SA+P Welcomes New Leadership: Michaele Pride and Catherine Page Harris
September 30, 2025
The School of Architecture + Planning (SA+P) is proud to announce new leadership appointments for the 2025–2026 academic year. We welcome Professor Michaele Pride as Interim Chair of Architecture and Associate Professor Catherine Page Harris as Chair of Landscape Architecture and J.B. Jackson Endowed Chair in Cultural Landscape Studies.
“These two remarkable individuals bring vision, dedication, and national recognition to their new roles at the helm of our design programs,” said Robert Alexander González, Dean of the School. “Their leadership arrives at a transformative moment for SA+P as we celebrate our 50th anniversary and launch the new Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree. I also want to express deep gratitude to Professor Chris Cornelius for his impactful leadership and many accomplishments over the past four years as Chair of Architecture.”
Professor Pride brings an extraordinary legacy of leadership in architecture, education, and public engagement to her role as Interim Chair. She founded re: Architecture (1990–1996). In 1996, she became the inaugural director of the Downtown Design Center at the University of Kentucky, then she made history in 2003 as Director of the School of Architecture and Interior Design at the University of Cincinnati, becoming the first African American woman to lead an architecture program in a PWI.
At UNM, Professor Pride currently serves as Director of the Design and Planning Assistance Center (DPAC) and Associate Dean of Student Equity and Success. Her work centers on collaborative and community-driven design, with a strong emphasis on public health. She led the MS Architecture track in Public Health and the Built Environment and continues to champion interdisciplinary approaches that advance equity through the built environment. Professor Pride has served on several distinguished national and international design juries, including competitions for the Oklahoma City Memorial, the U.S. Embassy in London, and Bridge Park in Washington, D.C. Before joining UNM, in addition to her role at the University of Cincinnati, she held faculty positions at UCLA, Woodbury, and USC. She earned her Bachelor of Architecture from Arizona State University and her Master of Architecture in Urban Design from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
An innovative scholar and practitioner, Associate Professor Harris brings a visionary and interdisciplinary approach to her new role as Chair of Landscape Architecture. Formerly Associate Professor of Art & Ecology at UNM, she has been teaching at SA+P since 2012. In collaboration with the Indigenous Design + Planning Institute (iD+Pi), she established the Indigenous Design Studio in Landscape Architecture—an initiative that continues to expand the field’s engagement with Indigenous knowledge systems and design practices. Harris has held several leadership roles at SA+P, including Co-Director of DPAC and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs. She currently directs the On the Brinck Book Award program. Her scholarly work explores sentient landscapes—interrogating how landscape architecture can respond to cutting-edge research in biological communication and non-human agency.
Recent investigations include 3D printing scanned kangaroo rat scatter hordes in organic materials inoculated with mycorrhizae; reimagining the wind rose as a tool for plant communication design; and creating new ontologies for landscape practice through the sectional representation of fungi–plant interactions. Recent projects include The Sharing Shelves with DPAC, PEC-14 Poured Earth Collaborative partnered with architect Charlie O’Geen; the Red Water Pond Road Community Peace Center—an NEA ArtWorks-funded space commemorating the impact of legacy mining on Indigenous lands; and NSF-supported research on creosote shrub replication to explore fungal networks. Harris holds a BA from Harvard University, an MLA from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MFA from Stanford University.
Looking Ahead
With Professor Pride’s planned retirement in 2026, the School has launched a national search for new leadership in the Department of Architecture, as well as a new Director for DPAC. As we look to the future, SA+P remains committed to advancing innovation, design justice, and community engagement—values that will continue to shape our next 50 years.
