Stratigakos named vice provost for inclusive excellence

Despina Stratigakos, who has been serving as interim vice provost for inclusive excellence since February, will assume the position on a permanent basis.

Her appointment, announced today by Charles F. Zukoski, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, is effective July 1.

She succeeds Teresa Miller, who left UB to join SUNY as vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and chief of staff to Chancellor Kristina Johnson.

As vice provost for inclusive excellence, Stratigakos will focus on UB’s efforts to create a culture of inclusive excellence and enhance diversity, equity and inclusion across the campus community. She will oversee the implementation of “Our Commitment to Inclusive Excellence: UB’s Strategic Diversity and Inclusion Plan” and, as one of the top priorities of the plan, work with deans and faculty members to significantly enhance the recruitment and retention of faculty from underrepresented groups. She also will serve as chair of the Inclusive Excellence Leadership and Advisory Council.

An architectural historian and professor in the School of Architecture and Planning, Stratigakos is an internationally recognized and prolific scholar on issues of diversity in architecture. Her books, including “A Women’s Berlin: Building the Modern City” (2008), “Hitler at Home” (2015) and “Where Are the Women Architects?” (2016), explore the intersections of power and architecture. Her scholarship addresses barriers to equity and diversity in the building professions, including stereotypical representations of architects in history books, the lack of diversity among elite architecture prize winners and the absence of female architects and architects of color in Hollywood films.

Stratigakos is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and honors, including membership in the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University fellowship, the Marie Curie Fellowship from the Gerda Henkel Foundation and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the German Academic Exchange Service/German Studies Association Book Prize and the Milka Bliznakov Research Prize from the International Archive of Women in Architecture.

She has served as interim chair of the Department of Architecture and deputy director of UB’s Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender. She was a member of Buffalo’s municipal Diversity in Architecture taskforce, and a founding member of the Architecture and Design Academy, an initiative of the Buffalo Public Schools to encourage students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds to pursue degrees in architecture.