Class Notes
1960s
Dennis King, B.S. Arch ’69, was honored with a “70 Over Seventy” Award for Entrepreneurship from Detroit’s Hannan Center. King retired as CEO of HED a decade ago before starting DMKING Consulting LLC.
1980s
Cynthia Kozak Pozolo, B.S. Arch ’80, M.Arch ’82, won the 2024 AIA Michigan Gold Medal Award.
Larry Barr, FAIA, B.S. Arch ’80 M.Arch ’82, retired in May 2025 after over 40 years of practice, most of which was spent at Quinn Evans in Washington, D.C. Larry was the firm’s first employee after founders and fellow Taubman College alumni Mike Quinn and Dave Evans and spent over a decade as the firm’s president, overseeing a tremendous period of growth in the firm’s size and profile, culminating in receiving the AIA’s Architecture Firm Award in 2024.
Kenneth E. Lyon, B.S. Arch ’83, M.Arch ’86, contributed an essay to a new book by Alan Hess, “The Palm Springs School of Architecture: 1934 – 1975,” and spoke at a symposium at the Palm Springs Art Museum for the book’s release.
John Myefski, B.S. Arch ‘84, M.Arch ’86, and son Christopher Myefski, B.S. Arch ’18, exhibited “American Treehouse” in the Time Space Existence exhibition at the Venice Biennale with Myefski Architects, the Chicago-based architecture, planning, and design firm founded by John in 1994.
Brian Adelstein, B.S. Arch ’89, completed the London Marathon while wearing the maize and blue.
McIntosh Poris Architects named AIA-Michigan Firm of the Year
From left, McIntosh Poris Architects principal John Skok, founding partner Michael Poris, and principal Laurie Hughet-Hiller.
Detroit Foundation Hotel
McIntosh Poris Architects (MPA), cofounded by Michael Poris, B.S. Arch ’85, was named 2024 Firm of the Year by AIA Michigan. MPA has advocated for the preservation and adaptive reuse of Detroit’s architectural heritage for three decades, and the awards jury highlighted the firm’s long standing contributions to the city’s revival. Founded in 1994 by childhood friends Poris and the late Douglas McIntosh, MPA has shaped transformative projects including Detroit Foundation Hotel, early feasibility plans for Michigan Central Station, and urban plans for the Broadway District, North Corktown, and East Riverfront.
1990s
Megan Gibb, A.B. ’92, M.U.P. ’96, joined Oregon’s Multnomah County land use planning division as director.
Pankaj Duggal, M.U.P./M.Arch ’95, joined Michael Baker International as executive vice president and president for sustainable and resilient solutions business.
Mary Jane Nirdlinger, M.U.P. ’98, was appointed interim town manager for Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Erin Perdu, M.U.P. ’98, a principal at Stantec, began a two-year stint as president of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Curtis D. Smith, M.U.P. ’95, started a new position as chief of neighborhood and housing development for Michigan’s Oakland County.
Tracy Wick, A.B. ’88, M.U.P. ’99, retired after 32 years as a Realtor.
2000s
Ya Vaughn Harlston, M.Arch ’01, won the AIA Northeast Illinois Chapter Young Architect Award.
Alan R. Bean, M.U.P. ’03, and his planning team at Spicer Group received a Google Geo for Good Impact Award. Spicer’s planners, alongside staff and public officials from Isabella County, worked on the permitting and construction compliance process for the 383-megawatt, 136-turbine Isabella Wind Project, Michigan’s largest utility-scale wind farm. Bean is now a community development specialist for the City of Frankenmuth.
Alexander Briseno, B.S. Arch ’96, M.Arch ’01, was elected partner at HKS in the firm’s Atlanta studio, where he also serves as practice leader and design leader.
Tom M. Dillenbeck, M.Arch ’02, was promoted to executive vice president at Hobbs+Black Architects in Ann Arbor.
James R. Schoen, B.S. Arch ’06, was promoted to principal at Pond & Company in Atlanta, where he serves as architectural practice leader for the firm’s life science and industrial division.
Kim Dresdner, M.U.P./M.U.D. ’07, was promoted to regional practice area leader, cities and urban design, at Gensler.
Luke Forrest, M.U.P. ’07, started a new position as director of engagement in the Community & Worker Economic Transition Office at the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.
Disbrow Iannuzzi Architects, a Ferndale, Michigan, firm cofounded by David Iannuzzi, M.Arch ’06, was named to Forbes’ inaugural list of America’s top 200 residential architects.
Liz Jellema, M.U.P. ’05, was promoted to president of Creative Fundraising Advisors.
M. Paul Lippens, M.U.P. ’04, started a new position as Michigan market lead and principal urban designer at Toole Design Group.
GOAT, a New Orleans-based architectural firm co-founded by Colin VangWingen, B.S. Arch ’08, was invited to showcase their project “foreverNOLA” in the Time Space Existence exhibition at the 2025 Venice Biennale.
Stephanie Pilat, M.S. ’02, Ph.D. ’09, professor of architecture at the University of Oklahoma, co-curated Outré West: The American School of Architecture from Oklahoma to California at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center. The exhibition considers work by a group of architects educated and mentored in 1950s and ‘60s Oklahoma, who later developed groundbreaking practices in California.
2010s
Layla Aslani, M.U.P. ’11, was named to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business’ 40 Under 40 List.
Brad D. Vogelmeister, M.U.R.P. ’15, was recognized in the Indianapolis Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 Class of 2025.
Liz Gunden, M.U.R.P. ’19, was promoted to senior associate at Beckett & Raeder Inc.
Tyler Hardy, M.U.R.P. ’18, started a new position as senior director of real estate development at the Detroit Housing Commission.
Wonwoo Lee, M.U.P. ’13, started a new position as managing director of real estate at the Song United Family Office.
JP Mansolf, M.U.R.P. ’18, started a new position as director of development, central region, for the City of Detroit’s Housing and Revitalization Department.
Ben Stacey, M.S./M.U.R.P. ’19, started a new position as senior director of sustainability strategy and integration at JLL.
Masataka Yoshikawa, M.Arch ’17, presented “Fabricated Combines,” — an AI-enhanced, multi-platform, digital and analog workflow for translating two-dimensional design narratives into three-dimensional constructs — at the Venice Biennale along with colleague Sara Codarin.
2020s
Akima Brackeen, M.Arch ’22, was awarded a 2025-2026 Rome Prize by the American Academy in Rome. Brackeen was one of 35 artists and scholars selected for the fellowship from 990 applicants to pursue her project “Sonic Impressions.”
Joshua Childs, M.U.R.P./M.P.P. ’20, started a new position as a project manager on the real estate development team for Washington, D.C.-based Wesley Housing.
Michelle Lincoln, M.U.R.P. ’21, was elected vice president of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Planning Association.
Charlotte Dhaya, M.U.R.P. ’22, joined Kronberg Urbanists + Architects in Atlanta.
Yuchen Ding, M.U.R.P. ’17, started a new position as senior associate planner at Teska Associates Inc. in Illinois.
Alexis Farrell, M.U.R.P. ’23, was promoted to senior planner at McKenna, a Northville, Michigan-based planning and building services firm.
Sarah Jammal, M.U.R.P. ’21, started a new position as a planner at Verantas.
Michelle Lincoln, M.U.R.P. ’21, started a new position as planning program manager for the State of Minnesota.
Jessica Yelk, M.Arch/M.U.R.P. ’21, was promoted to architectural designer III at Architecture Plus Information (A+I) in New York.
