{"id":2104,"date":"2019-01-09T07:25:04","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T12:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/?p=2104"},"modified":"2019-01-08T14:03:58","modified_gmt":"2019-01-08T19:03:58","slug":"2104","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/2019\/01\/09\/2104\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Wittig reflects on eight years as dean"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Architecture
Architecture Dean Will Wittig speaks at the 2018 Spirit of Detroit Mercy Alumni Achievement ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As he steps down after eight years as dean of the School of Architecture, Will Wittig does not like to talk about anything as lofty as \u201chis legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we talk about positive things that happened during my tenure, I\u2019d have to say that the people who have come to the school during this time period is the biggest story,\u201d Wittig said.<\/p>\n

He is talking about the new positions created and the faculty and staff who have come to the School from across the country and the solidifying effect they have had on the SOA. When Wittig started as dean, there was no associate dean and a much smaller staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really grateful for and appreciative of the people who have joined our team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The restructuring was needed for the program to grow. Enrollment is up 35 percent from four years ago and, at 228 students as of fall, is at its highest number since 2011.<\/p>\n

The Detroit Collaborative Design Center continues to be a model of how universities can interact with the community, earning many awards and collecting millions of dollars in grants as it does work that brings University of Detroit Mercy national and international attention.<\/p>\n

During his tenure as dean, the SOA completed the purchase of the building in Volterra, Italy, where the School operates its study abroad program.<\/p>\n

That accomplishment is due, in large part, to the School\u2019s success in fundraising.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost architecture schools have had to cut budgets in recent years,\u201d Wittig said. \u201cNot us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gifts from alumni have allowed the School to update studios, restore the woodshop and establish scholarships \u2014 notably for the study abroad programs the school says are integral to their curriculum.<\/p>\n

That curriculum has been strengthened, providing more support for what Wittig calls \u201chands-on themes\u201d of community engagement, co-op, technology use and study abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed to strengthen the program and focus on the core parts of our identity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Though Wittig is stepping down as dean, he will not be going far \u2014 he will stay on faculty of the SOA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe the school is in a good place for the next dean, whoever it may be, to build on,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As he steps down after eight years as dean of the School of Architecture, Will Wittig does not like to talk about anything as lofty as \u201chis legacy.\u201d \u201cIf we talk about positive things that happened during my tenure, I\u2019d have to say that the people who have come to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":2107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2019\/01\/wittig.jpg?fit=600%2C315&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s8Kcng-2104","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2104"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2109,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104\/revisions\/2109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}