Harvard’s Graduate School of Design (GSD) has announced its incoming class of 2021-2022 under its Loeb Fellowship for those specializing in the built and natural environments.
This year’s 10 Loeb Fellows were chosen from among 134 candidates to spend a year in residence at Harvard GSD’s Cambridge, Massachusetts campus, researching how their work advances positive social outcomes and equity through auditing courses at Harvard and MIT, challenging their ideas and processes, and expanding professional networks, integrating with Harvard GSD faculty and students.
The 2021-2022 Loeb Fellows are Veyom Bahl, managing director at Robin Hood Foundation in New York; Karen Dawn Blondel, founder of Public Housing Civic Association in New York; Andrea Bolnick, managing director of Ikhayalami in Cape Town; Stephanie Hankey, executive director of Tactical Tech in Berlin; founder of the London School of Architecture, Will Hunter; Mpho Matsipa, founder and chief curator of African Mobilities and Chancellor's Fellow (FALF) at University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg; director of partnerships and resource management at National Park Foundation, and Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites at the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania, Monica Rhodes; Moddie Turay, founder and CEO of City Growth Partners in Detroit; located in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Michael Uwemedimo, co-founder and director at Collaborative Media Advocacy Platform and Senior Visiting Research Fellow, King’s College London; and Des Moines–based regenerative land sculptor and environmental activist Jordan Weber.
This year also marks the first ever collaborative fellowship between the Loeb Fellowship and Harvard University’s ArtLab, which focuses on art and innovation. Weber, in addition to being selected as a Fellow, is the recipient of the inaugural joint Loeb/ArtLab Fellowship that allows for studio space in Harvard’s ArtLab along with additional research support and resources through the artist residency program.
"As the ArtLab continues to expand and deepen its creative mission, we are excited to collaborate with the GSD on Loeb/ArtLab Fellowship, and we are especially proud to select Jordan Weber for this inaugural cycle,” ArtLab’s director Bree Edwards said in a statement. “Jordan brings a remarkable artistic vision and a commitment to exploring place, race, and power, and we are honored to collaborate on and share some of his projects in the coming months.”
This year’s class of Loeb Fellows joins over 450 alumni, including Theaster Gates, Anna Heringer, and RECORD editor-in-chief Cathleen McGuigan. The program is for people in the midst of their careers, from architects, journalists, and designers, and is a way for them to step away from their professional lives. For one academic year, the fellows audit classes at the GSD, Harvard and MIT, and collaborate with their peers, students and professors.