Richard Graves, associate professor of architecture and research director at the Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR), has received the University of Minnesota’s Innovation Impact Case Award for advancing sustainable building practices. His work helped shape the Minnesota B3 Sustainable Building Guidelines, launched in response to the state’s Next Generation Energy Act to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Today, B3 continues to set the standard for energy efficiency, resilience, and net-zero goals in state-funded buildings.

Jessica Garcia Fritz, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Minnesota and Citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Inspires Future Indigenous Designers

Each year, the College of Design proudly honors exceptional students, faculty, and staff whose remarkable contributions have enriched our academic community. Award recipients are nominated across multiple categories by their peers, including faculty, students, and staff.

Assistant Professor of Architecture Dingliang Yang has been named a recipient of the 2025-2027 McKnight Land-Grant Professorship, marking the first time a U of M architecture faculty member has received this prestigious award since its establishment in 1987.

College of Design students teamed up with the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence (MCAE) to create a refreshed design for the group's signature graduation stoles.

Pig’s Eye Lake at the Mississippi River in St. Paul, a site of historical pollution with significant Indigenous heritage and ecological importance, will serve as a catalyst project of the “Soft-Urban Riverfront: A New Paradigm for Headwater Metropolises” studio. 

This prestigious award goes to one architectural educator, nationally, each year. The last University of Minnesota educator to win it was Ralph Rapson in 1987.

The College of Design is pleased to announce that 12 of its individuals and teams received funding from the University’s 2023 Imagine Fund. These grants support innovative research in the arts, humanities, and design fields. Design faculty and researchers will use the funds for historical investigation and analysis, community-based design, and experimental technology applications.