USC School of Architecture Dean Dies
Photo/Irene Fertik
Timme, who joined USC in 1996, was a scholar and a registered architect who was a founding partner of the Houston firm of Taft Architects. He was a specialist in architectural design and history, and a noted lecturer on color theory and garden history.
Among Timme’s built work are the award-winning Hendley Building in Galveston, Texas, the YWCA Masterson Branch in Houston and the Talbot House in Nevis, West Indies.
C. L. Max Nikias, USC provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, said: “All of us in the USC community are deeply saddened to lose such a wonderful member of the Trojan Family. Bob Timme was recognized around the world for his contributions to the practice of architecture, as well as for his advocacy for a comprehensive education of its students.”
Timme’s goal was to position his school’s graduates in leadership roles to address critically important issues in the field, ranging from international practice to affordable housing, from neighborhood planning to information technology.
“We understand that our students’ professional careers will span 40 or 50 years and many seasons of the economy,” Timme wrote in a message on the school’s Web site. “Their education must equip them for the changes that will be anticipated and for those that are unforeseen. To achieve these ends and to be responsible as a professional school, the academic experiences of the curriculum must provide our students with both a high level of training in architectural issues and practices, as well as a strong general education program.”
He continued: “The underlying principles of an education in architecture at USC have been constant. Students have always been exposed to contrasting views and opinions. There has never been a universal dogma of an accepted style or direction, but rather an environment of opposing views in which students were encouraged to find their own directions.”
Distinguished Career
In 1971, Timme joined the faculty at the University of Houston’s College of Architecture, where he taught architectural design, history and theory. A year later, he founded Taft Architects with two former classmates and continued a simultaneous academic and professional career.
In 1987, he was appointed director of graduate studies and in 1992 dean of the UH College of Architecture, where he also founded and directed the Centre d’Etude d’Architecture et d’Urbanisme, a research and teaching center in Saintes, France, and edited its annual journal, Saintonge. In 1996, Timme was appointed dean of the School of Architecture at USC.
Timme’s work with Taft Architects has been recognized internationally with more than 65 design awards, including three consecutive national AIA Honor Awards. The work has been published extensively throughout the world and recognized in exhibits in Europe, Japan and the United States. The work has been featured in numerous books and publications such as Time, Newsweek, Esquire and The New York Times.
Other awards include the AIA Houston and AIA Los Angeles Educator Award, and the AIA Houston Firm Award. Earlier this month, in recognition of his accomplishments, he was named a Chevalier (Knight) of France of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture.
Other honors include the advanced fellowship at the American Academy of Rome, elevation to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, distinguished visiting professorships at the University of Texas; University of Pennsylvania; University of Illinois, Chicago; Clemson University; and the Davenport Professorship at Yale University.
He has served on numerous boards of organizations, including the AIS National Design Committee, Houston AIA and the Texas Architecture Foundation. He also chaired the Design Advisory Council of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts in architecture in 1969, a Bachelor of Architecture in 1971 and a Master of Architecture in 1979, all from Rice University. He also studied at the Institute for Architecture and Urbanism, New York, in 1969 for one year.
A search is under way for Timme’s successor, under a committee chaired by Madeline Puzo, dean of the USC School of Theatre, said Nikias, who expects a new dean to be in place by the start of the next academic year.
On behalf of President Steven B. Sample, the provost named Gerald C. Davison – professor of psychology and chair of the department of psychology in the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences – as interim dean, effective immediately.
Timme is survived by his wife Katherine, daughter Elizabeth (a USC graduate), brother William, sister Kathryn and stepsons Nicholas and Michael.
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USC in the News
for 2/8/2012 »-
The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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