Beginning June 2023, UDream will welcome an annual cohort of up to 15 graduates of architecture, design and urban planning programs for a 22-week post-graduate program hosted at the CMU School of Architecture.
UDream's Pittsburgh Case and Neighborhood Engagement
The Pittsburgh Case & Neighborhood Engagement was a 90 minute workshop during which a brief overview of the UDream program’s impact on Pittsburgh’s environment was given followed by a discussion on alternative methods; efforts to support a more sustainable DEI system; ongoing work to support aspiring K-12 architects; undergraduate and graduate student retention; and architectural leadership in the community.
UDream's University Community Engagement
UDream's National Priorities for Diversity, Equity and Education
The first stakeholder meeting was successfully held on Thursday 25th March, 2021 to discuss the National Priorities for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. During this initial meeting, a brief overview of the program was provided, strategic partnerships were identified, and a sustainable funding model was brainstormed.
Student Mentorship & Design Justice at Carnegie Mellon
Hameen empowers her students to pursue and deepen their own disparate interests, and they appreciate both the respect and compassion she shows for them and their work. Christina Brown, currently Architectural Designer at KPF and a CMU 2020 graduate, had Hameen as both a thesis advisor and architectural studio professor. Brown says she was “allowed to explore and flourish” in her own design work while balancing personal responsibilities outside of the academy; she credits Hameen’s flexibility for her own achievements. Similarly, Taylor Latimer, fifth-year senior in CMU’s Bachelor of Architecture program, credits Hameen for her decision to pursue an advanced degree in urban planning. Without Hameen’s guidance, Latimer says, she would have been more focused on individual buildings and ideas rather than the larger impacts she now sees she can make working at larger scales.
The NOMA Foundation Fellowship
In partnership with the AIA Large Firm Roundtable (LFRT), NOMA created a fellowship program to help increase the number of minority architects throughout the U.S. Following the success of the inaugural NOMA Foundation Fellowship (NFF), we are pleased to announce the launch of the Summer 2021 Cohort of the NOMA Foundation Fellowship!
SoA Faculty and Alumni Participate in SAY IT LOUD Pennsylvania Exhibition Opening Fri 01 Nov
Erica Cochran Hameen, PhD and Bill Bates, FAIA, together with alumni Ernest Bellamy and Chase Kea and nine UDream Alumni, will participate in SAY IT LOUD Pennsylvania, Representation Matters: Changing the Face of Architecture. The exhibit will run through the month of November and showcases the work of minority architects and designers. The opening reception is Friday 01 November from 6:00-10:00pm at GBBN Architects.
Ashley Cox joins the evolveEA Team
Ashley Cox
We are excited to announce that Ashley Cox has returned to evolveEA as a full-time member of our team! A talented and enthusiastic Urban Designer, Ashley was initially engaged with us during the summer of 2014 as an intern through Carnegie Mellon’s award-winning UDream program. After completing the internship program, Ashley remained in Pittsburgh to earn a Master of Urban Design at CMU. While in school she continued to work with us on select projects.
Ashley has demonstrated leadership capacity with valued contributions to our Pittsburgh community based projects such as the Hill District Centre Avenue Redevelopment Plan, Garfield Green Zone, and Urban Agriculture and Green Stormwater Infrastructure Planning in Larimer. In her new role, Ashley will continue to draw upon her advanced technical background in urban systems and her experience with creative engagement to empower people and help create resilient communities. We’re thrilled to have Ashley with us as we begin 2017!
Dream On
Young Architects Come for UDream—and Stay for Pittsburgh
A program of the Remaking Cities Institute, UDream provides recent graduates of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and urban planning programs the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of urban design in a summer and fall immersion experience.
UDream Program Receives AIA National Diversity
This past March, UDream was recognized by the AIA at its Grassroots Leadership and Legislative Conference. Pictured (l-r) are: Elizabeth Chu Richter, AIA president; Valecia Wilson, UDream Class of 2011, Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission; Erica Cochran, CMU UDream Program Director; Robert Ivy, AIA CEO; and Torrey Stanley Carleton, Hon. AIA.
The Carnegie Mellon University UDream program in the School of Architecture was honored as a Diversity Recognition Program by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Saturday, May 16, at the AIA National Convention in Atlanta.
