President Appoints Rowe New Design School Dean

Garbe Professor Peter G. Rowe, chair of the department of architecture and urban design, was named Dean of the Graduate School of Design by President Neil L. Rudenstine yesterday.

Rowe, a former director of Rice University's school of architecture, was tapped for the Design School deanship after a search that first looked outside the school for possible candidates.

Insiders said they expected the new dean to be an architect with administrative experience. Rowe, who was a member of the advisory committee when it was exploring external candidates, fits that description.

Rudenstine notified Rowe, the author of Making a Middle Landscape, Design Thinking and Principles for Local Environmental Management, of his appointment last Thursday.

In a interview last night from home in Arlington, Mass., Rowe said he already has some ideas for improving the Design School.

"One is that we need to make a better integration within the school," said Rowe. "We need to find a way to integrate the school into the University as a whole."

Rowe, who will take office July 1, also said the school needs to make some changes in its faculty.

"We need more senior faculty than we have, and we also need to make a far better effort at minority recruiting," Rowe said.

Outgoing Dean Gerald M. Mc-Cue, who announced his resignation last spring, said last night he was pleased by the choice.

"He's done an extraordinary job of strengthening the department of architecture and urban design," said McCue, who appointed Rowe chair of the department in 1988. "He has demonstrated the breadth of his capacity as a teacher, a scholar and an administrator."

In prepared statement, Rudenstine described Rowe as a "highly successful" administrator who is "regarded by senior faculty in all three departments as capable of integrating the different parts of the school."

"He has incisive ideas about an academic and financial plan for the school's future and is a person of unquestioned integrity and energy who displays a deep commitment to the school's central purpose," Rudenstine said.

Rowe, 46, was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia. He received an undergraduate degree in architecture from Melbourne University and a master's degree in urban design from Rice. Rowe left Rice for Harvard in 1985.

Design school officials said last week that Rowe was a top contender for the post. He was previously rumored to be on a short list of three candidates that included Robinson Professor of Architecture Jorge S. Silvetti and Travelstead Professor of Architecture William J. Mitchell.

The design school deanship is the first of three major appointments that Rudenstine has said he will make in the coming weeks. Rudenstine is expected to move soon to appoint both a provost and a new dean of the Graduate School of Education.

Rowe recently completed Modernity andHousing which will be published by the MITPress later this year.

He is a member of the Regional and Urban DesignCommittee of the American Institute of Architectsand the Institute for Urban Design. He is also anhonorary member of the Boston Society ofArchitects

Rowe recently completed Modernity andHousing which will be published by the MITPress later this year.

He is a member of the Regional and Urban DesignCommittee of the American Institute of Architectsand the Institute for Urban Design. He is also anhonorary member of the Boston Society ofArchitects