School of Architecture Faculty Profiles

Myles Peña, Lecturer in Architecture at CAPLA, finds inspiration in celebrating nature's beauty within design. With a background in various architectural realms, he now focuses on teaching young minds, sharing his expertise in design principles and technical components.

Brendan Sullivan Shea joined CAPLA this fall as a visiting professor of architecture. His research, creative work and teaching focus on digital fabrication and desertification, while his advice to students is simple: if you can, travel.

Noémie Despland-Lichtert joined CAPLA this fall as our second Emerging Faculty Fellow. An accomplished teacher, researcher and practitioner, she spent the last year in Brussels and has also worked at Taliesin West, the Canadian Centre for Architecture and the Architecture Department of Getty Research Institute, among others.

Robert Miller AIA joined CAPLA in the spring of 2010 as director of the School of Architecture. In his 12 years at CAPLA, Miller has brought not only stability to the school after a long series of interim directors, but also a new era of student success, faculty creative scholarship and research, and industry partnership. He retires on January 1, 2023.

Though Emeritus Professor of Architecture R. Brooks Jeffery retired from UArizona in June 2022 as associate vice president for research, at CAPLA he will be long acclaimed for his dedicated work across many roles, including associate dean and Drachman Institute director—as well for his wide-reaching service and award-winning research on heritage conservation in arid environments.

Senior Lecturer in Architecture Oscar Lopez, who joined CAPLA in 2016, teaches undergraduate and graduate architecture studios while practicing architecture and conducting research on what he calls the haptics of place, "essentially, combining both the real and the unreal qualities of architecture."

UArizona Hispanic Serving Institution Fellow Sandra Bernal Cordova, who joined CAPLA in 2018 as a lecturer, uses her built environment research, community service and cross-campus collaborations to inform the classes she teaches and co-teaches, which include Water Efficiency in Building, Equitable Cities and the Sustainable Built Environments Capstone.

Assistant Professor of Architecture Michael Scott Silver joined CAPLA this fall. His research and practice focus on the relationship between existing cultures of labor and the effects new automation technologies will have on the built environment.

Visiting Professor of Architecture June Williamson has joined CAPLA for the Fall 2022 semester from The City College of New York. Her research focuses on northern American suburban form and its discontents, documenting how underperforming suburban property types and development patterns are being redeveloped, reinhabited or regreened.

In this interview, UArizona School of Architecture Director Ryan E. Smith shares his initial vision for the school, discusses the importance of interdisciplinarity, shares his passions for research on affordable housing and the importance of research in an architectural education, discusses the value of connecting with firms, provides advice to students and more.

Assistant Research Scientist Adriana Zuniga came to CAPLA from Mexico in 2008 to pursue her MS Architecture degree. Since then, she has also earned a PhD in Arid Lands Resources Sciences and has taught and conducted research on human-landscape connections at CAPLA since 2015.

Associate Professor of Architecture Eric D. Weber joined the college this fall, where he is teaching Design-Build and Techne. Learn more about Eric, including his background in architecture, his construction-focused research and his advice for architecture students.