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| Jenny Steffel Johnson, certificate co-director, speaks at a School of Public Affairs First Friday event on affordable housing alongside certificate advisor Robin Kniech and certificate co-director Tanya Heikkila. (Photo courtesy of CU Denver News.) |
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CU Denver Launches Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Affordable Housing The term affordable housing is often heard in cities, politics, and business, but what does it actually mean? For CU Denver faculty, the issue is as complex as it is important—and addressing it requires multidisciplinary and multisectoral approaches. That’s why the College of Architecture and Planning (CAP), the School of Public Affairs (SPA), and the Center for New Directions in Politics and Public Policy within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) have partnered to launch the university’s first-ever graduate certificate in affordable housing. The program will prepare students and working professionals to navigate the issues facing Colorado’s housing landscape. |
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| Molly Rose Merkert at historic Larimer Square, preserved due to the efforts of Dana Crawford, namesake of CAP's historic preservation program. (Photo courtesy of CU Denver News.) |
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Molly Rose Merkert Finds Professional Purpose in Historic PreservationMolly Rose Merkert, who earned her master of science in historic preservation in 2025,didn’t always see herself working in historic preservation jobs, which protect cultural history through public policy, projects, or other means. In fact, she was totally new to the field when she took her first class on the topic as a master of architecture student at CU Denver. The course—an introductory preservation theory and practice elective in the Dana Crawford Historic Preservation Program—focuses on field trips to historic spots. When the class visited Denver’s historic La Alma Lincoln Park, Merkert was deeply moved. |
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| Michael O. Winters, FAIA. (Photo by Diaz/Weber Photography, courtesy of Mike Winters.) |
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Inspiration and Architectural Storytelling An exhibition highlighting the distinguished career of architect and alumnus Michael O. Winters, FAIA, is currently on view at the College of Architecture and Planning. Commissioned by the University of Colorado Design Review Board and hosted by Dean David Rifkind, “Inspiration and Architectural Storytelling” is presented as the first in the college's new Dean’s Featured Voices Series, which invites industry leaders in architecture, planning, and design to share their professional insights and contributions to the built environment. |
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| It’s time to Make It Real! CU Denver Giving Day is April 2. The College of Architecture and Planning has several giving opportunities available that will make a difference in the lives of our students through scholarship support, experiential learning opportunity funding, and program support. - CAP Centennial Scholarship Fund - In celebration of 100 years of built environment education in Colorado, this fund aims to recruit and retain talented students by providing ongoing financial support for students pursuing degrees in architecture, planning, and design.
- Mark Murphy Internship Fund - supports students in the master of urban and regional planning program who are undertaking capstone projects in small towns and rural areas.
- Ron Straka Urban Design Program Fund - Supporting the urban design program's recruitment of talented students, inspiring and educating the next generation of urban designers
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Students met with representatives from employers at CAP's annual Career Fair on February 27, 2026 (Photo by CAP VRC.) |
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CAP's annual Career Fair, organized and facilitated by Director of Professional Development and Internships Jen Skidmore, provides an opportunity for students to engage with professionals as they consider career pathways. This year's career fair, held February 27, featured 70 employers who engaged with 180 students. Reflecting on the experience, a graduate student in the master of urban and regional planning program shared, "I feel like the career fair's ability to inform me about some of the different job options within the planning world helped me gain confidence in knowing more about what the options after graduation are for me." In addition to exploring career options, about 160 students participated in on-site interviews with 24 employers.
Graduate students Matthew Winans and Colby Sroda were selected for Metropolis Magazine's 2026 Future 100 program, which celebrates the top 100 graduating students from architecture and interior design programs in the United States and Canada. Congratulations!
The University Technical Assistant Program (UTAP), funded by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA), provides design and planning services to rural cities, towns, and neighborhoods across Colorado while giving students a chance to work on real projects. Recently, students presented their concepts for reimagining the Elizabeth Branch of the Pines and Plains Libraries. The district will use the students' design work to establish a budget and create promotional materials to support fundraising for the project. Read more in "College Students Present Ideas for Elizabeth Library Upgrades" in the Elbert County News.
Urban and regional planning students from Lecturer Andrew Rutz's summer 2024 Mountain Studio in Fairplay, Colorado were applauded for their contributions through their assessment and public engagements to evaluate the Town of Fairplay's comprehensive plan and unified development code (UDC). During the Mountain Studio, students spent eight weeks engaging with staff, elected officials, and the community, thoroughly studying and analyzing the town’s existing policy foundation in an effort to help Fairplay streamline future updates to those plans and policies. Now, the Town of Fairplay has officially released a request for proposal for a new comprehensive plan and UDC, and referenced the studio's work that helped clarify gaps in the implementation of the Town's policy goals and objectives and their need to engage with the community to understand their values, needs, and opportunities. Congrats to the 2024 Mountain Studio. This illustrates how immersive academic work positively impact Colorado communities.
Professor Jody Beck was recently elected to the Denver Press Club Board of Directors, composed of journalists, communications professionals, and community leaders from various news organizations and other firms throughout Denver. Congratulations!
