Rice architecture dean named Swedish-American of 2004

DATE: Feb. 27, 2004
CONTACT: B.J. Almond
PHONE: (713) 348-6770
EMAIL: balmond@rice.edu

RICE’S
ARCHITECTURE DEAN NAMED SWEDISH-AMERICAN OF ’04
Lars Lerup receives honor from fraternal society for Swedish immigrants
to U.S.

Lars Lerup,
dean of Rice University’s School of Architecture, was named the
2004 Swedish-American of the Year by the Vasa Order of America, a fraternal
organization for Swedish immigrants to the United States.

The honor recognizes
people of Swedish-American heritage who have been engaged in Swedish-American
relations or have made a brilliant career in American society. Previous
awardees include astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, U.S. Chief
Justice William Rehnquist, actress Ann-Margret and Nobel laureate Glen
Seaborg.

Lerup was raised
in Vaxjo, Sweden, and received a civil engineering diploma in 1960 at
the Helsingborg Technical College. He received a B.A. in architecture
from the University of California at Berkeley in 1968 and a master’s
from Harvard in 1970. He joined the Rice faculty in 1993 as the William
Ward Watkin Professor of Architecture and dean of the architecture school.

Under Lerup’s
leadership, the School of Architecture has achieved national prominence.
According to the Almanac of Architecture & Design 2001, Rice ranked
No. 1 among schools and colleges of architecture in the Southern region
of the U.S. and No. 4 nationally in a customer-satisfaction survey of
more than 800 leading U.S. architecture firms by the Design Futures
Council.

Lerup has received
many honors and awards in architectural competitions for buildings as
well as furniture and design. His work has been exhibited in the United
States and Europe. Lerup facilitated Swedish-American cooperation on
the STARS Design project at NASA by getting Swedish students in architecture
and design from Lund University to participate.

Last year the
Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture selected Lerup as
an ACSA Distinguished Professor – one of the association’s
highest awards. Lund University in Sweden awarded an honorary degree
in technology to Lerup in 2001.