Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The head of Mississippi State's College of Architecture, Art and Design is a new member of a national committee that reviews architectural designs for new federal buildings.
Dean James L. West recently was appointed to a two-year term on the Design Excellence Peer Review Committee of the federal General Services Administration.
GSA established the Design Excellence Program in 1994 to ensure that public buildings and renovations be undertaken within the best architectural principles.
West is among distinguished private-sector architects, engineers, public arts administrators, and design educators who serve as "peer professionals" in the development and decision-making process. Some 70-80 individuals are appointed biannually by the agency's public buildings service commissioner.
During his service period, West will focus primarily on design proposals for a new 600,000-square-foot Social Security Administration building to be built in Birmingham, Ala.
Before joining Mississippi's only professional architecture program as associate dean in 1998, West taught at the University of Florida, his alma mater. He holds bachelor's degrees in both interior design and architecture, and a master's in architecture.
West, who became dean in 2002, is a member of the American Institute of Architects, Interior Design Educators Council and Board of Visitors for the Foundation for Interior Design Education and Research.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more about Dean West's new committee duties or the MSU College of Architecture, Art and Design, contact him at (662) 325-2202 or jwest@coa.msstate.edu.