President John Anderson Announces New Provost

Frances Bronet

Frances Bronet

Frances Bronet, distinguished professor and dean of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts at the University of Oregon since 2005, has been chosen to succeed Alan W. Cramb as provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at Illinois Institute of Technology. Cramb, the university’s current provost, will become IIT’s ninth president on August 1, 2015.

Bronet, who currently holds the position of acting provost at the University of Oregon, is a distinguished scholar, teacher, and researcher as well as an experienced administrator. “The entire search committee was most impressed with Frances’s qualifications and accomplishments,” says Fred Hickernell, chair of the committee and professor of applied mathematics. “She will bring a fresh perspective to our university as we continue to move forward in an increasingly competitive marketplace.”

Bronet earned her Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Architecture, and Bachelor of Engineering degrees from McGill University. Her Master of Science in Architecture is from Columbia University.

Bronet began her career as a faculty member in the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1985. She was first named associate dean of architecture in 1994, held the position of acting dean, and served as professor of architecture from 2002–2005. Her collaborations, including installation projects, small-scale video works, and course and curriculum development, reach across such varied disciplines as architecture, engineering, art, product design, landscape architecture, dance, music, science and technology studies, and the humanities. She is past president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and incoming chancellor of the ACSA College of Distinguished Professors (2016). Several of her projects have been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as well as the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and in both 2011 and 2014 she was cited among the (20 and 30) most admired educators by DesignIntelligence.

The full press release can be found here.