Architecture Professor, Head Winifred E. Newman to Present Lecture on Dec. 8 in Little Rock

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Winifred E. Newman, professor and head of the Department of Architecture in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, will give a lecture Dec. 8 at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock as part of the 2015-2016 Art of Architecture lecture series.

LITTLE ROCK — Winifred E. Newman will present a lecture at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8, at the Arkansas Arts Center, at Ninth and Commerce streets in Little Rock. The lecture, titled "New (Old) Directions in Architecture," will be preceded by a 5:30 p.m. reception.

This lecture is part of the Architecture and Design Network's 2015-2016 lecture series.

Newman was recently installed as professor and head of the Department of Architecture at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, which also includes the departments of landscape architecture and interior design. In addition, the school also has two outreach components: the University of Arkansas Community Design Center and Garvan Woodland Gardens, the university's botanical garden in Hot Springs. It also partners with other universities and programs in the University of Arkansas Rome Center.

"Our students are being prepared to work in collaborative, inter-disciplinary professional design practice and research, with a strong direction towards civic engagement and issues of imperative value for the state, the nation and the world," said Peter MacKeith, dean of the Fay Jones School. "Professor Newman is one of a new generation of architectural educators who combines practice-based experience with significant scholarship and funded research endeavors. Her arrival simultaneously reinforces our commitment to the preparation of strong professionals and the advancement of the school's emerging agendas in design scholarship, research and graduate programs." 

Newman received a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in history, with psychology and anthropology minors, all from the University of Texas at Austin. She also received a Master of Architecture, a Master of Philosophy in history of technology and science, and a Doctorate of Philosophy in architecture, urban design, planning and landscape architecture, all from Harvard University.

Her research is concentrated on space perception and neurological issues, ecological psychology and context mapping, and neuroaesthetics with active research in neuromorphic architecture, mapping and data visualization, and histories of technology and science.

She has received funding from the National Science Foundation, Florida International University, the Graham Foundation and private foundations. Newman was a Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and received additional fellowships from the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Newman taught at Harvard University, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Tennessee and, most recently, at Florida International University, where she was recognized as a Top Scholar in 2014. She has published work in the United States and Germany and served on the editorial board of the Journal of Architectural Education. She is a partner in FieldOffice, LLC.

The 2015-2016 Art of Architecture lecture series is sponsored by the Architecture and Design Network, with support from the Central Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Arkansas Arts Center, the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design and community members.

The lecture is free and open to the public, and no reservations are needed. For more information, contact ardenetwork@me.com.