From the first day of classes, spaces across the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning are charged with creative energy, critical inquiry, and the exchange of ideas. As the semester gets underway, explore what’s ahead so you can make the most of every opportunity, including guest lectures, special exhibitions, and recently-introduced expanded and cross-disciplinary course offerings.

Department of City and Regional Planning

CRPConnect! will bring the planning community together for a symposium October 22–24 in Ithaca. Organized by faculty and student leaders, as well as the new Cornell Planning Alumni Organization, this event celebrates 90 years of research and practice within the department. Participants will include planning alumni from across the United States, as well as China, India, Ghana, Italy, and beyond. A series of roundtable plenaries, workshops, and panels will explore planning practice, investigate critical challenges, and chart a path forward for the department and the field at large.

For students and faculty, the semester also brings timely workshops, classes, and field trips. Professor Victoria Beard will lead a workshop in partnership with Slum Dwellers International and its community movement in Nairobi, Kenya. Students will also continue CRP’s long tradition of rigorous and creative engagement in urban design and planning work in Cleveland with Senior Lecturer Mitch Glass and the t-RUST Lab. All first-year master’s students will travel to New York City for the department’s annual fall field trip, supported by the Cornell Mui Ho Center for Cities. The trip will focus on climate adaptation work by public, private, and community planners in the city.

Department of Architecture

Continuing to bring renowned architects to campus, the department welcomes Rubacha Featured Speaker Jeanne Gang, founder and leader of Studio Gang, for a talk on October 14. Gensler Visiting Critic Katie Swenson, a senior principal at MASS whose work explores how architecture can advance human dignity, ecological health, and social equity, will deliver a public lecture on September 10. The department will also host a special event to honor the career and achievements of Professor Emeritus Donald Greenberg. He will be joined on stage by faculty guests for a conversation on October 8 to discuss his professional trajectory, as well as the themes, challenges, and opportunities he sees for design education and practice and their relationship to computing — from computer graphics and representation to AI.

Swenson will also teach an option studio with Architecture Assistant Professor Jennifer Newsom exploring places where legacies of the Civil Rights Movement remain present and consequential. Coursework includes travel to communities in the Southeast US to examine how narratives are folded across people, places, and times, and how public memory is shaped through design. This semester’s work on the Collegetown initiative is organized around two interconnected courses — an option studio led by Architecture Associate Professor Lily Chi and a real estate special topics course led by Associate Professor Suzanne Lanyi Charles, CRP and Real Estate. Students will collaborate on interdisciplinary teams to build on substantial work already undertaken by the City of Ithaca, community organizations, residents, business owners, the college, and the university. The initiative integrates critical thinking and community participation across design, public policy, and the real estate market to develop long-term strategies that enhance Collegetown’s vitality, resilience, and livability.

Also joining the department with a tenure-track assistant professor appointment are Manuel Bouzas Barcala, Rocío Crosetto Brizzio, Emma Silverblatt, and Zhicheng Xu. In addition, Brizzio has been named the Judith Kinnard Early Career Design Fellow for this academic year.

Department of Art

An exhibition showcasing members of the faculty will be presented at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, on view from November 1 through March 7.  Organized by Curatorial Assistant Annie Abernathy, participants will select a work from the museum's permanent collection to pair with their own contribution, demonstrating how many other makers, collections, and encounters exist alongside an artist's own practice. First- and second-year M.F.A. in Creative Visual Arts students will also share their work with the broader community through an evening of individual artist talks on September 8. These presentations will introduce their studio practices, research interests, and developing bodies of work.

American interdisciplinary artist and critical theorist Katherine Behar will serve as the fall 2026 Teiger Mentor in the Arts, offering a public lecture and engaging with students through teaching and studio visits. Mark Anthony Brown Jr. will extend his tenure as the Strauch Early Career Fellow in Art. The department also welcomes new and returning visiting critics Matt Bollinger and Christine Elfman, as well as new instructor Pauline Shongov.

Continue reading on the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning website.