Congratulations to our Newly Promoted Faculty Members
The UT School of Architecture is pleased to announce three new faculty promotions. Effective this fall, Aleksandra Jaeschke is now an Associate Professor with tenure in Architecture and Sustainable Design; Katherine Lieberknecht was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in Community and Regional Planning; and Allan Shearer is now a Full Professor of Landscape Architecture.
Faculty at the School of Architecture are innovating and creating new knowledge while preparing our students to be tomorrow’s leaders and problem solvers. The promotion and tenure process provides a thorough and objective review of the substance and merits of each faculty member’s case.
Learn more about these incredible teachers and scholars via their bios below. We’ll be sharing more in-depth profiles on each of them throughout the fall semester.
Born and raised in Poland, Aleksandra Jaeschke’s areas of interest include ecology, environmentalism, sustainability, an ecological approach to construction materials, and the use of agricultural waste and invasive species in construction. Aleksandra holds a professional license in Italy, where she practiced at AION, an architectural firm she co-founded and co-directed until her move to the U.S. She holds a Doctor of Design degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and an AA Diploma from the Architectural Association in London. Her doctoral dissertation investigated how building regulations coupled with green building technologies and incentives shape environmentally driven design and environmental awareness. A book based on her dissertation titled The Greening of America’s Building Codes: Promises and Paradoxes was published by Princeton Architectural Press in December 2022.
Katherine Lieberknecht researches environmental planning centered around equity, with a specific focus on climate planning, green infrastructure planning, and water resources planning. She was the inaugural chair of Planet Texas 2050, The University of Texas at Austin’s first grand challenge research program, and continues to serve on its leadership team. She also serves in leadership roles for several externally funded projects, including a National Science Foundation Smart and Connected Communities project focused on community-led climate adaptation in Dove Springs, and the Department of Energy-funded Southeast Texas Urban Integrated Field Laboratory in the Gulf Coast. Other recent projects include contributions to a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration-funded collaboration between UT Austin and EcoRise, a green jobs study for the City of Austin, and the 2021 CHCI Global Humanities Institute on Climate Justice and Problems of Scale.
Allan W. Shearer teaches graduate-level landscape planning and design studios and courses that bridge Landscape Architecture and the school’s other planning and design programs. His research centers on how individuals, communities, and societies envision change and how these descriptions of possible futures can inform present-day decisions. A particular application of his research has been understanding how notions of security are applied to issues of landscapes and cities. He has contributed to the NATO Urbanization Project, has examined the long-term role of military lands, and has written on relationships among national-, environmental-, and human security in the context of climate change. Shearer is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture.