Lecture: Toni Griffin, Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Toni L. Griffin is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and recently launched a private consultant practice, Urban Planning and Design for the American City, built on a career in both the public and private sectors, combining the practice of architecture, urban design, planning and civic engagement with the execution of innovative, large-scale, mixed-use urban redevelopment projects and citywide and neighborhood planning strategies.

Most recently, Toni was the Director of Community Development for the City of Newark, New Jersey, where she was responsible for creating a centralized division of planning and urban design and produced Shifting Forward 2025, the city’s first master plan re-examination in nearly a decade.

Prior to Newark, Griffin served as Vice President and Director of Design for the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation in Washington, DC, and from 2000-2005, Griffin held the position of Deputy Director for Revitalization Planning and Neighborhood Planning in the D.C. Office of Planning.

Prior to locating in Washington, DC, Griffin served as Vice President for Planning & Tourism Development for the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation in New York City. She began her career as an architect with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP in Chicago, where she became an Associate Partner involved in architecture and urban design projects.

Griffin received a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Notre Dame and a yearlong appointment as a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.