Virginia Stephens March Eminent Scholar Chair

ABOUT THE DONOR

Virginia Stephens March graduated from Tupelo High School in 1944 and entered Auburn at the age of sixteen. She encountered resistance from the faculty and her fellow students when returning World War II veterans felt she was taking up a slot in the School of Architecture that a man should fill. Such was her experience as a female architecture student at a time when few women studied architecture at what was then Alabama Polytechnic Institute; fewer made it through the program; and even fewer ever practiced. Nevertheless, March persevered; learning her profession and graduating in 1948.

March’s significant influence and leadership within the architecture profession at the state and national levels was recognized by a jury of her peers in 1990 when she was inducted into the American Institute of Architects’ Society of Fellows, the highest honor bestowed upon a member of the Institute. March’s contributions to architecture and society are numerous. Among them, she was one of the founding members of the Auburn School of Architecture Advisory Board (1980) and, as President of Alabama AIA, assisted Tuskegee University’s architecture school by establishing a scholarship and involving Tuskegee’s program with mainstream state professional organizations (1981). She has been noted by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) as the first woman to be appointed to a State Board since NCARB’s inception. Perhaps her contributions most visible to those outside the architecture profession are the creation of two historic districts in Mobile and her award-winning design work for several Mobile landmarks.

In 2013, March was the first recipient of the Auburn University College of Architecture, Design and Construction’s Distinguished Alumni Award, which honors graduates who demonstrate 50 years or more of significant contributions to their profession and the greater community.