Daily Staff Writer

College of Design names new architecture chair

Calvin F. Lewis, a principal with Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck Architecture in Des Moines, has been named a new professor and chairman of the ISU Department of Architecture.

“Iowa State is a fine institution, and I’m proud to be back,” Lewis said, who graduated from Iowa State in 1970 with a bachelor’s in architecture. While he was a student, he was a member of the ISU football team.

Over the years, Lewis, whose appointment was effective July 3, has kept connected to the university by being an adjunct professor of architecture in the mid-1980s and serving on several committees, he said.

“On one hand, it’s homecoming, and on the other hand, I really haven’t strayed that far,” he said. “I’ve tried to keep involved.”

During his career, Lewis has received more than 65 awards for his projects, including two AIA Honors Awards for Interiors in 1997 and national awards from Time magazine, Business Week/Architectural Record and ID (International Design) Magazine.

Mark Englebrecht, dean of the College of Design, said Lewis is “exactly the kind of leader” the department needs.

“I just think that we’re really lucky to have a distinguished practitioner,” Englebrecht said. “It’s a really big deal — you don’t have that very often.”

His long attachment to Iowa State, love of architecture and expertise will help Lewis renew a connection between the architecture profession and the university, Englebrecht said.

ISU program wins HUD award

The Des Moines Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC), a program run by Iowa State, the city of Des Moines and the Des Moines Enterprise Community, and COPC’s leadership class, “Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,” have both been selected as local winners of the Best Practices 2000 contest.

The contest is sponsored by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The criteria for the award include that the project generates a positive impact, demonstrates an effective use of partnerships, displays creativity in addressing a problem and shows effective use of resources.

COPC provides opportunities for residents in the Des Moines Enterprise Community, which consists of five low-income neighborhoods, to meet with specialists to learn techniques to better their communities. It also provides workshops on leadership, money management, home maintenance and landscape enhancement.

COPC is coordinated by the ISU College of Design’s Department of Community and Regional Planning and ISU Extension.

Tim Borich, associate professor in community and regional planning, works with ISU students who are involved with the studios sponsored by COPC.

“It’s wonderful to see the relationship between the residents and the students,” Borich said. “The neighborhood just loves it.”

ISU students present new ideas on anything from gardens to street lighting for the neighborhoods; they also interview residents and get the opportunity to work with an urban community, Borich said.

Amy Brantley, coordinator of COPC, said the program has graduated about 60 residents from its leadership classes.

“I was excited that both got awarded,” Brantley said. “We’re hoping that we’ll be awarded the regional winner next.”

COPC has also started a youth leadership class for seventh- and eighth-graders in the summer and next spring will sponsor an advanced leadership class, Brantley said.

—Heidi Jolivette