APLA Alum to Give Spring Commencement Address

Donald C. Brown, FAIA, managing principal of Brown Studio Architecture and Vice President of the American Institute Architects Board of Directors, will deliver the commencement address at the Saturday, May 3, ceremony. Brown is a graduate of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture.

A past AIA National board member, Brown has served in many leadership positions including the Gulf States regional director from 2009-2011 and as the past chair of ArchiPac. He is a Richard Upjohn Fellow of the AIA and served on the AIA Board Advocacy Committee from 2007-2011. He was also president of the Alabama Council AIA in 2003. His firm, Brown Studio Architecture, has tackled projects such as downtown and riverfront redevelopment in Montgomery and a historic restoration of the original Tuskegee Airman Flying Field, which received the Preservation Award for Federal Partnership in Historic Preservation. Locally, Brown has served as chair of the Montgomery Historic Development Commission, the Alabama Architectural Foundation, and the Alabama Council on the Arts and Humanities.

Besides his degree in Architecture from Auburn, Brown’s education includes studies in art history at Williams College. He also served as an assistant professor at Auburn and chaired the School of Architecture’s Advisory Council. Brown was very involved in student activities as an Auburn student. He was a student senator for the College of Architecture, Design and Construction, editor of what was then the Department of Architecture’s student newsletter/magazine, SGA Secretary for Academic Affairs, Chair of Lectures and Concerts, a Colonel in the Air Force ROTC, elected to ODK and Spade Honoraries, and even given the Department of Theater’s Best Actor Award.