UA names MacKeith as new dean of Fay Jones School of Architecture

Peter MacKeith has been named dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas, effective July 1.


MacKeith is a professor of architecture at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. He has served on the Fay Jones School’s Professional Advisory Board for the Fay Jones School since 2011.

“We are pleased to have Peter MacKeith join the University of Arkansas,” said Sharon Gaber, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. “His experience and leadership will help continue to propel the Fay Jones School to even greater heights.”

The Fay Jones School includes the departments of architecture, landscape architecture and interior design. The school also has two outreach components: the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, whose work has received more than 90 design awards, and Garvan Woodland Gardens, the university’s botanical garden in Hot Springs.

“I am honored and privileged by this appointment,” MacKeith said. “I look forward to building on that (school’s) legacy and that good work, and, with the school’s community, to creating further distinction for its programs.”

MacKeith began his tenure at Washington University in 1999 as a faculty member and assistant dean of the School of Architecture. In 2001, he became the associate dean of architecture, and was later named the associate dean of the Sam Fox School in 2006. He also serves as adjunct associate curator of architecture and design at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

He received a bachelor’s degree in English and international relations from the University of Virginia and a master of architecture from Yale University. His architectural teaching has recently been recognized nationally with two Creative Achievement Awards in architectural education from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.