William J. Bates, a member of the AIA and the National Organization of Minority Architects, and an adjunct faculty member in the School of Architecture, received the award on behalf of CMU. Bates, who also serves as AIA National Board vice president, is vice president of Real Estate for Eat ‘n Park Restaurants in Pittsburgh.
UDream (Urban Design Regional Employment Action for Minorities) was first recognized in March by the AIA at its 2015 Grassroots Leadership and Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., for its innovative methods to diversify Pittsburgh’s urban design workforce. Professor Erica Cochran, UDream program director, accepted the national award during a ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Washington Capitol Hill accompanied by six past UDream participants.
The Carnegie Mellon University UDream program in the School of Architecture was honored as a Diversity Recognition Program by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Saturday, May 16, at the AIA National Convention in Atlanta.
William J. Bates, a member of the AIA and the National Organization of Minority Architects, and an adjunct faculty member in the School of Architecture, received the award on behalf of CMU. Bates, who also serves as AIA National Board vice president, is vice president of Real Estate for Eat ‘n Park Restaurants in Pittsburgh.
UDream (Urban Design Regional Employment Action for Minorities) was first recognized in March by the AIA at its 2015 Grassroots Leadership and Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., for its innovative methods to diversify Pittsburgh’s urban design workforce. Professor Erica Cochran, UDream program director, accepted the national award during a ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Washington Capitol Hill accompanied by six past UDream participants.
UDream is an 18-week program that provides recent minority college graduates of architecture, urban design, urban planning and landscape architecture with an opportunity to further their knowledge of urban design while working in Pittsburgh. The program begins with a five-week academic focus at CMU and features a high school mentoring component called Architecture Building Communities, a summer camp in which high school students work on an urban design project in the city. The concluding phase of the program is a 12-week paid internship with a local architecture firm, nonprofit community organization or public agency. The intern placement process is rigorous and includes a series of interviews with representatives from the host firms.
“The interview process is crucial, because it pairs UDream participants with firms that will help them develop and, ultimately, succeed,” Cochran said.
The UDream program originated in a discussion between representatives from CMU’s School of Architecture and Remaking Cities Institute, and The Heinz Endowments, the latter of which funds the program. Each wanted to recruit recent minority college graduates to come to Pittsburgh with the goal of finding permanent employment at the end of the 18-week program. Funding also is provided by the School of Architecture and various regional architecture/urban design firms.
UDream's Don Carter On Racial Diversity in Architecture
The director of the innovative education and employment program at Carnegie Mellon University discusses its potential to change the profession's demographics.
By WANDA LAU
Donald Carter
The minority educational and career placement program UDream (Urban Design Regional Employment Action for Minorities), in Pittsburgh, has been honored with a 2015 AIA Diversity Recognition Program. Since UDream’s founding in 2009, 58 fellows—mostly recent B.Arch. graduates—have completed the 18-week program, which includes an academic boot camp and a paid internship at a local firm or nonprofit. Moreover, 25 fellows have stayed in the Pittsburgh area, a number that more than tripled the population of minority designers there and led to the re-establishment of a local National Organization of Minority Architects chapter. ARCHITECT spoke with Donald Carter, FAIA, director of the Remaking Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Architecture, which runs UDream. For the full interview please click on the title.
Hill District residents give feedback on redevelopment of former Civic Arena site
Nonprofit, CMU join forces to improve Hill's heart
Where do you go to find your summer interns?
“You’re looking for somebody that has some usable skills, but we can also help them grow those skills. We have a student this year from the UDream program at Carnegie Mellon. It’s for minority architects, and we assign them a project where they can develop a whole series of skills. ... I’m starting to see this incredible influx of young people calling to come here from all over because Pittsburgh is now hip and cool.”
—Rob Pfaffmann, principal, Pfaffmann + Associates
“Our best interns have come from Slippery Rock because they have an intense program with an intern adviser. The one this summer is from Penn State. If they have a program that really looks for results, we like that better than places that seem to tell their students to just go do an internship.”
—Becky Rodgers, executive director, Neighbors in the Strip
“We have programs with a number of local schools, including Point Park, Allegheny College, the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State. But we also work with a number of national schools. …Our publisher and editor-in-chief, John Robinson Block, is a graduate of Yale, and the Block family has endowed a program to send a number of Yale interns to the Post-Gazette every year.”
—Chris Chamberlain, president, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette