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3/11/2004 12:12:00 AM Architecture dean Lerup named 2004 Swedish-American of the Year BY B.J. ALMOND
The honor recognizes
people of Swedish-American heritage who have been engaged
in Swedish-American relations or have made a brilliant career
in American society. Previous awardees include astronaut
Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, U.S. Chief Justice William
Rehnquist, actress Ann-Margret and Nobel laureate Glen Seaborg. Lerup was raised
in Vaxjo, Sweden, and received a civil engineering diploma
in 1960 at the Helsingborg Technical College. He received
a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University
of California–Berkeley in 1968 and his master’s
from Harvard in 1970. He joined the Rice faculty in 1993
as the William Ward Watkin Professor of Architecture and
dean of the architecture school. Under Lerup’s
leadership, the School of Architecture has achieved national
prominence. According to the Almanac of Architecture &
Design 2001, Rice ranked No. 1 among schools and colleges
of architecture in the Southern region of the United States
and No. 4 nationally in a customer-satisfaction survey of
more than 800 leading U.S. architecture firms by the Design
Futures Council. Lerup has received
many honors and awards in architectural competitions for
buildings as well as furniture and design. His work has
been exhibited in the United States and Europe. Lerup facilitated
Swedish-American cooperation on the STARS Design project
at NASA by getting Swedish students in architecture and
design from Lund University to participate. Last year, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture selected Lerup as an ACSA Distinguished Professor — one of the association’s highest awards. Lund University in Sweden awarded Lerup an honorary degree in technology in 2001. |
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