of leading thinkers and practitioners for the building and rebuilding of livable communities. Fellows will interact one-on-one with nationally recognized experts, faculty and scholars in the School of Architecture, and pursue individually-directed case studies and research based on their own strengths and interests. Upon completion of the Program, Fellows will earn a Certificate in Community Building and will become charter members of the Community Building Network of Knight Fellows, an ongoing consortium of expertise, contacts and resources.

The Knight Program in Community Building joins other initiatives at the School of Architecture that address critical urban development issues and encourage research and practice that promote the creation and sustenance of livable communities. These other initiatives are: the undergraduate and graduate programs in architecture, including the graduate program in Suburb and Town Design, the Center for Urban and Community Design, and the Luce Professorship in Family and Community.

For information on fellowship eligibility and nomination requirements, please contact Charles C. Bohl, Director, Knight Program in Community Building, School of Architecture, University of Miami, 1223 Dickinson Drive, Coral Gables, Florida 33146-5010, Telephone 305-284-5000, e-mail cbohl@miami.edu.