The G. Holmes Perkins Teaching Awards are presented annually, based on nominations by students at the Weitzman School of Design, to recognize distinguished teaching and innovation in the classroom, seminar or studio. The 2020 faculty award honorees are:

Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award

This award rotates each year between Architecture and Fine Arts.  

Sophie Debiasi Hochhäusl is assistant professor for architectural history and theory. Her scholarly work centers on modern architecture and urban culture in Austria, Germany and the United States, with a focus on the history of social movements, environmental history, and women’s and gender studies. Currently, Dr. Hochhäusl is working on two forthcoming book projects. She is also a co-editor of the forthcoming volume Architecture, Environment, Territory: Essential Writings Since 1850 with Irene Cheng and Daniel Barber (University of Pittsburgh Press). Her work has been published in Architectural Histories, Landscapes of Housing and Reading the Architecture of the Underprivileged Classes and exhibited at the Center for Architecture in Vienna, AzW, Cornell University and NYU’s German House (2015). She has received a Carter Manny Award and the Bruno Zevi Prize, which honors the best historical-critical essay in architecture by an emerging scholar. Dr. Hochhäusl received an MArch from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and an MA and PhD from Cornell in history of architecture and urbanism. 

Some quotations from her students: “Sophie has served as an exemplary educator. She cares deeply about each and every student and pushes us to think creatively and critically.” “I can confidently say that having Sophie as an instructor has been a highlight of my undergraduate experience. She has guided us with wisdom, ingenuity and compassion. From the very start she worked hard to build a community amongst us and to expand our preconceptions of what our thesis projects could entail.” “I feel more inspired than ever before to embark on my future endeavors with the same audacity and enthusiasm that she has instilled upon us.”

Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award, Non-Standing Faculty 

William Udell, lecturer and sculpture technician in fine arts, is an artist and educator. His sculptural and video work rely on gesture as communicated through the mundane or banal. Recently, he has focused on the notion of reorientation by sourcing imagery and references from peripheral objects found in infrastructural or domestic spaces. Each object, whether cast or fabricated, is a slightly shifted version of its referent and is rendered with a material that allows it to vacillate in either subtle or blunt ways from its “normal” application. Mr. Udell’s work negotiates its relationship with formal sculpture while attempting to reexamine hierarchies and create intimate relationships between the objects he employs. He received his BA from Kenyon College and his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. 

Some quotations from his students: “His teaching extends beyond the classroom during his shop hours. Willie is an extremely available thought-partner and materials expert all of the MFAs rely on, from sculptors exploring new materials to video artists fabricating ideal displays to installation artists thinking about space.” “Willie asks us difficult questions, while always being incredibly encouraging. He creates a community in his workshop that grounds the entire department.” “He is always readily and easily accessible to brainstorm with or lend a hand. I believe he goes above and beyond the expectations for his job.”

Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award for Standing Faculty

Sean Burkholder is the Andrew Gordon Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture. Prior to joining the Weitzman School, he was assistant professor of landscape and urban design at the University of Buffalo. He is also the director of the Landscape Affairs Group, a Landscape Research and Design consultancy focused on the human-entangled freshwater ecosystems of postindustrial regions. The relationship of these issues and their experiential understanding are being explored in a forthcoming book co-authored by Mr. Burkholder and Karen Lutsky. Mr. Burkholder is also co-directing the $1.5 million Healthy Port Futures project from the Great Lakes Protection Fund in close collaboration with a range of local and federal agencies.This project stresses the inherent value of landscape design research in the process of maritime infrastructure projects that typically aim only at single-value outcomes. Underpinning all of this work is a particular interest in the way in which substrate and ecology influence the urban landscape and how these systems are interpreted by others. Mr. Burkholder lectures and serves as a design critic internationally and his work has been published widely in books and journals. Mr. Burkholder holds a BArch from Miami University and an MLA from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. 

Some quotations from his students: “Professor Burkholder has been an incredible asset to my education and growth in the discipline. Aside from my personal experience, I believe that his hiring has drastically strengthened the landscape architecture department, bringing a fresh perspective and outlook to the program.” “He is a great listener, and pinpoints strengths in order to bring them to the forefront.” “He provides extraordinary knowledge, sound criticism and support every day to the studios and classes that he leads. He makes himself available anytime outside of the classroom, is generous with his time and his unwavering enthusiasm is contagious to all his students.”