Forrester to head Fine, Applied Arts College

By Craig Chamberlain

R. Alan Forrester, the director of the School of Architecture/Building
Research Council, has been appointed interim dean of the College of Fine
and Applied Arts.

Forrester assumed his new duties on an acting basis July 1, when Kathryn
Martin stepped down as dean. Martin is leaving the university to become
chancellor of the University of Minnesota at Duluth. Confirmation of
Forrester's interim appointment will be sought from the UI Board of
Trustees at its July 13 meeting in Urbana. A nationwide search is under way
to find Martin's successor.

With extensive experience as an administrator within the college, Forrester
was an ideal choice for the appointment, said Larry Faulkner, UI provost
and vice chancellor for academic affairs. "He has shown himself very
capable of handling a large organization and has been very successful in
his relationships with the college's outside constituencies," Faulkner
said. "He also is recognized as someone of high personal integrity who is
committed to the principles that underlie the college."

Forrester earned a diploma of architecture from the Glasgow School of Art
and a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Strathclyde,
both in Scotland, in 1961. He earned a master's degree in architecture from
the UI in 1962 and a master's degree in city planning from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965.

He began his teaching career at the UI, where he was a member of the
faculty from 1970-1977. During that time, he also taught in Versailles,
France, as part of the School of Architecture's program there. In 1977, he
became head of the department of architecture at the University of
Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. In 1981, he returned to the UI as the director
of the School of Architecture. (The Building Research Council merged with
the school in 1993.)