UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Loukas Kalisperis, professor in the Department of Architecture in the College of Arts and Architecture, is the recipient of the 2018 Undergraduate Program Leadership Award.
The award recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated exemplary leadership benefiting a Penn State undergraduate degree program. Specifically, it recognizes those individuals who have major responsibilities for the delivery of undergraduate education within a unit and who are providing leadership that has transformed or revitalized the undergraduate program in some way.
In Penn State’s long history of teaching architecture, Kalisperis has been serving nearly one third of it. Colleagues say his experience, and his ability to adopt fresh approaches to his teaching methods, are what make him a great educator and leader.
“Kalisperis’ sustained involvement in the second-year undergraduate studio sequence has ensured its stable and solid pedagogy, providing our students with an experienced voice,” a colleague said. “At the same time, his openness to new ideas has ensured that newer faculty who are involved in second-year teaching can explore new projects and teaching methods.”
One example of this is the architectural design studio, which focuses on the relationship of design to materials and building methods, specifically masonry construction.
Kalisperis, who is coordinator of the studio, incorporated a national annual student design competition, garnering financial and technical support for the course from the National Concrete Masonry Association, incorporated hands-on masonry expertise for students by including a daylong visit to the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport.
At Penn State, he invites world-renowned architects who specialize in innovative uses for masonry to speak to his students.
“This has clearly benefited the students of the second-year class but, most importantly, it also benefits the entire department as these architects hold public lectures that are open to the entire department and the surrounding community,” said a colleague. “Kalisperis has taken a single studio course and has turned it into an institution.”
Kalisperis is a long-serving member of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and has been instrumental in the success of at least three major revisions of the bachelor of architecture curriculum. His accomplishments there include:
● Establishing and mandating a semester abroad;
● Establishing curriculum to introduce digital tools such as laser cutters, 3-D printers and 3-D CNC routers; and
● Shaping the computation infrastructure of the department by developing the Stuckmann Center for Design Computing, a state-of-the-art research and teaching facility, supported by a generous endowment.