Susannah Drake, instructor, PhD student, and founder of the award-winning design firm DLANDstudio, provided a keynote address titled "Territories in Transition: Exploring humane adaptation in a rapidly changing environment” at the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) West Quad Conference: AXIS at Montana State University March 26-29, 2026. CAP was well represented by students in the CU Denver AIAS chapter at the conference, which serves as one of three regional AIAS conferences this year.
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| Nettie Skievaski Values Connection Driven by Urban Design |
Master of Urban Design student Nettie Skievaski first studied urban design and sustainable planning in the environmental design program at CU Boulder, where she currently teaches. “I’ve always paid attention to how places feel—why some spaces invite connection while others don’t,” said Nettie. "Urban Design gives me a way to explore those questions and actively contribute to creating places that support people, community, and everyday life.” Giving Day is April 2, and this year, CAP is featuring the Ron Straka Urban Design Program Fund. Nettie shared, “I hope future students continue to receive funds necessary to participate and keep this powerful momentum going. The MUD program is deeply vital and truly impactful.” Let’s Make it Real! |
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| Experiential Learning Meets Real-World Impact in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program |
Max Gibson, executive director of the San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition, has served as a client for three MURP capstone projects. “For small nonprofits and rural communities in particular, capstone partnerships can significantly increase local planning capacity,” said Max. "We are a small rural organization; so we are constantly balancing big-picture planning with day-to-day program operations. The capstone projects allowed us to take on research, mapping, policy analysis, and planning work that we otherwise would not have had the staff time to complete, but that was critical for long-term food system development in the region." Help us Make it Real by supporting MURP students pursue their internships and capstone projects by contributing to the Mark Murphy Internship Fund. |
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| | Class presentation. (Photo courtesy of CAP VRC.) |
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| Special Topics: Building (Un)Intelligence Building (Un)intelligence is a research seminar led by Assistant Professor Shirley Dongwei Chen that investigates how architecture intersects 20th and 21st century technologies through spatial infrastructures and display cultures. Through creative research, students build collective knowledge that critically re-examines concepts of intelligence and its social, environmental, and labor costs. Course readings and study objects engage with people, sites, and perspectives that have contributed to and been obfuscated by histories of technology. Subjects include Eames's collaboration with IBM, Sottsass's Olivetti design research, Denver native Robert Propst and his engagement at Herman Miller Research Corporation, and the “Mother of All Demos” that became a model for most tech launches today.
Drawing on positions within and beyond architecture, students produce individual design research projects that examine the entangled relationship between architecture and technology to reveal the hidden bodies, materials, and sociotechnical landscapes behind contemporary technological myths. Project 1.1 asks students to investigate historic sites of entanglement such as IBM offices and Olivetti showrooms. Students each compose a sequence of drawing that follow building scales, component scale and furniture scale. Project 1.2 is a collaborative project that invites groups of two or three students to form a team and create design for multi-purpose display mechanisms for the class projects and explore the furniture manual as a medium for communicating design intents.
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Above: Drawings by Timo Mason. Below: The mock up model and manual by Catherine Nguyen and Dat Nguyen.
(Photos courtesy of Shirley Chen.) |
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Monday, April 6, 2026 | College of Architecture and Planning Assistant Professor Leyuan Li presents Engaged Interior, a series of creative projects that investigate the critical relationship between the architectural interior and the built environment. From noon - 1 p.m. in CAP's Second Floor Gallery.
Thursday, April 9, 2026 | College of Architecture and Planning
Join us for AMERICAN DREAM: The Power of Images, Cultural Identity, and the Role of Landscape Architects in America’s National Parks, presented by Assistant Professor Louise Cheetham Bordelon whose work investigates the evolution of the image as a tool of power, and delves into one national historic site to showcase some of the neglected narratives of nature, culture, and American identity. From noon - 1 p.m. in CAP's Second Floor Gallery. Thursday, April 16, 2026 | College of Architecture and Planning We are proud to announce the CAP PhD 8x8, presented by The CU Denver PhD in Geography, Planning, and Design. This dynamic group will share insights about their work, which spans environmental health, climate justice, heritage and geopolitics, community-engaged policy, and cutting-edge urban climate adaptation. From noon - 1 p.m. in CAP's Second Floor Gallery.Friday, April 17, 2026 | College of Architecture and Planning Join us at the DESIGN/HEALth Summit 2026 for a panel of distinguished experts discussing how to enrich the health and wellbeing of people, places, and the planet through design.Lunch at 11:30 a.m. and program from 12 - 1 p.m. in CAP's Second Floor Gallery. Attendance is free and open to the public. Register to attend.
Monday, April 20, 2026 | College of Architecture and Planning
Building on the momentum of Denver’s Single-Stair Housing initiatives and the Affordable Housing Challenge, CAP's Urban Design Spotlight: Small Scale Urbanism explores how strategic, incremental urban design interventions can solve a city’s most pressing density needs. The program will feature the keynote presentation by Ghazal Khezri and Jason King from the award-winning firm Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA) alongside a showcase of CU Denver student work from the fall semester. From 8 - 10 a.m. at the Jake Jabs Event Center, 1475 Lawrence Street, Denver. |
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