Becket Professorships to Facilitate Studies in School Design and Educational Governance
A Colorado couple’s gift to USC will link two USC schools in an unprecedented way, facilitating interdisciplinary research in architecture and education.
MacDonald and Diane Becket have made a gift to endow two professorships – one in the USC School of Architecture, devoted to community design and educational facilities, and one in USC’s Rossier School of Education, devoted to governance and professional practice in public schools.
Thanks to the Beckets, the university can forge an innovative program in which professors from complementary disciplines will collaborate in shared and independent research. The professors will hold joint appointments to each other’s school.
“With this gift, the Beckets have demonstrated incredible vision,” said USC President Steven B. Sample. “Public schools are in the midst of tremendous change, and we need to rethink both the physical design of schools and how they are run. This gift will put USC, the School of Architecture and the Rossier School in the forefront of creating new models for public education.”
Becket Professorship in Educational Governance
Priscilla “Penny” Wohlstetter, founding director of USC’s Center on Educational Governance and a professor of educational policy, planning and administration, is the first holder of the Diane and MacDonald Becket Professorship in Educational Governance, said Guilbert C. Hentschke, dean of the Rossier School of Education.
Wohlstetter focuses on issues in the governance of educational institutions, with an emphasis on understanding elements that contribute to high academic performance.
“The Beckets’ generous gift gives us an opportunity to reinvent what governance in public schools should be,” said Wohlstetter. “We need to restructure the learning environment to accommodate ever-evolving technologies and to provide greater incentives for students to enjoy meaningful experiences in learning.”
An expert on charter schools and restructuring schools to achieve higher academic performance, Wohlstetter is author of the books “Organizing for Successful School-Based Management” (1997) and “School-Based Management: Organizing for High Performance” (1994). She co-directs the Los Angeles Compact for Evaluation, which is evaluating the Annenberg Challenge Grant’s impact on student performance in Los Angeles County public schools. She is principal investigator of an ongoing study of school and classroom factors associated with literacy achievement.
Becket Professorship in Community Design
Charles “Chuck” Lagreco, associate dean of the School of Architecture and founding principal of the Venice, Calif.-based Architectural Collective, is the first to hold the Diane and MacDonald Becket Professor ship in Community Design, said Robert H. Timme, dean of the School of Architecture.
Lagreco explores issues in community and urban design with an emphasis on studies of the relationships between educational and community facilities.
“One reason for the crisis in education today is that at some point the design of schools be came an issue of seats [numbers of students] instead of creating an environment for learning and community involvement,” Lagreco said. “I see tremendous opportunities to increase the architect’s involvement in education, and I have no doubt that the Beckets’ gift will provide a tremendous impetus toward that goal.”
Lagreco is an expert in the design of multi-use, joint-use and high-density architectural prototypes and in institutional partnering to maximize building space. He has worked with the Navajo Nation on culturally based school design and has designed several public schools. His innovative design for an elementary school in Columbus, Ind., was an early example of a school facility that doubles as a community center. Lacrego also designed Santa Clara University’s multi-use Student Activities Center, the first permanent building to be constructed with an air-supported translucent roof.
“With this gift, the Beckets have demonstrated incredible vision,” said USC President Steven B. Sample. “Public schools are in the midst of tremendous change, and we need to rethink both the physical design of schools and how they are run. This gift will put USC, the School of Architecture and the Rossier School in the forefront of creating new models for public education.”
Becket Professorship in Educational Governance
Priscilla “Penny” Wohlstetter, founding director of USC’s Center on Educational Governance and a professor of educational policy, planning and administration, is the first holder of the Diane and MacDonald Becket Professorship in Educational Governance, said Guilbert C. Hentschke, dean of the Rossier School of Education.
Wohlstetter focuses on issues in the governance of educational institutions, with an emphasis on understanding elements that contribute to high academic performance.
“The Beckets’ generous gift gives us an opportunity to reinvent what governance in public schools should be,” said Wohlstetter. “We need to restructure the learning environment to accommodate ever-evolving technologies and to provide greater incentives for students to enjoy meaningful experiences in learning.”
An expert on charter schools and restructuring schools to achieve higher academic performance, Wohlstetter is author of the books “Organizing for Successful School-Based Management” (1997) and “School-Based Management: Organizing for High Performance” (1994). She co-directs the Los Angeles Compact for Evaluation, which is evaluating the Annenberg Challenge Grant’s impact on student performance in Los Angeles County public schools. She is principal investigator of an ongoing study of school and classroom factors associated with literacy achievement.
Becket Professorship in Community Design
Charles “Chuck” Lagreco, associate dean of the School of Architecture and founding principal of the Venice, Calif.-based Architectural Collective, is the first to hold the Diane and MacDonald Becket Professor ship in Community Design, said Robert H. Timme, dean of the School of Architecture.
Lagreco explores issues in community and urban design with an emphasis on studies of the relationships between educational and community facilities.
“One reason for the crisis in education today is that at some point the design of schools be came an issue of seats [numbers of students] instead of creating an environment for learning and community involvement,” Lagreco said. “I see tremendous opportunities to increase the architect’s involvement in education, and I have no doubt that the Beckets’ gift will provide a tremendous impetus toward that goal.”
Lagreco is an expert in the design of multi-use, joint-use and high-density architectural prototypes and in institutional partnering to maximize building space. He has worked with the Navajo Nation on culturally based school design and has designed several public schools. His innovative design for an elementary school in Columbus, Ind., was an early example of a school facility that doubles as a community center. Lacrego also designed Santa Clara University’s multi-use Student Activities Center, the first permanent building to be constructed with an air-supported translucent roof.
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