Dear Alumni:

The fall term began with the usual excitement and activity: returning students arriving with great enthusiasm, an incoming class of students whose ACT scores are among the highest in the University, a large group of Polish exchange students who represent the 30th year of this program and much challenging work ahead for all of us.

Although, you will read much of the news in this issue of Nautilus, I would like to mention several highlights. The Detroit Collaborative Design Center continues to win awards and prizes for its fine work in the neighborhoods and communities of the city and is looked to as a resource and partner with several major foundations having local and national scope. We were recently able to add a landscape architect to the Design Center staff thanks to federal stimulus funds. His expertise has been particularly pertinent to studies done for the city of Detroit in planning for reuse of extensive areas of vacant land.

We are also particularly pleased to have inaugurated a formal association with the University of Windsor, bringing Canadian students to the School of Architecture to study the design of the built environment.

September brought the formal dedication of the Peter Peirce Interactive Learning Center. The Center was a gift from Cherry Peirce, Peter's loving wife, his friends and family in his memory. We are also grateful to Warren Loranger, Paul Britten, Mark Harbick and others for their gifts.

It is fitting that the Center be here in the School of Architecture where Peter studied architecture and graduated in 1985. His academic accomplishments both before and after attending the University are noteworthy. His architectural construction and design work are well-recognized for their beauty, creativity and function.

UDM President Gerard Stockhausen, S.J., Ph.D., blessed the Center, which is an educational setting that encourages more student involvement and interaction in the learning process than the traditional lecture hall. We hope that Peter would have been pleased with the result.

I take this opportunity to wish you a joyous holiday season.

Sincerely,

Stephen Vogel, FAIA
Dean, School of Architecture