President Biden Announces His Intent to Appoint Members to the Commission of Fine Arts

Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to appoint four new members to the Commission on Fine Arts:

Peter Cook, Principal, HGA Architects
Peter Cook is a Principal at HGA Architects. Among Cook’s high-profile projects are the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, Watha T. Daniel / Shaw Neighborhood Library, Embassy of South Africa, and Saint Elizabeth’s East Gateway Pavilion. Cook is a member of the American Institute of Architects, Washington, D.C. Chapter and the National Organization of Minority Architects. He holds a Master of Architecture from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation, and a Bachelor of Arts in Visual & Environmental Studies from Harvard University.

Hazel Ruth Edwards, Professor and Chair, Howard University Department of Architecture in the College of Engineering and Architecture
Dr. Hazel Ruth Edwards has been Professor and Chair of the Department of Architecture, College of Engineering and Architecture at Howard University since July 2016. Appointed in 2016, Edwards is the first female to chair the department since architecture education began at Howard in 1911. Her unique career has combined place-based research with planning and urban design practice and teaching. She is a certified planner with the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and was elected to their College of Fellows (FAICP) in 2018. 

Justin Garrett Moore, Inaugural Program Officer, Humanities in Place, Andrew Mellon Foundation
Justin Garrett Moore is a transdisciplinary designer and urbanist. He recently took a job at the Andrew Mellon Foundation as the Inaugural Program Officer of the Humanities in Place program. Moore previously served as Executive Director of the City of New York Public Design Commission. He is a member of the American Planning Association’s AICP Commission, the Urban Design Forum, and the Black urbanist collective BlackSpace. Justin is an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and the Yale School of Architecture.

Billie Tsien, Partner, Todd Williams Billie Tsien Architects
Billie Tsien is an architect and a founding partner with Tod Williams of the New York City-based studio Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners. Their work is committed to reflecting the values of non-profit, cultural and academic institutions through an architecture that is serene and enduring. Currently serving as President of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she is also a member of the National Academy of Design, American Academy in Rome, and the American Philosophical Society. Maintaining an active academic career as the Charles Gwathmey Professor in Practice at Yale University, she is steadfast in her mission to create a better world through architecture and to contribute to supporting a broader and more diverse cultural landscape.

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