Visiting Faculty
Eliel Saarinen
Eliel Saarinen taught in the University of Michigan's architecture department in 1923 when he moved to the United States from Finland. It was here where Saarinen met newspaper publisher and patron of the arts George G. Booth, who subsequently commissioned him to design Cranbrook Academy in Detroit, Michigan. He taught there and became president of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1932. Among his student-collaborators were Ray Eames (then Ray Kaiser) and Charles Eames; Saarinen influenced their subsequent furniture design.
Max M. Fisher
Max Martin Fisher was an internationally-known businessman and philanthropist. He spent much of his life raising money for philanthropic and political endeavors and was a supporter of charitable and civic organizations. His skill at diplomacy kept him connected to every administration since President Dwight D. Eisenhower's on Middle East and Jewish issues. Some of Mr. Fisher's civic activities included: founding chairman of Detroit Renaissance, founding member and chairman of New Detroit, member of the Board of Sinai Hospital, Detroit Institute of Arts, Greater Detroit Chamber of Commerce, and served both as president and chairman of the United Foundation of Detroit (now known as the United Way of Southeastern Michigan).
Charles Willard Moore
Charles Willard Moore graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in architecture in 1947. Moore developed a humanistic approach to architecture in which each design attempts to engage users within a clearly defined spatial environment. He shifted the design emphasis from architectural formalism to a re-examination of the nature and function of architecture in today's world. Instead of using architecture to moralize an ideal, he used it to generate an environment to stimulate the user. Moore was a teacher during much of his career at the University of California at Berkeley, at Yale, and at the University of California Los Angeles.
Colin Clipson
Colin Clipson was an international pioneer in architectural research, as well as a distinguished scholar and teacher. Clipson taught at the University of Michigan's College of Architecture and Design from 1969 till his death in 2000. While serving UM, Clipson integrated graduate and doctoral level courses in design and in human factors through an active program in design research. He served as chair of the college's research program and on numerous committees at various levels within the college and university. He was the recipient of a Design Research Award from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Design Research Citation from the American Institute of Architects. He was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and received the Presidential Design Award, the first Design Research Award from Progressive Architecture, and the Sol King Award for Excellence in Teaching.
