How to Deepen Client / Business Relationships

501 Series are offered to marketing/ BD professionals and principals with 10+ years of experience in the industry. At this time, SMPS is limiting attendance to those with senior-level experience, however, there will be multiple educational events held throughout the year to accommodate professionals in all career levels.

Kenneth Schwartz, FAIA

In 2014, Kenneth Schwartz was appointed as the founding director of the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking in addition to his role as dean of the Tulane School of Architecture. He is also the first recipient of the Michael Sacks Chair in Civic Engagement and Social Entrepreneurship. Under Schwartz’s leadership, the School of Architecture became the academic home for the interdisciplinary undergraduate minor in Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship six years ago. Since Schwartz was appointed as dean in 2008, Tulane School of Architecture has become one of the most visible units of Tulane University in creating a national model of innovative, engaged and empathetic pedagogy working in close partnership with neighborhood and non-profit organizations throughout New Orleans and beyond. In 2016, the School was ranked #14 in the nation by Design Intelligence.

His research interests currently center on social innovation and theories of change. Previously, Schwartz was on the faculty at the University of Virginia for twenty-four years. He was chairman of the architecture department and associate dean for eight of these years, and he maintained an active practice and research agenda, where he explored issues of architecture in the public realm with a strong focus on community design and planning issues necessary for the creation of healthy urban environments. In 2003, he won the UVA Alumni Association Distinguished Professor Award – considered one of the highest honors bestowed upon faculty at that institution, with only one awarded university-wide each year.

Among the many vivid experiences over the last nine years, perhaps the highlight was the time when he was blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama when they met during Tulane’s Commencement ceremony a few years ago.

Wendy Hillis, AIA
Bachelor of Arts – University of California Davis – 1994
Master of Architecture - University of Virginia – 1997
MBA – UNC Chapel Hill – 2011

Wendy has serves as Tulane’s University Architect since October 2016.   In this role she directs all long-range campus planning initiatives and serves as the University’s “aesthetic conscience” for campus architectural and urban design. 

Prior to arriving at Tulane, Wendy’s career focused on historic preservation.  Formerly a senior associate with San Francisco architecture firm, Architectural Resources Group, she also worked as a historic resources consultant to FEMA following Hurricane Katrina and as the Campus Historic Preservation Architect at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the nation’s first public university.  Most recently, she was the Executive Director of Preservation Durham, a nonprofit organization in Durham, NC. 

In 2007 Wendy was honored as the recipient of the Richard Morris Hunt Fellowship, a biannual award given to one American historic preservation architect to spend 6 months working in France with preservation architects and authorities. The subject of her research during her time in France was the politics of contemporary design in historic contexts.

AIA National Historic Resources Advisory Group (2014-2018)
AIA Gold Medal/Firm of The Year jury (2017)
Member Tulane Preservation Advisory Group