Following a comprehensive national search, explains a press remease, Morgan State University President David K. Wilson and Provost Hongtao Yu, have appointed a new dean of the School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P). Distinguished global professor Abimbola O. Asojo, Ph.D., will take lead of the rising architectural school, effective August 2, 2023. She is only the second dean in the school’s history following the tenure of former dean Mary Anne Akers, the school’s founding dean who held the position for 14 years.
Housed within the Center for the Built Environment & Infrastructure Studies (CBEIS), the School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) features several departments including the Department of Undergraduate Design, Department of Construction Management, and the Department of Graduate Built Environment Studies. SA+P offers an array of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees as well as a graduate certificate. For more than 25-years the School of Architecture and Planning has provided students the opportunity to preview and experience the makings of the built and natural environment in the broader perspective of interdisciplinary learning headed toward responsible leadership. SA+P students become knowledgeable in planning, design, and management as predictive decision-making processes by the examination of human factors involved in the necessarily collaborative activity of environmental intervention and preservation.
To lead SA+P program development
With her appointment, it’s explained, Dr. Asojo will lead a well-established and highly regarded school that offers one of only two professional architecture programs in the State of Maryland and the only such program in Baltimore City. She is charged with leading SA+P program development and expansion and the advancement of the school’s undergraduate and graduate programs.
In her capacity as dean, it’s said, Dr. Abimbola Asojo will report to the provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs and will work collaboratively with the University’s 10 other deans to meet Morgan’s mission. She replaces former dean Mary Anne Akers, the school’s inaugural dean, who left the University in July 2022. Since Aker’s departure, the School of Architecture and Planning has advanced under the interim leadership of Siddhartha Sen, Ph.D.
President David K. Wilson “The appointment of Dr. Asojo is a welcome addition to the Morgan faculty. Her academic background and professional achievements reflect her continued commitment to pursuing excellence in expanding research beyond the classroom. Under her leadership, I am confident that our students will receive authentic experiential learning opportunities connecting theories and knowledge with real-life scenarios that will expand innovative thinking surrounding architecture and design in neighborhoods and communities.”
25-years of classroom leadership
Dr. Abimbola Asojo joins Morgan State University with more than 25-years of classroom leadership and community-based service-learning experience with a portfolio of professional accomplishments including national and international projects recognized for innovative designs and contributions to architecture studies in higher education. She specializes in teaching architectural lighting design; design and human factors; computing and design; corporate design; and commercial design. She actively engages her students in community based service-learning projects that tackle local and global societal challenges. Her research areas are cross-cultural design, architectural lighting design, African architecture, computing and design, globalization and design, sustainable design, post-occupancy evaluation and K-12 space.
Prior to her appointment at Morgan State University, Dr. Abimbola Asojo has served for the past 12 years at the University of Minnesota, where she held the positions of associate dean for faculty at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs and a professor of Interior Design at the School of Architecture at the College of Design. She is also a fellow of the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment, where she co-founded the lighting design minor in the College of Design in 2019, and a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
Former professor at the University of Oklahoma
Before her time at the University of Minnesota, she was a professor at the University of Oklahoma, College of Design.
Her work has been widely published in international journals and books. She is a licensed architect and holds a National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) certification.
Dr. Abimbola Asojo is also a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC), and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES).
Dr. Abimbola Asojo said: “I am extremely excited and honored to be named the dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at Morgan State University. It is a great privilege for me to serve and contribute my expertise to build relationships and advance the school’s vision and priorities to align with the university’s core values and strategic plan — Transformation Morgan. I am looking forward to collaborating with the students, staff, faculty, and administration to lead the school with its exemplary reputation to greater heights.”
Twice named a US Design Intelligence top educator
Twice named a US Design Intelligence top educator in 2010 and 2017, Dr. Asojo’s leadership and contributions in the classroom and the community have been impactful both globally and locally. In 2018, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the faculty of Environmental Design and Management at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Nigeria.
In addition, Dr. Abimbola Asojo, in collaboration with Professors Dolapo Amole and Babatunde Jaiyeoba of OAU in Ile-lfe, Osun, Nigeria, initiated the first interior design program in a Nigerian university. The first class of interior design students at OAU began classes in July 2019 and graduated in 2021. The program’s courses are online, so students in other neighboring African countries can also participate. However, students meet face-to-face for two days of class once per month. Justifying the creation of the program, Dr. Abimbola Asojo said that Interior design is a field that is in high demand, and with no available interior design programs, students often studied study overseas to get the education they required, which not all students can afford.
In 2020, Dr. Abimbola Asojo received the University of Minnesota’s Outstanding Community Service Faculty Award, the highest honor the university gives to a faculty member for service to the community. She has engaged her students in more than 40 community-based service-learning projects that tackle both local and global societal challenges. In addition to being a LEED Accredited Professional, she serves on the Journal of Interior Design (JID) review board and is a member of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) Building Information Modeling (BIM) committee.
Dr. Abimbola Asojo received her B.S. and M.S. in Architecture from Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria; her M.S. in Architecture: Computing Design from the University of East London, United Kingdom; and a Ph.D. in Instructional Psychology and Technology, Anthropology, and History from the University of Oklahoma.
