Sharon E. Sutton

Sharon Egretta Sutton (born 1941 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is visiting professor at Parsons School of Design, adjunct professor at Columbia University, and professor emerita at the University of Washington, where she served on the faculty 1998–2016. She became an architecture educator in 1975, having taught at Pratt Institute, Columbia University, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Michigan where she became the first African American woman to become a full professor in an accredited architectural degree program.[1]

Sharon E. Sutton
Academic background
Alma materManhattan School of Music,
University of Hartford
Columbia University,
Hunter College,
City University of New York
Academic work
DisciplineArchitecture
InstitutionsPratt Institute,
Columbia University,
University of Cincinnati,
University of Michigan,
University of Washington
Sharon Egretta Sutton in 2017 at the launch of her book, When Ivory Towers were Black at the book's launch at Columbia University

Life

Sutton was educated initially in music, studying French horn with Gunther Schuller at the Manhattan School of Music and latter at the University of Hartford. After earning a B.Music in 1963, she worked as a professional musician in New York City, most notably for Sol Hurok Attractions and in the original cast of Man of La Mancha. In 1967, Sutton enrolled in Parsons School of Design and then Columbia University, where she was mentored by J. Max Bond, Jr. She earned her M.Arch. in 1973 and opened a private practice in 1976. In 1981, Sutton received her MA in psychology from Hunter College; in 1982, she received her M.Phil and Ph.D. in psychology from the City University of New York.

Sutton's focus is community-based participatory research and design with a special emphasis on low-income and minority youth and other disenfranchised populations. Her research has been funded by the Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, Tukwila School District, the University of Michigan, and University of Washington, among others.

Sutton is author of "When Ivory Towers Were Black: A Story about Race in America's Cities and Universities";[2] Weaving a Tapestry of Resistance: The Places, Power and Poetry of a Sustainable Society;[3] and Learning through the Built Environment.[4] Additionally, she is author of numerous book chapters and journal articles, and is co-editor of The Paradox of Urban Space: Inequality and Transformation in Marginalized Communities.[5]

Sutton is also a noted printmaker and collagist having studied graphic art in independent studios internationally. Her work has been exhibited in and collected by galleries and museums, business enterprises, colleges, and universities, and is part of the Robert Blackburn Collection at the Library of Congress.

A registered architect, Sutton was the twelfth African American woman to be licensed to practice architecture (1976), the first to be promoted to full professor of architecture (1994), and the second to be elected a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects (1995). The ACSA (Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture) honored Sutton with the ACSA Distinguished Professor Award in 1995-96.[6] Sutton received the "Life Recognition Award" from the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1997 and the national American Institute of Architects Whitney M. Young, Jr., Award in 2011. In 2014 and 2017 respectively, she received the AIA Seattle Medal of Honor and the AIA New York Medal of Honor, the highest awards chapters can confer.

Dedicated to improving the living environments of disenfranchised populations, Sutton is currently ethnographic consultant to design studio instructors at Parsons School of Design.

Books
  • Sutton, Sharon E., "When Ivory Towers Were Black: A Story about Race in America's Cities and Universities," Fordham University Press, New York, 2017. ISBN 978-0-823-27612-7
  • Sutton, Sharon E., and Kemp, Susan P., editors, The Paradox of Urban Space: Inequality and Transformation in Marginalized Communities, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2011 ISBN 978-0-230-10391-7
  • Sutton, Sharon E., Weaving a Tapestry of Resistance: The Places, Power and Poetry of a Sustainable Society, Bergin and Garvey Publishers, Westport, 1996.
  • Sutton, Sharon E., Learning through the Built Environment: An Ecological Approach to Child Development, Irvington Press, New York, 1985.

Notes
  1. MoMA. "Women in Architecture".
  2. Sutton, Sharon Egretta (February 2017). When Ivory Towers Were Black: A Story about Race and the Struggle to Transform Cities and Universities with Foreword by James Stewart Polshek. New York: Fordham University Press Empire State Editions.
  3. Sutton, Sharon E. (1996). Weaving a Tapestry of Resistance: The Places, Power, and Poetry of a Sustainable Society with Preface by Henri Giroux. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey Publishers. In Giroux and Freire (eds.), Critical Studies in Education and Culture Series.
  4. Sutton, Sharon E. (1985). Learning through the Built Environment: An Ecological Approach to Child Development. New York: Irvington Publishers.
  5. Sutton, Sharon E. and Kemp, Susan P. (eds.) (2011). The Paradox of Urban Space: Inequality and Transformation in Marginalized Communities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  6. ACSA Archives, Distinguished Professor Award winners.
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