Geraldine Forbes Isais, director, architecture program, UNM School of Architecture and Planning, was recently honored with a Faculty Hall of Fame Award by Woodbury University in California. The award is given to faculty who have demonstrated significant commitment to Woodbury students, to education and the institution.
Photo: UNM Director of Architecture Geraldine Forbes Isais, receives a Faculty Hall of Fame Award from Woodbury University VP for Academic Affairs David Rosen.
David Rosen, Woodbury executive vice president for academic affairs, said, “Geraldine Forbes Isais served Woodbury University with distinction as a professor, as chair of the architecture department, as an assistant dean of the School of Architecture and Design, and as director of the San Diego program. Forbes Isais helped found the program in 1998 and the success stories from San Diego have not abated since. The San Diego Architecture program wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for her inspiring leadership.”
Forbes Isais said, “It is a wonderful time to reflect on having achieved those milestones. I consider myself lucky to have been there at that time.”
Forbes Isais looked back on her time at Woodbury and its influence on her career.
Woodbury, she said is an old institution. Established in 1884, it is five years older than UNM. “It had a huge impact on Los Angeles in interesting ways. I happened to get hired after Woodbury sold its downtown campus and relocated to a new campus in Burbank,” she said.
At that time, the school had just established its architecture program, which was unaccredited. She helped it get accredited and then served as the director of the program. Forbes Isais established a community design studio on Hollywood Boulevard, near Vine. “It had an interesting dynamic in a different kind of location than what people think of as a ‘community studio.’ The area had off-beat Hollywood types – Soviet Armenians and a large LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender] population.”
While assistant dean for special projects, Forbes Isais set up a program with San Diego Community College District to provide a seamless education for students to transfer into the architecture program. Recognizing that they were working on architecture and urban environments that impacted both sides of the U.S./Mexican border, Forbes Isais hired faculty from both sides of the border.
Following her tenure at Woodbury, Forbes Isais returned to the office of Jubany Architecture where she worked as director of design. “I felt I’d lost my authority to speak about architecture and the profession. My former partner still had the office and asked me to come back. I brought some of my best students to work with me,” she said.
She knew she would return to academia. Her experiences at Woodbury, where she often was invited to participate in reviews, and in the architecture office prepared her to come to UNM, she said.
“Those experiences allowed me to have a sense of authority about faculty work, the quality of student work and what it take to get there,” she said. Immediately upon her arrival at UNM the architecture program faced an accreditation visit under her leadership. The program received for a full six year term.
She is still actively engaged in architecture across the borderlands. She and Dean Roger Schluntz recently visited Centro Fox, Guanajuato, Mexico, where she hopes to co-locate some UNM/Centro Fox initiatives.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu