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Become the Architect of Your Own Future: Tips for Designing for Your Academic Career, Professional Interests, and Life in General

This event will feature a welcome from Dean Polyzoides and a lecture by Professor Cusato. At the end of the session, students are invited to visit key spaces in Walsh Family Hall of Architecture, including the First-Year Drawing Studio, Hall of Casts, and Exhibition Hall.

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Marianne Cusato

Professor of the Practice, Director of Housing & Community Regeneration Initiatives

School of Architecture

About the Lecturer

Marianne Cusato, ND Bachelor of Architecture ’97 and MBA ’17, is renowned for her work on innovative housing solutions for disaster recovery and workforce housing. She has been ranked the No. 4 most influential person in the home building industry by Builder Magazine, voted one of the 30 Most Influential Women in the Housing Economy by HousingWire Magazine and selected by Fortune Magazine as one of the Top Women in Real Estate. Her 308 sq. ft. Katrina Cottage design won the Smithsonian Institute’s Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum’s 2006 “People’s Design Award.” That same year, Congress appropriated $400 million for an alternative emergency housing program based on Professor Cusato’s designs. Professor Cusato continues this work today as a partner in the non-profit housing corporation Cypress Community Development through projects like the Florida Keys Cottages in response to Hurricane Irma; Sonoma Wildfire Cottages in Santa Rosa, CA, following the 2017 wildfires; and development of new homes in Panama City, FL, following Hurricane Michael in 2018.

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