Dr. John L. Brown has been appointed as dean of the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary.

Brown has been an academic staff member in the Faculty of Environmental Design for more than 30 years and has served as interim dean since May 2017, and previously as associate dean, research and international. He is a registered architect and fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

Brown is a founding principal of the design firm Housebrand, and a co-founder of Slow Home, an international movement advocating for increased design quality in North America’s housing market. He is currently serving as first-vice president of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

Brown holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Manitoba (1980), a Master of Architecture from the University of Texas (1983), a Master of Science in Building Design from Columbia University (1984), and a PhD from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (2017), where he completed a dissertation that developed new strategies for housing Canada’s rapidly aging population.

“I am proud to be named dean of this growing faculty, one that brings bold thinking to explore innovation in architecture, landscape architecture and planning,” says Brown. “The Faculty of Environmental Design is a diverse group that includes award-winning teachers, practitioners, and researchers, and I look forward to what we will accomplish in the coming years.