Sheryl Tucker de Vazquez Named Interim Director of Interior Architecture
December 6, 2021
It is with great pleasure that I announce the appointment of Hines College professor Sheryl Tucker de Vazquez as the new Interim Director of Interior Architecture. Sheryl has taught at the University of Houston for several years and has contributed to the College in many ways.
In 2020, I appointed Sheryl as chair of the Hines College’s first Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force. The group was charged with evaluating the College, identifying areas of concern, and recommending ways to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive College and community. Their work resulted in the College’s first DEI Report, now being implemented by the DEI Action Task Force.
Sheryl has published extensively on the influence of African American culture on the American built environment, and her design work has been recognized with multiple design awards. She recently received a Graham Foundation grant for research surrounding how Black hair inspires architecture embodying Black identity.
Sheryl collaborated with artist Rick Lowe on the development of the Project Row Houses campus and was honored with the AIA Houston 25-year campus award in 2019 for her contributions to the project. Funded by a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, her renovation of a two-story storefront on the Project Row Houses campus received an Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Faculty Design Award. She is currently working on the Zina Garrison Tennis Academy, which received a 2017 AIA Houston On the Boards Design Award, as well as a collection of essays exploring how low-lying and coastal African American communities are confronting climate change.
I have no doubt that Sheryl’s leadership will benefit our Interior Architecture program. Please join me in congratulating Sheryl on this new role!
Warm regards,
