Former Director of Urban Studio is Dreaming and Doing

Morgan, emerita professor in Auburn’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction (CADC) and former director of its Urban Studio, dedicated her career to helping communities balance goals for growth and economic development with keeping features that set those cities apart. She provided leadership for the revitalization of Railroad Park and the Rotary Trail in Birmingham and, through the Studio’s Small Town Design Initiative, collaborated on strategic development in more than 100 smaller cities.

“I think Cheryl is an exemplary leader in our state of what architecture can and should be, especially urban architecture,” said Beth Thorne Stukes ’81, education advocate and member of the Auburn University Foundation Board of Directors. “The way she allows people to hope and dream about what their community can be and the way she offers that hope back is life-changing for communities.”

Stukes and Morgan met amid recovery efforts after two tornadoes ripped through Cordova, Alabama on April 27, 2011. Stukes chaired Cordova’s Long-Term Recovery team, and Morgan lent her expertise to help the city plan its future.

“I saw how Cheryl let people share their ideas for how we could rebuild and the way she made people feel that they had been heard. She took their thoughts and allowed them to picture having a future in the midst of nothing but rubble, trees and junk,” Stukes said. “She was able to still that chaos and let people dream.”

Unbeknownst to them at the time, the two already shared another connection—Stukes’ son, Brent Uptain ’00, had been Morgan’s student at Urban Studio during his fifth year as an architecture student at Auburn.

Auburn’s purchase and renovation of the Hood-McPherson building created multiple opportunities for philanthropic support. Stukes seized the opportunity to make a gift to the project to name the second floor the Cheryl E. Morgan Design Lab in honor of Morgan’s career and her 12-year tenure as director of Urban Studio.

“I was blown away by Beth’s generosity and for honoring my work in this way,” Morgan said. “Calling it a design lab and instilling the idea that this will be a place where students will expand their thinking, try new things, evaluate prior finds and determine goals for new results is wonderful nomenclature.”

If you would like to support the innovative work of Urban Studio, visit AuburnGiving.org/urbanstudio24 or email Christopher Griffin at cgriffin@auburn.edu.