Commencement - May 18, 2018

Professor Daniel B. Hess to address Class of 2018

Daniel B. Hess.

Addressing graduates this year is Daniel B. Hess, PhD, professor and chair of urban and regional planning at UB, and a 1997 graduate of its MUP program. Photo by Timo Ilves

Published May 18, 2018 This content is archived.

Members of the community are invited to join the School of Architecture and Planning for its 2018 Commencement Ceremony, on Friday, May 18, 2018, at 5 pm, in UB's Center for the Arts. The school will confer degrees to 224 students from its architecture, urban planning and real estate development programs.  

Among the Class of 2018 are 115 architecture graduates (Architecture BS, MArch and MS in Architecture), 32 from the Master of Urban Planning program, 37 earning the BA in Environmental Design, six graduating with an MS in Real Estate Development, and 2 doctorates in urban and regional planning.

"Every year we look forward to this celebration of our graduates, future leaders in architecture, urban planning and real estate development. We celebrate not only their intellectual transformation but their journey of personal growth over the past several years," said Dean Robert G. Shibley.  

Addressing graduates this year is Daniel B. Hess, PhD, professor and chair of urban and regional planning at UB, and a 1997 graduate of its MUP program. Joining UB's faculty in 2002, Hess began his tenure as chair in January 2018.

He is an honored scholar and teacher. A former Fulbright Scholar, Hess recently completed a two-year Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellowship, which took Hess across the Baltic States to explore the Soviet-era housing complexes that still dominate the urban landscapes of Eastern Europe. He is a recipient of UB’s Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, directed award-winning studios in the Master of Urban Planning program, and led eight study abroad courses in England, Estonia, Latvia and Russia. His research on housing and transportation spans urban planning history, post-socialist urban space, land use planning, and disaster preparedness and response planning for extreme events.  

The school will present eight awards to students, faculty and community members. Among these are student-presented awards to faculty for their dedication to teaching; the Architectural Research Centers Consortium King Medal (for the best architectural thesis); the Henry Adams Medal (for highest architecture GPA); the Best Planning Project Award; and the American Institute of Certified Planners Award (for planning professionalism).

Richardson Olmsted Center.

The Richardson Olmsted Complex. Photo courtesy of Barbara A. Campagna

Dean Robert G. Shibley will also present two Dean's Medals in recognition of outstanding contributions to the professions of architecture and planning and to the betterment of our world. Since the first Dean's Medal was awarded in 1979, it has been customary to award the medal to an individual; today we present the medal to a place: H.H. Richardson’s magisterial Buffalo State Hospital. Giving the medal to a building and a landscape is a way of recognizing the 40-year collective effort that was required to restore this treasure. 

Stanford Lipsey.

Stanford Lipsey, former publisher of The Buffalo News and chairman of the Richardson Omlsted Center Corp., will receive the Dean's Medal in honor of his leadership of the restoration of the Richardson Olmsted Complex.

Among the project's champions is is former Buffalo News publisher and Richardson Olmsted Center Corp. chairman, Stanford Lipsey, who led the pivotal fight for $76 million in state funding to fully rehabilitate the complex, then oversaw the master planning and implementation. Lipsey will be awarded the Dean's Medal today posthumously.  

Established in 1979, the Dean's Medal is the highest honor bestowed by the school. Past recipients include such notable figures as architect-scholars “Bucky” Fuller and Magda Cordell McHale, environmental leader Bill McKibben, and artists and landscape architect Walter Hood.