Rate My Professor Elgin Cleckley

Elgin Cleckley, NOMA, is an Associate Professor of Architecture and the Undergraduate Program Director at the University of Virginia School of Architecture. He leads _mpathic design, a multi-award-winning pedagogy, initiative, and professional practice. Cleckley earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia in 1993, attended the Fontainebleau School of Visual Arts, and received a Master of Architecture from Princeton University in 1995. Early in his career, he collaborated with DLR Group in Seattle, MRSA Architects in Chicago, and Baird Sampson Neuert Architects in Toronto on award-winning civic projects. He served as Muschenheim Fellow at the University of Michigan and taught at the University of Illinois, Chicago. From 2001 to 2016, Cleckley was 3D Group Leader and Design Coordinator at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, part of the Agents of Change Initiative that produced the Weston Family Innovation Centre, a $47.5 million project featuring architecture by Diamond + Schmitt Architects.

Since returning to UVA in 2016, Cleckley has earned the Alumni Board of Trustees Teaching Award, the highest teaching honor for an assistant professor; School of Architecture Research + Scholarship Award; Distinguished Public Scholar Award; Armstead Robinson Faculty Award; and four Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Awards, including for Creative Achievement, Diversity Achievement, and Faculty Design. His scholarship includes the book Empathic Design: Perspectives on Creating Inclusive Spaces (Island Press, funded by an NEA Grant) and writings in Kunstall KADE, Empathy Pedestals (LSU Press), Site Lines: A Journal of Place, International Journal of E-Planning Research, Next City, and the Journal for Interprofessional Education and Practice. _mpathic design has presented at over 100 conferences worldwide, collaborated with UVA School of Medicine, Dartmouth, Albemarle County Public Schools, and the Equal Justice Initiative on the Charlottesville Memorial for Peace and Justice, and exhibited at institutions including the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Cleckley serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal for Architectural Education and various ACSA committees.