Greg Watson, undergraduate coordinator and associate professor for the LSU School of Architecture, has been named 2014–15 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Distinguished Professor. This award is among the highest honors an architectural educator can receive and will be presented to Watson at the ACSA Annual Meeting in Toronto on March 21, 2015.

“The Distinguished Professor Award is recognition that Greg Watson stands with an elite group of educators at the pinnacle of our discipline. This award was given based on his distinctive merit as a teacher and creative force within the field of architecture, and we are very proud that Greg is on the faculty of the School of Architecture,” said Jori Erdman, director of the school.

Each year, ACSA honors architectural educators for outstanding work in areas such as building design, community collaborations, scholarship, and service. The ASCA Distinguished Professor Award recognizes sustained creative achievements in the advancement of architectural education through teaching, design, scholarship, research, or service. This award was also received by LSU School of Architecture Professor Emeritus Christopher Theis in 2010.

One of his recommenders for this award, a former colleague who has known Watson for 12 years, said, “Watson is the most extraordinary teacher I have had the honor to encounter. Greg has an uncanny ability to identify a student’s strengths and weaknesses, then communicate with those students in such a way that they strive towards excellence. This ability arises, I think, from his ceaseless critique of design processes and the pedagogies employed to teach design.”

This sentiment is echoed by another recommendation from one of Watson’s former students. “Whether I was designing a building or cataloging section drawings, water-coloring in Italy or drawing residual space found inside a jewelry box, Professor Watson always posed a critical question and supported thoughtful articulated designs. He never asked me to strive for a singular product, but for an understanding of the design process. Not only is he the professor that I still contact for an impromptu design critique, but he continues to advise me on my future in the architecture profession and academia.”

View Watson’s ACSA Distinguished Professor winning submission.

More about Greg Watson
Watson teaches first-year architecture and landscape architecture students fundamental design principles, and he leads studios and seminars focused on materials, visualization, and representation. He holds a BA in psychology from Columbia University and a Master of Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to working as a professor at LSU, Watson served as an associate professor at Mississippi State University, the University of New Mexico, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Louisiana Lafayette. In 2001, he was selected as a Nadine Carter Russell Chair in Design at LSU. As an architect, he has practiced in Chicago, Maine, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Minnesota.

About ACSA
The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture is a nonprofit, membership association founded in 1912 to advance the quality of architectural education. ACSA provides a forum for ideas on the leading edge of architectural thought. Issues that will affect the architectural profession in the future are being examined today in ACSA members schools. The association maintains a variety of activities that influence, communicate, and record important issues. Such endeavors include scholarly meetings, workshops, publications, awards and competition programs, support for architectural research policy development, and liaison with allied organizations. Visit acsa-arch.org for more information.

About LSU School of Architecture
LSU School of Architecture students develop a solid foundation of traditional design, hand building, and drawing skills and learn to use computer and technological resources. The architecture program at LSU provides a balance between broadening educational experiences and discipline-focused coursework. In addition to learning how to make buildings, students develop a sense of professionalism and leadership in shaping the world by learning how to see, think, and act creatively. Visit architecture.lsu.edu for more information.